Hell's Radiance
by Angel of the Godless
Summary: AU Fate can be a twisted thing, some only exist in hate. Sakura was one of those, a container of the most feared demon in history, hated by her village. Lost in the darkness, she tried to find a reason for living.
1. The Birth of Monsters

AN: Hello and thank you to all those who decided to read this story which is now AMAZINGLY rewritten. Forewarning to all this story is pretty much violence, dirty politics, swearing, and bloodshead. Loooooots of bloodshed.

While it's slow to start the morality of this tale is questionable at the best of times and if you can't read without feeling as though I'm advocating (against your will) something you disagree with, hit the back button and leave, I won't hold it against you.

There are no heroes here but a hell of a lot of villains and levels of evil to choose from. And once again: blood. Can't forget the blood.

Because in this story there's: gratuitous violence, implied child abuse, unapologetic swearing, boldfaced lying, treason, adultery, murder, torture, and genocide. Yeah, you were warned.

I've read a lot of Naruto stories over the years, and I know of dozens of crappy Sakura is the demon container ones and she's either:

a) A whiny little girl who does nothing

b) An exact replica of Naruto's personality, she's basically him except her hair's pink and she's a girl

c) The same as in cannon with no discernable difference

d) The story was really crappy and abandoned after two chapters

I will not ever abandon this story, and while it will be close to cannon before the time skip (though it will be awesomely more violent with no repeat on the dialogue front) it will then veer away wildly afterwards.

And on an unrelated note, this is now the edited cleaned up version of Hell's Radiance you're reading, enjoy.

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Naruto, or anything remotely affiliated with it for that matter. I don't even own any of the manga which is just downright depressing.

* * *

**Hokage's Tower**

It was with regret the Sandaime Hokage looked out on his burning village. The pipe in his hand was lit but he had long forgotten its presence. It hung loosely in his hand and the smoke curled between his fingers, mirroring the black haze rising out from the village just outside the window.

The world he had known, the world he had built up over decades of blood and sweat had just come crashing down around him and he hadn't been able to do one thing to stop it. He clenched the pipe tighter, his eyes tracing the burning outline of buildings as far as the eye could see. The Kyuubi no Kitsune had wreaked havoc before it'd been pushed outside the village walls and even now he could hear the distant wail of people screaming in the streets.

The death toll at the last count had rise in the thousands.

A long, lone cry came out behind him. A little girl barely hours old was screaming for her mother. The mother would never come and the child would cry alone. Sarutobi couldn't bear to bring himself to touch the tiny bundle of blankets lying on Minato's desk, or look at the child therein.

He sighed heavily. He supposed it was no longer Minato's desk, not anymore. Dead men had no use for such things.

He felt every second of his age right then and regrets choked him. He'd let the Yondaime die, let the village burn, and the child crying behind him was just a reminder of his failure.

Someone hit the window sill across the room, letting themselves into the Hokage's most private office with no care for decorum or tact. Sarutobi knew it could be only one man who'd waltz right in like that during the middle of a crisis

Jiraiya spoke up airily as if trying to find humor in the situation. "What the hell are you doing standing here with all the lights off?"

Sarutobi felt more weary than he had in years. "The fires are providing enough light at the moment, Jiraiya."

The white haired man snorted, stepping up besides his old sensei and staring out at the village as well. The two men remained silent and lost in their own worlds as they contemplated the horror of hell on earth.

Sarutobi asked a question he knew he didn't want the answer too. "How are Kushina and little Naruto?"

The younger man breathed in sharply and seemed to withdraw in on himself. "The complications…the birth went on too long and she bled out. Kushina she's…she's—"

Sarutobi's heart ached. He remembered Kushina and Minato, always smiling and bright, always believing in the best of their future together. Both of their ends by all means should have seemed heroic. The father had died saving the village from a Demon King, the mother died giving birth so the son could live. But right now to him it only seemed ugly and tragic and futile.

They wouldn't see their son grow up.

The baby girl on the desk sobbed again and Jiraiya snapped his head around to look. He breathed. "Is that…?"

Sarutobi agreed, wishing he didn't have to. "Yes. That's the new jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi no Kitsune."

As if in a trance Jiraiya wandered to the desk and picked the little girl up. He cradled her gently and brought her into the gleaming light from the window. Red and orange flickers played out on her skin, the baby was naked and coated in blood and ink on her stomach, and on her chest glowed an intricate seal.

Jiraiya would almost swear he could see red chakra boiling just beneath it, thrashing and screaming and clawing for its release.

"Who is she?" Jiraiya asked softly, rocking the crying child and staring down at her in a mixture of awe and revulsion.

"Minato told me her name was Sakura, but beyond that..." Sarutobi shrugged. "He just picked her from the hospital at random, and with the state of affairs there and the records hall being damaged...we may never know for sure."

The disgust lit Jiraiya's eyes with a smoldering intensity that eerily matched the fires outside. "It was supposed to be Naruto."

Sarutobi felt his fingers spasm and his chest go tight. The world seemed to go out of focus. "What do you mean?"

"He meant for it to be Naruto. Minato said he couldn't dream of making any child hold this burden if not his own but…" Jiraiya laughed and it sounded dry and tight, hanging on the edge between humor and insanity. "Kushina just couldn't finish the birth fast enough and so he ended up sticking it in another kid anyways. _Perfect,_ just perfect."

Sarutobi didn't know how to respond to the bitterness and instead lifted his pipe and took a long pull. The smoke calmed him, marginally, and he let the blue haze curl back past his lips.

Jiraiya peered closer at the girl's stomach, and that odd intense loathing of his remained. "The design's all wrong."

Sarutobi shuddered. "What?"

Jiraiya grimaced. "It was made for a boy, Minato's boy, Minato's blood, Kushina's blood…this girl is none of those things. The locking mechanism is different than what he showed me and…just what color was her hair?"

The old Hokage blinked, he felt as like he was only asking questions tonight. "What do you mean what color was her hair? It was always pink."

But when Sarutobi actually looked at the girl's hair he saw it was lank and grayed. The tips were still pink but her roots now showed a midnight black, as dark as the ink on her skin and the seal on her stomach.

Jiraiya stroked her hair gently, pulling at the fine strands and before their eyes the hair grew darker. "She's being changed, I don't know how or why but…she'll be an interesting creature, that's for sure."

"She's no creature." Sarutobi growled.

Jiraiya shrugged, lifting the little girl to look out the window. Her wide green eyes stared out, now calm and curious. Jiraiya smiled at her but the grin was sharp and false. "She'll have to be a creature; she is the legacy of this night. The village is screaming for her head and I have to ask: are you going to give it to them?"

"Of course not." And Sarutobi looked at his student as if now, for the first time, he was really seeing him. And what he saw filled him with disgust. "Minato wanted her to be a hero and I'm not going to betray his wishes."

Jiraiya shrugged and lifted the girl high. She did not laugh or cry but merely stared at Jiraiya curious as only a child could be. The Sanin spoke. "Suit yourself. Things are pretty bad out there, the clans are vying for power, people are dying, other's are demanding revenge. You better take back your job soon old man or the village is going to go to war with the nearest thing it can find, probably itself."

"I know." Sarutobi sighed. "I know that too well. I've already taken emergency power and by this time tomorrow I'll have the council vote me back in and send a message to the Daimyo."

That seemed to appease the Toad Sage but he made no mention of it, and instead he continued to stare up at the girl. He then spoke to her fondly but in a way that set the Hokage's teeth on edge. It was if Jiraiya was speaking to a favored weapon and not a baby girl. "Hey kid, grow up strong and hard and beautiful and be a stone cold bitch. You'll need it."

"Jiraiya!" He admonished.

The Toad Sage didn't seem to hear. "I need to get back to my information net so I guess this is goodbye for now old man."

"What about Naruto?"

Jiraiya waved the concern off. "I've got him set up in one of my old houses with some nannies and tutors. By the time he gets to the academy he'll be the strongest kid there, you can count on it. When he's older I'll train him like I did his father, but until then I've got work to do."

The Sage wandered to the desk, setting the girl and her blankets back on the smooth surface. He didn't look back at her and vanished in a swirl of wind leaving Sarutobi alone once again with the child.

The girl cried, wanting to be held. He couldn't bring himself to pick her up. He made a signal with his hand and an ANBU appeared. "What are your orders Hokage-sama?"

He hadn't yet taken back his old job, but the elite ninja were quite perceptive. They knew how power would shift now that Namikaze Minato was dead, and they flocked to him ready to answer the call.

It made him as proud as it made him sick. "Take the girl, clean her up, and find an orphanage to take her in."

The ANBU moved over the desk and didn't pick up the girl as carefully or as gently as Jiraiya had. But the ANBU held her in the same way, as if she was a fragile as a ticking time bomb. She stopped crying immediately.

And as Jiraiya had before, the ANBU touched her hair and then the seal on her stomach in wonder and fear. "Of course sir. Security?"

"One squad until further notice. Go." He ordered.

"Yes sir." The ANBU bowed his head and vanished, taking the jinchuuriki with him and he murmured as he left. "Come on fox brat."

The sharp sting of hatred in those words remained in the room even as silence fell around the Hokage like a curtain. Outside the village burned and within his head Sarutobi wanted to scream. There was so much yet to be done if Konoha would survive the night and some battles were worth more than others.

Konoha came first.

Then his ninja.

Then the clans.

And then, somewhere at the bottom of that list, were his concerns over the new Jinchuuriki. But she was a nobody even with the demon in her stomach and for the moment he couldn't spare time for her concern.

With a heavy sigh Sarutobi got to work not realizing the far reaching implications this night would have. The village was now a breeding ground for hatred, and from hatred bred monsters, and from monsters came atrocities.

And though Sarutobi did not realize it, he'd just unwittingly had a hand in creating the most terrible monster his village would ever witness.

**Five Years Later, Konoha**

She moved through the village without a sound, a whisper in shadows, an echo with no source. Being chased around by angry, drunken, and furious people had taught her that skill well enough.

She had not planned to halt but her well honed instincts cautioned her and she stopped for a moment in the shadow of an alley.

The long black cloak she wore pooled around her feet, scuffed with blood and dirt and all manner of things a little girl on the run could pick up. Sakura fingered her hair for a moment, strands of midnight black passing through her fingers. Then her fingers hit a snarl and she gave up, she couldn't even remember the last time she'd combed her hair. She couldn't even remember the last time she'd washed it in anything more than cold water and hand soap from a public bathroom.

Mindful of her instincts she looked out of the alleyway, tasting the air and smelling and seeing. Moments later a rather rowdy and _very_ drunk group of chunin wandered past. If she'd been out there...well, she didn't care to dwell on that.

She gathered the cloak back around her; it had been a gift from the Sandaime Hokage. She had felt so special, so wonderful that _she_ had gotten attention from the man, enough that he would to take her shopping for a single gift. She'd picked the cloak: it was camouflage, a blanket, a pillow, and sleeping bag all in one. It would be her second skin for years to come. She would have liked to show it off but there was no one to see, not anymore. Sakura had been moved from the orphanage to an apartment at the age of three and she, even from early childhood memories that _should_ be blank, remembered the hatred of the caretakers there.

She remembered the loneliness, the gnawing fear of the other children or the adults, the fear of pain that would always come. The apartment had been better for a short while, but when the village at large had learned where she lived without the protection of the orphanage…things took a turn for the worse.

She had stared death in the face enough times for it to be an old and dear friend. Her only friend in the world apart from the Hokage. But the Hokage visited her once a year, if that. Death came to see her far more times than that. She supposed the nurses in the ICU might be her friends too; some gave her juice and cookies when her injuries were bad enough that a good night of sleep wouldn't take them away.

They never talked to her but the snacks were delicious. If it didn't hurt so bad for her to have to go there and then beg for treatment she might do it more often.

She had no concept of the horror those thoughts would have to others, no concept that the life she led was something no one would even wish on their worst enemies. The five year old girl instead thought of cookies and juice and hospital rooms, and checked to make sure her way was clear. She wanted to avoid the cold hatred filled glares of the villagers and the whispers of "monster" and "demon bitch". She wanted to avoid the violence and staining her cloak in another layer of blood. Pulling the hood of farther up she melted back into the shadows.

**Three Hours Later, Abandoned District**

She slid the paper door noiselessly, stained by years of dust and decay. The room it led to was dirty and large and rather empty, but importantly to this little girl it was home.

She had stopped living in her apartment in the interests of her best health. It was constantly vandalized, the electricity never worked, and the water was a sickening shade of brown. That people knew where it was and could go there to find her was…equally as bad.

The floors there were still stained through by her blood.

But here in this abandoned clan compound (to who it had once belonged, she couldn't say) she was relatively safe. No shower, no running water, no creature comforts, but being able to live without fear and pain crippling her into a sobbing ball of terror was well worth the price.

She moved deeper into the house to her room, though it wasn't really a room. It was a...closet.

Sakura lived in a closet and it was paradise to her. People came through even this abandoned compound enough she couldn't afford to stay in the outer rooms of this rotting place. So she curled away in a closet in a back room lost in the maze of hallways enough that she felt safe. And yet burrowed here like a frightened animal she was afraid, always.

She slid open another door and a smile, for the first time in weeks, flickered on the her face.

The closest was small and almost all of the space was taken up by a large but clean mattress. On the wall were a few hooks to hang possessing she didn't actually have and sitting in the corner was a pile of worn blankets and pillows. She slipped the cloak off and hung it up carefully and it looked rather lonely among the empty hooks.

The horrors and injustices of her world were still too complicated for her brain to grasp or for her to feel hatred and bitterness. But those things lingered, flashing through her during her worst moments. She didn't quite understand them yet but they remained and with every passing day of hatred and suffering they gained strength.

Underneath her cloak she was wearing a red t-shirt, black shorts, and simple black sandals. The shirt had belonged to a boy who'd bullied her and she'd stolen it out of the trash after she'd bit his arm and bloodied the cuff. (And the father of that boy had then hit her so hard that she couldn't see straight for a week and kept getting nosebleeds)

The shorts had come from a public bathhouse and she'd stolen them from an open locker. The sandals had been broken and abandoned by another child and Sakura had patched them quite handily and wore them herself. The little girl was very proud of her resourcefulness, considering the pain and stealth a good trade for clothing.

The oddness of her appearance was only increased by the fact she had what appeared to be around thirty shuriken, kunai, and other weapons tied flush to her tiny frame by wire. She unhooked the loops carefully and pulled the weapons off gently so she wouldn't impale herself.

Getting hurt though was a small concern, after a good night's sleep most of her wounds healed up just fine and she liked the weapons far too much to throw them away. Her _collection_ had stared at the tender age of four, each weapon had at one point or another been stabbed into her body or drawn her blood. She liked to think some of her life was in each one, and every night in the shine of the blades she fantasized returning those wounds on the people who had inflicted them.

But for the moment it was only the twisted dream of a little girl far too weak to fulfill it.

The wire the weapons hung from came from someone who had tried to strangle her with it on her fourth birthday. That had started the collection, but what had continued it was a different dream. She had wanted to be a ninja since before she could remember. Sakura wanted so badly to be strong. Strong people couldn't be in as much pain as she was, and she kept collecting weapons hoping someday she would learn how to use them.

And on a more practical note since she had little money to speak of, getting her needed weapons from those who scorned her seemed like a brilliant idea. She hung up the weapons over the next hook and moved over to the mattress humming to herself as she did, little curls of pride warming her heart.

People had tried to take all of her self-worth out of her: villagers, ninja, anyone. But she clung to her pride that remained carefully, nurturing it out of sheer spite. Spite was something she knew very well and some days it was all that kept her moving.

She laid down on the mattress, sighing happily and breathing in the clean smell of it. She couldn't clean anywhere else or somebody would become suspicious about why an abandoned estate looked lived in, but here could be sanitary.

She contemplated the walls, loving them in only the way a child with nothing could love. They were hers, the roof, the walls, the mattress, the floor. _Hers_, and if she was careful no one could take them from her. There would be later years when she would feel shame and hatred looking at this place, but now all she felt was pride and love.

Sakura was sure she wouldn't have to move for a while; she was somewhat near the Uchiha estate but they never came near here. The Uchiha's, when considering their egos, wouldn't be caught living or dead within a hundred yards of this place.

She stared out the small window for a moment (her only source of sunlight for sometimes days) feeling the warmth on her pale skin. Having spent her short life running through the shadows her body was beginning to show the effects.

As she stared her vision began to waver. The fledging feelings of happiness and contentment vanished and her head began to throb. She shot up frantically, trying and failing to get up from the mattress and only managing to fall and hit the floor.

She moaned. "No, no, no, please no…"

But her pleading wasn't answered and the world went dim. She crawled over to the mattress, dragging herself by her arms as her strength waned. She wrapped a blanket around her frail body as she collapsed once more and this time didn't move again.

Not even sleep was safe, not anymore. At one point it'd been her refuge and sometimes the only place she could find happiness. She'd dream of having a mom and a dad, of having friends, of eating yummy food and drinking sweet things. She'd dream of being a ninja and being the best. She'd dream of no longer being afraid and dream of others cowering in front of her.

But the nightmares had stolen that from her. They always came, always, dragging her into horrors she never knew if she'd wake from and no matter how long she tried to stay awake…she couldn't run forever.

Sakura thrashed violently and her limbs went still. She was thrust into the abyss of sleep and the nightmares clawed their way up to meet her.

It was a battlefield. Corpses lay strewn across the land, blood stained everything, the forests were burning, and the sky itself was on fire.

She could only liken this place to hell.

But she'd wandered this battlefield before and as she knew they would the screams started. Not all the bodies were dead and their pleas for help drowned out the roar of even the flames. She didn't understand it; the scope was too vast for her mind to handle. She knew it was a battle and she knew ninja were dead but she only identified Konoha shinobi. Their leaf headbands appeared like molten steel in the raging infernos, and she wondered why they were the only ones here.

Where was the enemy?

She wandered through the carnage and it was familiar to her as on old friend. This nightmare had happened before. The wind was hot and it kicked up ash and embers into her face. She shielded herself and the dress she was wearing whipped around her in the gale.

It was white, made with ribbons and lace and it was the kind of thing little girls like her loved. No matter the blood, smoke, or dirt around her it remained clean. But the ribbons were bound so tightly it felt like her rib cage was collapsing and even if she tore at the dress until her fingers were bloodied the dress would remain on and the blood wouldn't touch it.

Even the things she adored were out of her control.

The faces of the dying turned to her, reaching out with ruined hands and begging for her help. "Please…please…"

"I can't." She whispered. Their hands fell short and she couldn't seem to get closer to them no matter how far she ran. And she couldn't get away. Never away.

And like always the pleading turned to hatred. The unknown faces twisted to become her tormentors, villagers and Shinobi alike, yelling obscenities and spitting at her.

"Bitch! You were supposed to die, not them!"

"Demon whore did you think we wouldn't find you?"

"Animal! You were a bane to us!"

"It was you! Always…always…our harbinger of death!"

The wind around her hissed and sighed, warm on her cheeks like breath. She felt more than saw the kunai sticking out of the ground in front of her.

The ashes seemed to caress her, the embers consoled her, and the wind they road on cajoled her.

_Wasn't it your dream? _It seemed to whisper. _Wasn't it your desire? Pick up the blade; I left it there all for you._

She picked up the kunai in her hand and weighed it and in the light from the fires it gleamed white hot.

The wind continued to twist in her hair like a gentle hand and stroke her cheeks like a dear friend. _It will feel so good. So right. Use it._

Her body moved of its own violation, desire fueling her actions before reason could catch up with her. But she was a child and her impulse control was shoddy at the best of times. It was only a dream after all, and what the wind whispered to her sounded so nice…

She took a step closer and one of her tormentors grabbed her skirt and pulled. She fell to her knees and the kunai snapped forward. The blade hilt deep into the man's throat and blood bubbled up on her hands. The man died quickly, she felt his throat shudder under her fingers, and she watched the light dimming from his terrified eyes.

Good. They should be the ones afraid.

She wiped her hands off on the dress and left long stains of red behind. The streaks felt right somehow, felt good and warm against her stomach and she pulled the kunai loose and cleaned it on her dress. It left another bloody streak.

The ribbons and lace didn't feel quite as tight anymore, quite as suffocating.

The wind swirled around her in something resembling delight, scattering embers and ash around her like confetti at a birthday party. _Good girl, good girl, so smart and strong. Get up there's so much you can do…_

The wind guided her like a friend, dancing with her, playing with her, whispering suggestions in her ear. _There are so many ways to kill_.

And the wind began to teach her every one. And with each kill, with each new technique, each new scream, she added a new stain of blood to her dress. It was her canvas to paint and no one could take that from her.

_There's something I want you to see._ The wind fluttered, tugging at her dress. She noticed the breezes now had a reddish tinge to them like vapor . It felt like chakra. She knew chakra, she'd felt it coiling in her guts, always itching and tugging and letting her know it was there.

On the horizon she could see a red glow, it was chakra so intense it had become visible and she was drawn to it like a moth to flame. She wanted to burn on it. The wind seemed to take in the chakra and it burned hotter and hotter on her face as she scrambled up the hill.

She was reaching the crest and could feel something exhilarating and alive on the other side.

The wind hissed. _This is the truth…your truth. _

Out of seemingly nowhere a staff came angling in straight at her head. She jumped and the wind howled and flung her from harm's way, sending her skidding down the hill. The red glow that laid beyond, the truth, was now far out of her reach.

The wind howled. _Who dares to deny? Who dares! _

And as she saw who stood in her way her heart froze. It was the Sandaime Hokage in full battle armor. Unlike the last time the old man had seen her he wasn't smiling. He was staring at her with cold and hard rage in his eyes and a disappointment so deep it cut her to the bone.

"Why did you kill them Sakura?" He asked her harshly. "Did you want to be a monster?"

She was taken aback for a moment, the killing and the bloodstains on her dress felt cold and heavy on her. But the wind screamed. _You're the monster! You're the blind eyes that see no harm! You're the cold shoulders that turn away!_

The gales curled around her protectively, the red chakra in the wind searing her and it whispered only to her. _He's the one who doesn't protect you. You deserve the riches of heaven, the comfort of empires, the blood of treacherous old men. Kill him._

"But…" She clutched her blood slicked dress between her hands. "He was so kind to me—"

_You know nothing of kindness!_ The wind raged. _But you know their cruelty, oh yes, even if you don't understand it. Share your cruelty like a good little girl and you'll feel so good._

"Let me pass," She whispered softly. "Let me see the truth."

"I cannot." He said calmly and slipped into a battle stance. "What awaits you beyond will bring you nothing but misery."

She looked into his eyes not believing his words, and she saw sorrow and pity there. The bitterness she had never understood swelled in her and everything finally clicked together.

The hairs on the back of her neck stood up.

"Pity?" Her chakra began to fluctuate, itching and burning out of her. Her eyes became slitted and her sight sharpened as the world seemed to crystallize. "Is that all you'll ever give me?" Her eyes turned crimson like a blooming wound, scarlet as blood. Her nails lengthened to claws and she felt like a monster and she liked it. "You think you can pity me? Save it for yourself!"

The wind screamed its approval.

She charged at him swinging her arm and trying to cut open his throat. He blocked her with his staff easily and deflected her blow to the side. Her fist struck out again only to be knocked away, and she hit the ground like a meteor and rock and ash and dust went everywhere. The blood on her dress was now her own.

Growling in frustration she went on the offensive again and flung herself at Sarutobi, the wind went with her but it still wasn't enough. She was still too weak and the staff cracked her across the face. Blood filled her mouth and she choked on it. The fight was as beautiful as it was ugly and she loved and hated it in equal measure.

The wind tore at her, letting her know its displeasure. _Weak, weak, WEAK! Get up and fight!_

So she got up and the battle raged on. The longer it went the more chakra she poured out. It was no longer an electrifying icy blue but rage filled crimson. The tide of the battle began to turn; the red chakra and the wind seemed to sing in her veins and on her skin and it was as if she could see everything at once. With last roar she poured out everything. She flew at the Hokage knowing his movements and as he raised his staff to block her the red chakra turned into a claw and grabbed it. She could see his surprise and with a feral grin she plunged her hand into his chest.

The blood flowed down her arm like water and they stood there, him kneeling, her with her arm through him. "Take your pity and rot with it."

She pulled her hand out slowly, staring at the blood covered appendage in fascination. The Hokage's eyes dulled and he fell lifelessly to the ground. For a moment she could feel the burning sensation of regret but it slipped away as her features returned to normal.

"Serves the old fool right." She mumbled, shaking her hand and trying to rid herself of the blood. It was only a dream.

Strangely the wind was silent but it caressed her letting her know of its approval. She began walking up the hill again and she could feel the chakra growing stronger to the point of it becoming unbearable. It diidn't take long for her to break out into a sprint, and the need to _see_ overwhelmed all else.

Her goal was almost within her reach when she felt the ground shift beneath her feet. She stumbled and tried to right herself only to fall to the ground again. Everything turned to haze and she was slipping from the nightmare's grasp. She clawed out desperately trying to hang on but the more she held the more that fell away.

It was gone. She was falling through the darkness and with a flash of light she was thrust upwards. The walls of her closet greeted her opened eyes.

She then proceeded to vent her displeasure by screaming at the ceiling. "Damn it! Damn it all to hell! The one time I actually wanted to see the end and the damn things stops!" She shouted at the walls, kicking at her blankets only to get tangled in them and fall. She snarled and thrashed across the mattress and was almost on another tirade when she glanced out the window.

Her face visibly paled and she sobered up immediately. It was the evening of October the 10th; the day the village celebrated the fall of the Kyuubi no Kitsune.

It was her birthday and the worst day of her existence. There would be no cake, no gifts, no fun games to play or yummy things to eat. There might be beatings and curses, broken arms, shattered ribs, punctured lungs and a trip to the ICU. If she was lucky she'd be awake later tonight after the worst long enough for the nurses to bring her juice and cookies.

Last year, on her fourth birthday, one nurse had even patted her head. That was as close to a birthday well-wisher as she'd ever gotten.

_"_Why can't I just die?" She asked the walls.

They didn't answer and the bitterness she'd finally understood welled back up. It wasn't fair.

She pulled her legs to her chest trying to stop feeling like the world was ending. Tears ran down her face, fell to her knees, and then slid down her legs to the floor. It wasn't fair.

Her body ached, she was starving and hadn't been able to bathe for god knows how long and the aches of the nightmare stayed with her as if it'd been almost real. At that moment in time falling asleep and never waking would have been a blessing.

When her tears ran dry she pushed herself off the mattress and mopped up her face with the collar of her shirt. She pulled out the blankets from the closest to dry, they smelled like sweat and tears and the chore gave her something to do. As she aired the blankets out her mind spun.

"Money." She told the walls. "I need money and a bath." The walls did not object to this plan and she frowned. "And food, my tummy really hurts."

Her stomach gurgled to agree with her and she threw the blankets onto the mattress and sat back down. "But…tonight's a really bad night. Super-duper bad and juice and cookies aren't worth what I'll have to do to get them."

If worst came to worst she'd go and get cornered outside the hospital, get beaten badly enough for someone to see, and then plead and cajole her way into a room for the night. They'd clean her there, feed her, and knock her out with enough sedatives to sleep for a week without dreams.

But that was a last ditch effort, the pain…the pain was too much for her to take voluntarily.

"I gotta sneak some money, or make it." Neither the walls nor the mattress had advice. "Then I'll go for a walk! And maybe…if nothing comes to mind…I'll go to the hospital."

She didn't feel good about this, not at all, but it was the best she could come up with. She'd make it work and she gathered up her cloak and threw it over herself. Sakura dearly hoped she wouldn't regret this.

**Konoha, Festival Grounds**

Smoke filled with the scents of sizzling vegetables and savory meat permeated the air. Stages were filled with performers entertaining the large crowds, jugglers, acrobats, and retired ninja who could still put on a good show. Various booths lined the streets with their owners yelling to attract attention to their merchandise: toys, foods, garments, masks, and trinkets from all across the elemental countries. Children laughed and ran with sparklers in their hands between the adults on the streets, and the buzz of the crowds was almost comforting.

Sakura stared wide eyed at spectacle before her but quickly shook her head and wandered in another direction. She was soon far and deep into the woods. Now was not the time to be distracted, this world of happiness would never be her own anyways. She had a self-appointed mission and she be damned if she didn't see it through. After walking a fair distance the noise of the crowds diminished and soon all she heard was the sound of wind in the trees.

Except she heard the voices of a young boy and an older man, and despite herself she felt curious. The sound of their voices was unpleasantly harsh, something she was familiar with, and despite everything that tone was recognizable to her and therefore more appealing.

Anger was something she fully understood.

She saw a clearing and realized she'd somehow stumbled onto one of the shinobi training grounds dotting the village. In the center of the clearing was a boy her age with hair a sunny yellow sahde of blond. And he was arguing fiercely with the adult in front of him. "Why can't I go to the festival?" The boy shouted and stompied his foot down.

The adult rolled his eyes. "I told you Naruto, learn this technique and _then_ you can go."

The boy pouted. "That's not fair, and it's a stupid jutsu anyways."

Sakura felt a sudden and intense dislike for the boy, what the hell did _he_ know about things being unfair?

The man sighed. "Henge is _not_ stupid. With this jutsu you can be anyone and blend in anywhere, that's the life blood of any ninja. Would you want your father to be ashamed of you for not learning such a simple technique?"

Naruto squirmed and crossed his arms. "Whatever. Show it to me again…" He mumbled under his breath, "…jerk."

The man narrowed his eyes, seeming to have noticed it, but despite that he fell into a long lecture about the jutsu and demonstrated it for his charge.

From the shadows Sakura watched with avid eyes, her hands clumsily mimicking the hand seals of the man. She remembered how chakra felt in her dream and…

The jutsu activated without warning and Sakura felt funny. She fled back into the woods looking for a pond she'd stumbled across. When she looked down into the water a different face stared back at her. Sakura screamed and scrambled back and the chakra sizzled and went out.

She took a deep breath. "That was supposed to happen." She assured herself.

She tried for another hour, tweaking and shifting and trying to make the features line up just right. When she was done a brunette teenager stared back at her wearing a pretty blue kimono like she'd seen at the festival.

With this she could go _anywhere_. No more people staring at her hatefully, no more beatings, no more curses. She practically squealed in delight. She could get money and food and baths and…right, a bath.

Maybe the bath houses were open? It was a rather large festival after all.

Twenty minutes later she arrived at the largest bath house in the city. It took her longer than expected after taking extra precaution to not bump into anyone else. She wasn't sure if the henge would hold if someone hit her and she was leery of finding out in the middle of a reveling and drunken crowd.

The place she arrived at was known as Crystal Springs and it was overflowing with people trying to get in. It seemed her bet had gone right for once.

She pushed to the front of the crow carefully, concentrating hard on the henge so it wouldn't slip. When she finally reached the front of the lines she wanted to collapse and thank god that she made it out alive. She settled on talking to the head attendant instead.

"Um ma'am? Excuse me..." She called out, trying to grab the attention of a woman in her mid thirties behind the desk. Sakura's voice came out rather high and she realized the henge did nothing for her voice. She immediately pitched it lower. "Ma'am? Could I…?"

"Wait your turn in line like everyone else! Can't you see I'm a bit busy here right now?" The woman snapped, running harried behind the desk trying to hand out bath tokens and take money at the same time. The woman was succeeding, barely, but the lines of people behind Sakura were getting restless.

Sakura flinched, every sense screamed at her to run away and forget about the stupid plan. But she shrugged it off, she was hungry and tired and dirty and she just wanted something to go her way for once.

"Sorry ma'am, I was sent here, I mean I came here because..." Sakura searched for the right words.

The woman turned so fast her neck audibly cracked . "Are you one of the temps the agency sent over?"

Sakura had no idea what that meant but she nodded anyways.

The woman's lips broke into a wide grin. "Why didn't you say so? Hurry up and get back here! I don't have a lot of time and the other girl called in sick..." The woman beamed at her and Sakura nearly took a step back in surprise. No one was ever happy to see her, ever, it just _didn't_ happen.

"Alright." Sakura answered and tried to return the smile. Then she realized it was the henge that needed to smile and she shifted her chakra to do so.

She was dragged behind the desk and handed a clipboard and after that time just seemed to just slip away from her. Three hours passed as she ran around the springs restocking, cleaning, and working the front desk. The jobs were menial and frankly well within the short attention span of a five year old. Especially a five year old starving for food and money and a good bath.

When a lull hit at the beginning of the fireworks Sakura circumspectly grabbed a basket of the most expensive soaps, a private shower ticket, and she re-did her henge in a closet into a freckled redhead in a towel.

She practically ran to the showers and slammed the door behind her, cutting off the hectic noise of the bathhouse. Giving a sigh of contentment she slid to the floor released the henge. Her chakra stores, while vast, had been drained from the exertion of keeping it in place that long.

She hummed happily and started peeling off her clothes. She spun the dial of the shower to warm and stepped under the water. Instant relief flooded her muscles and the heat felt so nice that she giggled and danced a bit under the showerhead.

It was a good day, she decided.

As she washed her hair she could feel herself unwind and the stiffness seeping out. She grabbed a bottle of conditioner and turned back to the shower and that's when she saw it.

Crimson. Blood. It coated the floor, spattered across the porcelain walls and the water coming from the shower head had turned scarlet. The conditioner bottle clattered to the floor. She stepped back and her whole body began to shake.

In the heat and steam she broke into a cold sweat and her stomach rebelled and tried to vomit up food that wasn't there.

"This can't be real."She told herself. Images flickered before her eyes reflected in the blood pooled all around her. Battlefields, corpses, flames, and finally the body of the Third Hokage. His chest had a gaping hole where his heart had been. She looked at her hand in horror and it was covered with blood and flecks of tissue. His eyes blamed her, accused her of his death, and he was right.

"No, no, NO! He's still alive! I didn't kill him, I didn't, it wasn't real. It was a dream and it couldn't be real and… "She smashed her hand against the floor, shattering a tile and cutting her arm open. Immediately the hallucination vanished and the only blood left came from her arm. She pulled out the splinters from the wound and watched it heal over in a matter of seconds.

"Dear god what am I?" She stared at her hands in horror. "What the hell am I?"

Now it wasn't even sleep that was no longer safe. The nightmares were entering her waking moments. Nowhere was safe, there was nowhere to run, nowhere to go.

Sakura cried under the hot water until her skin was scalded. Eventaully she got tired of crying and got to washing her hair and then her body and then her clothes. She barely felt any of it.

It couldn't go on like this. She pieced herself together like a broken sheet of glass, lining up the shards but unable to heal the cracks. She got dressed and tried to reapply the henge. When it failed she started to cry. What else could go wrong?

Then she remembered the words of the teacher who'd been speaking to that blond haired boy. No jutsu worked without concentrating really hard. So Sakura concentrated and the henge came up. She didn't cheer or even smile but she at least stopped crying.

Sakura practically stumbled to the front desk.

"Ma'am, I've finished the job." At this remark, the woman behind the counter smiled and threw a wad of bills at her chest.

Sakura barely caught the money and stared at it in awe. It was the most she'd ever held, not that _that_ was saying much.

"Good work. Have fun at the festival and thank the temp agency for sending you on such short notice." The woman waved her off.

Sakura waved back, dazed. She quickly exited the bathhouse and reemerged into the festival.

Her dazed happiness quickly turned into a scowl. She'd managed to pull herself together long enough to put up a henge and get paid but now she saw a new problem coming on. In the back of her mind, just at the edge of her subconscious, another nightmare lurked. She wouldn't have much longer before it overtook her. Trying to suppress the mental pressure was difficult and she only had about an hour's worth of energy before she'd crash, but for the sake of food she had to keep going.

She stopped at an all night store and a bakery and with her money she bought enough food to last a week. Balancing the bag carefully on her hip Sakura headed towards her home. About halfway there she smelled something wonderful and couldn't resist splurging on some kind of meat on a stick.

It was wonderfully salty and greasy and she gnawed on it like a hungry animal. It'd been so long since she'd had something delicious. When she had it halfway down she nibbled at it more slowly, trying to make it last as she watched the people on the street.

The women were all wearing elegant kimonos and had bright flowers in their hair. The men had their hamanaka's and gaudily decorated masks. In her henge she was happy to be just another face in the crowd not standing out in any way.

She sighed, somehow that thought only made her sad: it was only thanks to wearing a face not hers that she got any peace.

**Abandoned District,** **M****idnight**

Her tummy was full and her body was clean and smelled good. Sakura was a very happy little girl and she carefully nibbled at a candy bar she'd bought, content to lay on her mattress and stare at the ceiling. She could now feel the nightmare tugging at her mind, willing her to sleep so that it could take over.

She was afraid, really and truly afraid. The incident in the bathhouse hadn't left her and she still shivered in terror at the thought of it. And yet, at the same time, the last dream had felt _good_. And Sakura wanted nothing more than to feel nice inside for the rest of her life. After ten more minutes of glassy eyed staring she finished her candy and let the dream consume her.

It started right where it had left off; the Hokage's body was still where he had fallen, the wind was still whipping up and down the hill, blood still coated her hands and the breeze murmured in her ears. _Right at home, I'll give you everything you'll ever need, all the blood and screams you could ask for._

She could feel the pressure building; the chakra on the other side was growing to astronomical rates. Before she even realized it she was running. The gravel cut her bare feet and she didn't even notice. The wind seemed to laugh, a shivering and rattling sound. _So close, so close!_

When she finally reached the crest her eyes widened in horror. There in its full glory was the Kyuubi no Kitsune, its nine tails swinging erratically behind it and smashing the earth. It was sending out shock waves so powerful they knocked her off her feet. She was caught by the wind and it settled her on her stomach. _Welcome to your legacy._

The demon was being attacked by leaf shinobi and all to no avail. With one swing of a tail it killed scores of men, splattering the bodies and searing them into fine mist. No one could stand up to the demon's wrath and their attempts were almost laughable. The wind roared its laughter and she just laid there in awe. The ground began to vibrate and the demon looked up just in time to dodge the sword of a giant toad.

"Look at that!" Sakura shouted to the wind giddily. It was all just a wonderful and horrifying game to her as the fox and toad battled.

The wind did not share her humor and buzzed along the ground. _Do not cheer for bastard amphibians child. No, no, you are of the fox._

"I am?" She breathed excitedly. If that was true she was part of something powerful and strong and it made her entire body hum with delight. _She_ was finally important.

_You are. Now watch little girl and know where you come from._

"You die today demon!" The low voice of the toad boomed as it readied itself for the next attack. A deep growling filled the air and chuckling boomed through the night. Sakura soon realized the fox was _laughing_.

"You come back for more froggy? I think I'll give you a matching scar over the other eye!" The demon howled and bloodlust thundered in its voice.

"Give it a scar, give it a scar!" Sakura cheered.

"So be it." The toad muttered. The beasts clashed again, the shockwave of teeth hitting steel flattening the forest for miles.

The two titans faltered when the voice of a man was heard. "Gamabunta! The ritual has been completed. I think it's time we wrap this up old friend."

Sakura could not see where this voice came and her eyes narrowed trying to find its source.

The toad seemed to deflate at these words. "Goodbye Minato, I'm sorry that it came to this."

The demon charged the stationary toad, taking the distraction for the advantage it seemed to be.

"Why stop now? The fun's just beginning!"The Kyuubi roared and bared its fangs.

"There's no turning back now." The man named Minato said sadly. A light enveloped the toad and it burned as bright as the sun.

She shielded her eyes away from the blinding light. She heard the screams of the demon as whatever the jutsu was did its work. As the light died away the demon's body turned to ashes.

"No!" She screamed desperately and clamored over the edge.

A shriek of wind pulled her back and buffeted her from leaving. _It's already done. There is nothing a wretch like you can do to stop it._

A maelstrom of crimson chakra seared the sky and surrounded the man and the bundle he was carrying. The chakra whipped out and knocked the man away, sending him tumbling to the ground hundreds of feet below.

The toad barley managed to catch him. He set the man's dying body down carefully before vanishubg in a cloud of smoke. The maelstrom continued high above in the air, the chakra for a moment took the appearance of the demon and then was completely sealed away. The dying crimson winds gently carried the bundle to the ground where it was caught by the man.

He fell to the ground, his lips moving and she couldn't hear the words. He too turned to ashes. Sakura was now all alone again except for herself, the wind, and the odd bundle on the ground. She was released by the wind and it beckoned her forward and she slowly walked towards the small bundle.

An ear splitting wail come from beneath the blankets. She stared at the bundle incredulously. "A baby? The Kyuubi went away into a baby?" She knelt down and pulled the sheet back.

Her mind went blank; in the bundle was a pink-haired green-eyed child with a strange tattoo on its stomach. The same tattoo that she had. The pink hair started to gray before her eyes, taking on hues of black she recognized from her own locks.

"I had pink hair." She whispered.

The wind seemed to slap her._ Stop whining over such idiocy. The Kyuubi no Kitsune didn't die, it was sealed. Sealed into you. The legacy of hatred, the cage of revulsion, the weakest creature ever to hold the power of a Demon King. How far have we fallen… _

The illusion of the dream crumbled beneath her. When the world reformed she was standing hip deep in a sewer and somewhere far above her a storm raged and poured out rain. The rain water rushed into the pipes and in the water she saw the threads of her own memories caught beneath the surface.

How long would it be until the water rose above her head and drowned her?

She covered her face with her arm. The lukewarm water smelled of blood and dying cherry blossoms and the sickly sweet smell of rot.

But she was faced with a more pressing question now that the dream had ended.

_Where am I now?_

_

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_

Edit: This is the rewritten and clean version. What got changed in this chapter was: new scene added for Sarutobi and Jiraiya, more background and a glimpse of Naruto's childhood alongside Sakura's, Sakura was made more childish as her age should have made her, grammar was cleaned up and the story logic was made clearer, the character of Sano was cut and shifted later into the story.


	2. Bindings of Blood

Disclaimer: ...and still no ownership. Fan-freaking-tastic.

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**Within the Seal**

Sakura wasn't sure how long she spent wandering the pipes, slogging through water and getting tangled in her memories. Hours, days, weeks, it didn't really matter, all she knew was the water was getting higher and it wouldn't be long before she drowned.

Even then she was still trying to process the magnitude of the sin committed against her by the village. She was the Kyuubi's cage, the container, and everyone else knew it and they hated her for it. By all accounts of the memories she'd seen, _she_ had saved the village along with the blond haired man. The Yondaime Hokage.

And they still loathed and blamed her for it. It made her feel sick and bitter and sometimes she contemplated drowning down here and just giving up. The village would never accept her, not now.

"Come..." A deep voice reverberated along the corridor and it sounded like the wind in her dreams. But it had deepened now, becoming more deadly and cold, more _visceral_.

She followed the voice to the depths of the sewers, she was too afraid to refuse and the water got deeper and deeper. The water finally spilled her out into a towering chamber with a gate, and she fought the water and realized she'd have to swim.

She had floundered halfway to the gate when her feet hit stairs hidden by the murky surface. She began to climb up and by the time she reached the top she was only knee deep. A few more steps and she slogged over to the gate and rested her head on one of the tarnished bars. Her eyes narrowed and stared into the darkness, and as she did something stirred in the shadows. Then it _moved._

"So you've finally arrived, I was starting to think you were too stupid to get the message." A voice rumbled from the dark. Slowly, like a terrible cloud cresting the horizon, a ghastly beast emerged from the shadows with fur as red as blood and milky white teeth as long as her arms.

"Kyuubi no Kitsune?" She stuttered. Her feet slipped out from under her and she splashed back into the water and the murk blinded her. She fought to the surface and saw the beast staring at her and went still. She floated on her back like a tiny piece of jetsam lost in a vast tide, and she gazed up at the towering fox with a slack jaw.

"What? Do you have any other all powerful demons sealed in you that I should know about?" The Kyuubi chuckled but the joke was at her expense and his laughter was harsh, revealing more rows of razor sharp teeth.

"I'm sorry." She panicked. "I'm sorry, I'm so so sorry—"

He flicked his tail on the water, sending up a wave that covered her. She swallowed water into her lungs and went under, and she thrashed and swam up until she hit the surface again. Her lungs burned as hacked up water and spit. The Kyuubi observed all of this in obvious distaste."Quit apologizing wretch. Now come here so I can look at the pathetic little jinchuuriki they've given me."

She got up shakily trying to smother her tears and inched closer and closer to the gate. The Kyuubi dropped his head down and his large crimson eyes cut into her like blades. "Tell me what you think of your village little girl and let me see if you're even worth the effort."

She didn't hesitate with an answer. "I hate them. It's filled with liars and bastards and nothing would make me happier than to see it burn. It's not fair they should get to live their happy lives when I don't!"

An image of the village on fire, of people screaming and bodies lying in the streets filled her senses. Whether from the Kyuubi or herself she wasn't sure but it was the most stunning thing she had ever seen. Quickly as it came the vision left.

"Why did you take it away?" She asked sadly.

This time the laughter was so loud it shook the ceilings, sending water splashing down onto her already soaked head and chills crawling down her spine. She crouched down in the water knowing there was no place to hide. She felt so small she wanted to curl up and die.

"I like you little human, as filled with fire and spite as you are. You're pathetic now; weak, worthless, whining, but I'll make you something. You'll serve your purpose as wretched as you are." He revealed even more teeth as he smirked at her.

"Purpose?" She stared at the demon in wonder. She felt wretched and broken and she wanted to be something more so badly she shook with the desire.

"Yes, do as I say and this village will be brought to its knees before us. The torture of their death will be delightful beyond compare." Was his vicious response and another vision of her standing blood stained and victorious over the city crashed into her mind.

She thought on it and it made her stomach feel tingly and warm. It made her feel good.

"I'll do it." She whispered.

The demon had laid it's trap, woven her nightmares, ensnared her in lies and truth, and now the demon _had_ her and his eyes glowed with cruel delight. The little drowned creature before him would be a useful pawn in his games.

"Then let's get started." Two of his tails rushed out from within the cage and lifted her out of the water.

She did not scream but it was a close thing, and she wiggled around in his tails. He pulled tight until it hurt and she went still. A third tail patted her head almost heavily enough to break her neck.

"Human, we're going to make a little thing called a blood contract. With a little chakra, some pain, and a few drops of blood in front of a Demon King as myself…we're going to strike our bargain." A fourth tail came from the cage and took hold of her right arm.

He raised her arm and her sleeve slid backrevealing pale and translucent skin. The predatory look in his eyes frightened her and she knew there was no turning back. She'd agreed and frankly she wouldn't take it back if she could.

"I'll make my requirements of you, my orders. You'll match them and make your own puny requests . Then the seal will bind our blood so that if you or I break the deal, we'll both die." His voice had a sadistic edge and she was put-off by just how _thrilled _he sounded about the prospect of them dying.

And she hated being on the end of this but deals with the devil never came cheap.

She asked hesitantly."I understand how my dying would kill you but...how would you dying kill me?"

"Glad to see my jinchuuriki has some intelligence lurking in her brain. Let me give you a…_demonstration_." The cruel look in his eyes was her only warning. Before she could even ask what he meant her body was flooded by his chakra.

She gasped and her back arched as if lighting was coursing down her spine. Her body shook with the intake and her eyes soon mirrored his. Deeper than scarlet, primal, and so damn hungry it hurt.

"Feels good." She sputtered, trying to ride out the rush and failing. And she was spiraling down and down and down...

It was beyond anything she'd felt, beyond having her tummy full and being clean or killing in her dreams or being smiled at or having her head patted. It was ecstasy and euphoria, it was bliss in her every fiber, and she was flying and falling and dying all at once. Then the sensation of being thrown in ice water hit her like a slap and the demon cut off the flow.

Tears sprang into her eyes and she began to shiver despite the fact she was wrapped in the demons tails. Losing euphoria was an agony beyond death.

His voice sounded nonchalant, but beneath that she could hear malicious glee. "This seal was never quite tight, I always could slip you my memories and a little of my chakra since the day you were born. You're addicted to it now and if I were to be killed you'd be cut off. And trust me when I say going into withdrawal and dying would be beyond any agony your miserable life has ever known."

A small trickle chakra came back through and she clung to the chakra and curled her body around it, letting it lull her back to that wonderful feeling of bliss. The Kyuubi shook her abruptly, enough for her skull to rattle, and she snapped her eyes up to him.

"Let's deal." She said, feeling her confidence swell.

"Good girl. You are nothing without me, you are dust beneath the foot of an immortal and if not for this cage you wouldn't even be worthy to die against me. You will show me respect or I will crush you like the worm you are."

"Yes." She agreed and her throat went dry. She gasped in pain as a slash opened down her arm. The blood seeped out glowing a deep and ominous red. She tried to ignore the pain and instead focused on the Kyuubi's next words.

"You will kill all those that I order you to, you will not cry about silly bonds or emotions, you will not hesitate out of some misguided feelings of love or loyalty. You belong to me alone and you'll obey my command."

"Yes." Another slash came. She arched in pain but the Kyuubi kept going not caring for her suffering.

"You are my creature child, my wretch. The secrets I deign to put in your head will never be spoken to another living soul. Swear it."

"Yes." She answered and then she screamed as a third mark sliced into her.

"Human things do not concern me. You're weak and you'll have to be stronger than this pathetic show you give me now if you hope to survive. Find your own teachers for your silly fighting arts, maybe then you'll have a better use. I will teach you one thing and one thing alone of human arts."

"Yes...wait, what is that?" She asked and winced as the fourth mark drew her blood.

The demon grinned and chuckled harshly. "When this village tried to destroy me they threw every one of their supposed ninjutsu at me. It was like flies but I saw and felt them all and they remain. I'll rip those memories into your mind until you know every jutsu by heart."

She curled in fear at the thought of memories being _ripped_ into her.

"We will break this seal wide open. Somehow, someway, we'll unravel it and you'll do everything you're capable of to assist me in that." He snorted. "Though what use you'll have is likely negligible."

"Yes." She agreed as she had no qualms about this catch as the fifth mark marred her arm.

"Now." The Kyuubi laughed. "What conditions has your little mind come up with?"

Her mind raced fighting the pain and looking for any out. "I don't want to be alone." She winced at the show of weakness but right now she'd been stripped so raw and bare there was nothing she could hide. "You have to talk to me, you have to stay with me and you can't ignore me."

"How droll." The Kyuubi deadpanned. "Agreed." A large slash mark went across the demon's tail holding her arm up and their blood began to mix, giving her a warm shock down her arm.

"Second, I...I want friends." She said after a few minutes of consideration. "And if I make friends I get to keep them. You can't kill them."

He snorted. "Have as many little puppets as you want to play with, just keep them in line or you'll be the one to end them." A second mark burst open. The blood was now warmer and her whole body trembled.

"Give me your chakra whenever I ask, never cut it off to hurt me." And that demand didn't feel weak. This one felt strong and right. She liked the Kyuubi's chakra and she wouldn't give it up until she was a cold and dead corpse.

"Fine." Kyuubi agreed. The blood was now hot and cascaded down her arm. She'd soon be stained head to toe in his blood.

"Fourth." She shot the Kyuubi a nasty look. "I get Konoha when we're done, the ruins, the people, whatever is left. It's mine and I'll get to choose what to do with it."

"How delightfully haughty of you. Going to build your own empire child? Or make it a dollhouse that you can play in?" The intensity he was looking at her with made her go cold. "I suppose it doesn't matter. What you do when I'm freed I couldn't care less about. Agreed."

The blood from the fourth cut sent a burn curling down her skin and she writhed. Through the pain she cast around for any idea that could fulfill the last requirement and free her. Her mind hit on something.

She begged. "Kyuubi-sama, make it so you chakra doesn't hurt after I use it." She was still feeling the after affects of the Kyuubi's assault on her system, and if she could avoid that aching and gnawing pain it was a request well made.

His eyes took on a new and interested gleam. "My my, now that's a request that's worth a damn. I would have to slowly alter your genetics and widen your chakra pathways. I'm sure it would take agonizing upon agonizing year to finish but…the possibilities. Oh yes, what a halfway intelligent suggestion child. Agreed."

The Kyuubi's blood freed from that last mark hit the wounds on her arm. She screamed as fire ripped down her nerve endings, entering her veins and reaching every corner of her cells.

The Kyuubi sounded oddly detached from the whole affair. "So completes our contract." And his crimson chakra came swirling out from the cuts. She began to scream uncontrollably as icy-white chakra came from her own wounds. Slowly the two began to fight and tangle, electricity sparking and flaring. The chakra became one, swirling in tighter and tighter patterns in a dizzying array.

Within moments it was over and the slash marks were closed with blood seals.

Her entire arm had gone numb but she was certain feeling would return. She stared at her seal in awe, panting from the punishment her throat had endured. It resembled a black fox with its head biting into her wrist and it twisted up her arm all the way to the shoulder. Five tails separated from its body no doubt signifying the five terms of her contract.

She then turned her attention to the real tail that was still grasping her arm. On it were five different white vines with thorns. All along the vine tattoo black sakura blossoms bloomed. It seemed oddly right to her.

The Kyuubi set her back down and examined his tail as if he'd gotten something truly disgusting caught in the fur. The tails abruptly withdrew to the cage and he brought his head down so he was eye level with her. His slitted pupils narrowed as he appraised her and her new seal. He smirked when he saw the fox head.

"Now we have something else to discuss. I've been down here for five years watching the water fill these tunnels, watching the rain come down in this hellhole." He paused. "How long are you going to drown in your sorrows child?"

"What?" She asked blankly. Drowning? How was this her fault at all?

"Ignorance." He spat. "Are you that stupid? This is your mind, I know the greater intricacies of this will escape you but this is a part of you and you can change it. I've gotten bored staring at this hellhole for five years. So how about you do something productive, hmmm?"

She looked around the area apprehensively. She had clamored through these sewers, slipping and falling and feeling so out of control. Changing it seemed as easy as touching the moon in the sky and she closed her eyes tightly.

Then the fear came, the fear of the Kyuubi's wrath and being as much of a wretch as she felt. She chanted in her mind. _Change, change, please change…_

When she opened her eyes again her breath caught in her throat. The water was gone and the rain thundering over their heads was finally silent.

The floors and walls had turned into black marble and along the ceilings white flames cast illumination down. Channels of blood ran parallel to a huge staircase that led to the gate and the door itself had turned from tarnished metal to cold black flames. The ceiling had opened to reveal a night sky with a full moon and not a cloud in sight.

It resembled a temple she had seen only in books in store windows and the beauty of it took her breath away.

"Not half bad." He commented. It was the nicest thing he'd said to her all day.

Then, just like that, the world melted away.

She bolted upright in her bed and blankets fell around her waist. Sakura touched her face and then her body. Had it been…had it been another wild dream?

She lifted her arm to block the sunlight pouring in from the window and her eyes widened. On her arm was a pitch black tattoo of a fox. The dream had been real and Sakura knew she really was the legacy of the Kyuubi no Kitsune. That realization made her shiver in both fear and delight.

She didn't have to be afraid, she had a Demon King backing her up now and the village was going to burn.

_It's not that easy brat. _A familiar voice echoed in her head. She nearly had a heart attack and clutched at her chest.

She asked the air tentatively. "Kyuubi-sama?"

_No, sorry, the other voice in your head. _She blinked in confusion and he snarled. _Of course it's me you nitwit! _

"Oh." She flinched as her head rang from his voice thundering through her skull. She'd prefer to avoid that again if she could help it.

He commanded her. _Cover the seal on your arm, when that's done start looking for the teachers you'll need for your human arts._

She pulled out her meager first aid kit and started rummaging around for bandages. "And you Kyuubi-sama?"

_Now that I've got a good view of the world…let me plan on just how it will fall. Now stop asking unnecessary questions._

She nodded, not entirely sure if he could actually see the motion. When nothing more came from him she returned her attention to the aid kit in her lap.

She spent the next ten minutes fighting with bandages as she tried to bind her arm with the seal. With a scissors in one hand, bindings between her teeth, and a feeling she was going to lose circulation in her arm, she bound it up tightly.

The work was rather shoddy but for the moment it would hold. Unsure if the Kyuubi would suffer her lagging she quickly put her cloak on and shimmied herself up, across, and out of her closet window.

She moved through the woods as quick as she could and when she was sure she was at a spot he'd appreciate she clamored up the trunk of a tree. She eventually got herself standing on a branch looking over the village. She clung to the bark certain she'd fall but she knew a fifty foot fall would only hurt like hell. Something that easy wouldn't kill her outright, she would know, other's had tried and found she quite survived being thrown from buildings.

She hummed to herself happily and began to sing under her breath. "…ashes, ashes, they all fall down." And threw her hands into the air to emphasize the end.

She wasn't sure if there was a mental equivalent to rolling one's eyes, but if it existed the Kyuubi had just done it. _If you ever do that again I'll crush your brain into paste._

The five year old immediately stopped singing.

She tried to distract him from any thoughts of brain-pasting her."See the village?"

Her eyes burned as he seemed to look _through_ them and his voice slipped through her skull, silky and dark. _I see it just fine child, they've repaired it thoroughly since last time. We'll just have to change that won't we?"_

She giggled. "Oh yes. Change it and burn it and bring them all crashing down."

The Kyuubi seemed highly amused by her sociopathic and childish enthusiasm. _Good. Now get back to work._

Sakura nodded, finding teachers when she was reviled wouldn't be easy but…she had her ways. And emotionally guilting people had worked wonders for her before. The nurses at the ICU had even grudgingly stopped trying to kill her and brought her snacks after only four times of her being there. All it had taken was a sob story, innocent eyes, and a lot of crying.

Being a little girl, for all its setbacks and weaknesses, had its upsides.

**Training Field 9, One Week Later**

It had taken surveillance, sitting in a tree for a solid week, and waking up every day at dawn and not going home until sundown to put her plan together. The Kyuubi had neither helped nor heckled her efforts.

He was letting her stand on her own two feet and he had even provided her tutoring of the political and emotionally manipulative variety to pass the long hours of surveillance. He was a bastard in every sense of the word, but she was coming to adore the demon in her head and the attentions he gave her.

She found it quite comforting, even if that was entirely unintentional on his part. She wasn't alone and she never would be again, so she plotted and for the first time in her life was at ease.

Now came her plan. It was risky as hell but she had spotted a jonin who was one of the few that had never troubled her. No bad looks, no insults, not even a raised eyebrow. Though…she never ever _ever_ wanted to see a raised eyebrow from the jonin she was after. That would be entirely too disturbing.

He trained every day, first at dawn, then a second session at three. Before his three a' clock session a pair of genin used the field who absolutely _hated _her. The timing would be the trickiest thing out of all of this.

Her nerves made her muscles twist and the Kyuubi sent a soothing surge of chakra into her limbs. _My chakra will manage the damage and even the pain, so any tears you cry better be fake._

And from him, she was learning, that was practically the verbal equivalent of a good luck.

She jumped down from her tree, shedding her cloak on the forest floor. She needed to be recognized for this to work and her internal clock told her it was five minutes to three. Show time.

She was afraid but the chakra wouldn't let her shake. Sakura had walked into situations like this before, she'd seen and heard and felt it all but…there was still some small part of her that couldn't cope with willingly putting herself in danger. That'd have to change starting now.

She waltzed onto the training field like she owned it, right into the path of the genin's target practice.

One of the genin, a tall boy with black hair, swore. "Fuck—kid, what the hell are you doing? Get out of the way!"

She moved around idly, not trying to get out of the line but actually walking right into the middle of it.

A genin with a red bandana looked ready to throttle her. "Brat if you don't move—"

She turned to face them and made sure her green eyes met each of their gazes in turn. Recognition flashed across both of their faces and it was replaced by an ugly flicker of anticipation. The kind of anticipation she'd seen in others just before something squirmed and bled and died right in front of them.

It was primal and vicious, the animal instinct that loved the thrill of the hunt and then the slaughter that followed.

It seemed like she'd just blinked when suddenly the genin had her surrounded, all avenues of escape cut off.

The black haired one spoke. "Well look what we have here."

"A demon bitch came running along, maybe we should have a little live target practice?" Bandana laughed and the sound sent warning signals flaring in every corner of her brain. But she couldn't run, it wasn't part of the plan.

Black-hair-boy kept talking. "It's not like anyone will miss her. Hell, nobody will care if we rough her up a bit. What do you say brat?" He pulled out a kunai and held the point so it was less than an inch from her eye. "Wanna play?"

Her heart was hammering and her palms were slick from sweat, but her voice came out entirely clear and calm. Probably a side effect of the chakra. "Play with you losers? I'd rather swallow broken glass."

Bandana boy grabbed her by the back of her shirt and lifted her from the ground. "That can be arranged."

"Ooooh." She cooed. "It's so cute when you try to be threatening."

The punch that followed didn't surprise her and stars ignited behind her eyes. Broken cheekbone, definitely. But the pain felt sort of faded like it was already a week old bruise. The red chakra kicked up a notch and suddenly she was feeling heady and looking for a fight. "Is that all you've got? Please, I've had little girls punch me harder."

She was thrown to the ground and before she could rise a kick landed solidly in her ribs. She heard the crunch of them breaking, but once again the pain felt distant as if it'd already happened and healed.

_Really, this is rather pathetic of them._ The Kyuubi murmured.

The combination of the lack of pain, the mocking by the Kyuubi, and the blood lust shooting through her veins changed everything for her. Why was she afraid of a little tumble with people that hated her?

She'd live, get what she wanted, and be none the worse for wear. Hell, this was even _fun_. "Oh you missed there. Trying kicking a little lower towards the organs, you might just even rupture a few if you kick me long enough with those puny legs."

The blows rained down harder and inwardly Sakura laughed. It was so easy getting what she wanted, if only she'd known sooner.

She calculated the time, covering her head and letting the kicks and punches fall where they may. It had been four minutes, enough time to leave a good show of broken things and bruises. Time for phase two.

She bolted to her feet and ran like a wounded animal. With angry shouts the genin gave chase. She scampered across the training ground angling for a particular spot. The jonin always arrived in the same place; he was predictable like that which she found odd for a ninja. But in his own village why should he care?

She heard the whistle of a kunai in the air and with her senses heightened by the red chakra it was easy to put herself in the way of it. She'd soon have another weapon to add to her collection.

The kunai thrown by the genin sliced into her back and she fell, blood spattering across the ground. She landed right at the feet of the jonin just as he entered the clearing with a well time shushin.

Sakura smiled into the grass, laying there like a helpless little girl who had kunai through her back.

The effect was immediate on the jonin. "What the hell are you two doing!"

She heard the sound of footsteps running. The genin had panicked and bolted, lovely. Even Sakura knew no one ran from a jonin.

In a whisper of wind the jonin was gone from in front of her and one second later she heard twin cracks of bone hitting bone. She raised her head slightly and looked back and was very pleased to see the two genin on the ground holding broken jaws.

"Stay there." The jonin snarled. "Or next time it'll be your legs."

He came back to her, kneeled down, and touched the top of her head. "Are you all right?"

She looked up to see Maito Gai's concerned eyes looking back at her. The tears came easily and she put her face back into the grass, but Gai had gotten a good look at her and he swore. The ever cheerful man she'd spied on training for a week was long gone.

The smile she had noticed during surveillance was nowhere to be seen on Gai's face. He stalked back to the genin. "Do you have any idea what you're doing?"

Bandana answered first through his broken jaw. "She's just a demon brat, what's the harm? We all know she's the Kyu—"

The heavy smack of someone's head being kicked was music to her ears. As it was one of Gai's kicks the genin was immediately rendered unconscious and would likely have a concussion on top of it.

Gai hissed to the only genin left coherent enough to listen. "Did you just try to break the Sandaime's law in front of her?"

The genin shook like a leaf in the wind. "N-no sir."

Gai didn't seem to want an answer and he clasped his hands together in some kind of jutsu. One minute passed with nothing happening before four ANBU hit the clearing like meteors.

"Take them into custody for breaking the Sandaime's law." Gai ordered.

One ANBU came over and lifted her face to get a look at her. She stared at the weasel mask and the weasel mask stared back blankly. The ANBU carefully set her head back down. He spoke to the clearing at large. "I see. The Hokage will be…most displeased."

Inwardly she snorted. It was not for beating her to a bloody pulp but only breaking a silly law about telling her what she was that got people in trouble. The wave of hatred that sent though her made her dig her fingers into the grass until her knuckles turned white.

In a swirl of wind the ANBU and genin vanished and she was left alone with Gai. None of the ANBU had offered medical attention.

That was nothing new to her.

Gai kneeled down next to her again. "I'll take you to the hospital."

He was a good man, one of the few that still lived in this village. She crawled up to her knees and rubbed at her tear stained face. "You don't have too. Look." And she reached around and grabbed the kunai in her back and ripped it out.

Gai's hand immediately fell on the wound to apply pressure to it, and seeing his normal cheerful face twisted in worry was entirely new to her.

"Do you want to bleed out?" He asked sharply.

"I won't." She objected. "Look at it."

The blood flow was already diminishing and he peeled up the back of her shirt. In front of his astonished eyes the wound closed up without leaving a scar.

She hummed happily. "See? I don't need to go to the hospital for a little thing like that. That's not even bad."

He seemed to have trouble speaking. "What…then what _is_ bad?"

She thought on that, emotionally manipulating him was the key of this after all, but what she said next was entirely the truth. "Well there was this one time this guy stabbed me in the stomach and pulled it all around. I had to hold in my guts like this." She clasped her hands over her stomach. "I had to stay in the hospital three whole days and I couldn't eat anything or nothing."

Gai blanched. "I…see." And sadly, judging by his pale face, she was certain he really did.

She smiled at him. "How did you do that?"

"Do what?" He asked blankly.

"Go so fast and hit those guys! It was cool." She rocked back on her heels, testing her body to see if it had healed. "I wish I could do that, then nobody would mess with me."

Gai examined her back one last time as if trying to make sure the wound wouldn't spontaneously reappear. "Do people mess with you often?"

"All the time." She answered brightly. "But it's always been like that."

Gai couldn't even muster a smile for her. She felt unhappy about making him feel so bad, but that was how things had to go. She asked tentatively. "Could you…could you teach me that? Just a little, I don't want to bother you or anything…"

Gai put his hands on her shoulders. "Of course. I can teach you a little taijutsu, it'll be fun." He finally gave her that bright and eerie smile with entirely too many teeth showing that he was known for.

She smiled back a smile as sweet as poison. "Thanks!"

In the back of her mind the Kyuubi chuckled. _Well played._

Sakura was moving up in the world.

**Five Months Later, Abandoned District**

The little girl went about her daily routine in gray dawn light, humming to herself and dancing around lithely. Her taijutsu training had vastly improved her musculature, and it showed in how she twisted and flexed and leapt in her elaborate self-taught dance.

She washed her face and brushed her teeth quickly and threw her sleeping shirt back by the bed. Now naked she added the flips to the dance, backwards and forwards with rolls and tucks, and she finished her display in the center of the dusty room with her arms held wide and high.

There was no audience to cheer, no judges to impress. No one was watching as she finished and she returned to her mattress and fell onto it. She bound up her tattooed arm in fifteen seconds. Every morning she had finished it a little faster and she was rather proud of that.

A green shirt went on next followed by black shorts. Arm and leg guards were on next, covering tiny black markings on her wrists and shins. They were gravity seals, cajoled out of Gai after months and months of pleading and manipulation. They were rather weak now but as time passed she could add weight and really begin to ramp up her training. She put on her black nin-sandals last, another gift from Gai and this one gained from no manipulation.

It was coincidentally now her favorite gift in the world.

She ran out of the house and leapt to the trees.

Her skin had tanned more bringing it from deathly-pale to a healthy almost-normal-pale, and toned muscles stretched underneath it. She was happy not to look ready to drop over dead at any moment like she used to.

She grinned as she approached a wall, ran up it and jumped clean over. She landed on a rock on the other side with exaggerated flourish. Of course, her preening and entrance had nothing on Gai's.

In a burst of smoke a large red tortoise appeared with a man riding on its back. He was in green spandex, orange leg warmers, and a Jonin vest. The usual outfit.

"YOSH! My student has arrived on time again. Her flames of youth burn brightly indeed!" He shouted joyously. She had the feeling anyone within a five mile radius had heard. He struck a pose and she applauded him.

She was pretty sure he was clinically insane, but she put up with it because he was a taijutsu genius. And he was nice, really nice and warm and not mean, which really settled it for the five year old.

"Of course Gai-sensei!" She shouted in return, if she was in the company of insanity she might as well get to enjoy it.

"All right! First we will do twenty laps around Konoha!" He cheered.

Her muscles as a collective whimpered in fear. The Kyuubi wasn't talking to her this morning and she was loathe to try and dig back in her mind for him. It looked like she'd be suffering alone today. She nodded, got up, and followed the pace Gai set.

The training was crazy as hell and just as effective. It really did pay to be friends with an insane taijutsu master.

**Training Field Nine, Six Hours Later**

"I think I'm gonna die." Sakura declared and then checked her body over. "Yep, I'm so gonna die."

And with this declaration she slumped to the ground, curling up on the grass like a sunbathing and very exhausted cat.

Gai threw her a water bottle. She caught it and clutched it to her chest. "Oh sweet sweet water I missed you so." She would have an affair with this water bottle if she could.

She drank from it gratefully and poured the rest over her face. She sighed happily and turned her face to the wind.

"Now my student, you were telling me about that ghost the other day?" Gai asked, sounding serious which immediately caught her attention. That story about 'ghosts' had been carefully slipped to him the previous day and now that he had time to chew it over she'd go in for the kill.

Since she was dredging this story up from a past memory the truth of it had just the right effect. "Yeah! So I was trying to buy some food and there was this totally mean shinobi standing in line in front of me…"

The story quickly meandered in a way only a five year old telling it could meander, but soon enough she stumbled back onto the point. "It was really scary. I was seeing these pale people and they were covered in blood! They had to be ghost's and no matter how hard I ran they kept following me and no one could see them and—"

She then proceeded to, with the excitement and wild gestures of a child, clinically detail the symptoms of genjutsu attack. Some ninja who hated her didn't like their hands dirty, and more than once she'd been followed and attacked by things only she could see. Sakura was rather sick of not being able to fight genjutsu off.

Gai rubbed his chin. "I thought as much." He muttered. Then he snapped his fingers and smiled brightly. Too brightly. "I have a friend, a nice chunin girl with a good head for genjutsu I'm sure you'll like. I'll invite her to our next session, she owes me a favor and she can help you make those ghosts go away."

"Thank you Gai-sensei!" She crowed, giving him one of her few genuine smiles. He smiled back and his teeth seemed to sparkle and it just ruined the moment. His insanity had no limits.

"Now onto the next part of training!" Gai shouted.

She moved over to a pond after him and channeled chakra to her feet and stepped onto the water. After getting her balance after a few missteps she began to move through the forms of the taijutsu Gai was currently teaching her. He taught her erratically, mixing kata and attacks and not settling on one style for long. She was unsure why he did this but she accepted it as part of his eccentricity and didn't ask.

Two days later Sakura found herself on the same pond, practicing a _new_ style, and utterly certain that if Gai didn't come back soon and give her a break she'd fall into the pond and be too tired not to drown.

As if answering her unspoken prayer Sakura felt Gai return with a second person, and they weren't far off. She stepped off the pond anxiously, smoothing down her rumpled clothes and checking her windswept hair. She looked every inch the mess of a small child who'd been running non-stop for six hours.

Gai stepped into the clearing and led a young brunette with deep red eyes to Sakura. The young woman observed her coolly with those red eyes of hers, but compared to the Kyuubi's crimson gaze this woman was nothing.

"Hello." The red-eyed woman spoke slowly. "I'm Yuhi Kurenai." She then bent down so they were at eye level. Very few people ever brought themselves down to Sakura's height, and just like with Gai, Sakura realized Kurenai was a very kind person.

"A pleasure to meet you Kurenai-san, my name is Sakura." She replied, giving a bow. She'd been taught all manners of decorum by the Kyuubi, he wanted each kind of respect she could give and she had to learn each one by painstaking practice. She saw Kurenai nod in the corner of her eye and Sakura was sure the woman was pleased with her politeness.

Kurenai watched her a little longer and eventually, whatever it was she was looking for, she found it.

"I can teach you later in the afternoon from three to six every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday except when I'm away on missions. So show up on time, okay?" The woman instructed carefully, ruffling Sakura's hair once.

The little girl tugged at her hair shyly but the timidity was forced. The gesture from Kurenai had been nice but the silly little girl who'd received that gesture was anything but. What the village hadn't burned out of her the Kyuubi had tempered clear. There were few impurities left to find weakness and she couldn't afford any of them.

Beneath Kurenai's hand was a living and breathing weapon still empty and waiting to be filled.

Sakura answered with faux bashfulness. "Okay."

A little more small talk followed but it was mostly between the adults. This was apparently very off the books training she was receiving and while she did not know the whole story, apparently the boys who'd attacked her hadn't been executed and Gai was furious with the Hokage. That he was training her had been neatly swept under the rug and left unmentioned, and he made her promise never to say a word to the old man Hokage.

Sakura had happily kept that secret.

Gai excused her for the rest of the day shortly after. Things were looking up and she decided to go home for a well deserved nap.

**Night, Abandoned District, Two Months Later**

The large lawn was empty and she was once again dancing in the moonlight. The Kyuubi was fully awake in her head and watching the world through her eyes. He did not interrupt her fun or games, deep down the Kyuubi knew there were very few strings of sanity left that kept her intact.

Some things he would leave alone, if only not to fracture her beyond any kind of repair.

The dance gave way to taijutsu. Punch, kick, roll, block, flip, turn, evade, thrust. The rhythm was as natural as the dancing but twice as fun and the grace gave way to brutality. She wove genjutsu into her play, lacing it into the air in shimmering strands. Sight, touch, taste, hearing, smell. She altered each around herself, self-casting genjutsu gave her wonderful opponents to fight with if only in her mind.

She picked a few chunin that hated her and she hated back. In the genjutsu they heckled her and she flung herself into attack. After a lengthy battle leaping across the dark lawn she won and reveled in imaginary blood and victory.

From the shadows of the roof a pair of eyes watched her. The sensation of being observed came only when her play was done.

When she noticed she immediately clawed for the Kyuubi's presence, pulling him around her like armor.

_I'm here, stop tugging_. He snarled. _Now be cautious and call your watcher down, nice and easy. If we can slit his throat and get away with it…_

She let the murderous thought linger and ignite her bloodlust. "What are you doing up there?" She called out.

A shadow shifted and the watcher was now on the ground with her. She couldn't hear his footsteps. She couldn't smell him. She couldn't _see_ him.

The Kyuubi coiled back. _No, there won't be any killing of this one. Be very careful, we don't need an enemy strong enough to maim you._

She licked her lips, tasting the air. The kunai came out of nowhere and she barely caught it. Instinct took over and she flung the weapon back into the shadows.

There was a soft clink as metal hit metal and gradually from the shadows an ANBU stepped forward. The Weasel mask he wore was very familiar.

"So." He spoke casually and his voice was far younger than she expected. "Gai really did take a interest in you. You're a curious little devil, aren't you?"

She affected innocence. "What do you mean?"

The kunai, this time, went so fast there was no stopping it. A cut from her mouth to her cheek to her ear opened without a sound. She touched her bloody face and felt the first stirrings of terror. "What do you want?" She demanded harshly.

"I just wanted a glimpse of your potential. You're a very special girl and there are a lot people in this world that want you dead." His nonchalance rang false and his voice sounded cold and hollow to her.

In front of her was a boy even emptier than she was. It was a sobering thought.

_No sudden moves. _The Kyuubi counseled. _He's just curious now and we don't need the bastard getting any ideas. Take more than you give from him or he'll rip you apart until there's nothing left._

That advice didn't make her feel any better.

"A lot of people want me dead." She scoffed. "That's nothing new."

The ANBU let out a raspy breath that almost sounded like a laugh. But it passed too quickly for her to tell. "You're only thinking of small things. This village is nothing compared to the world, if you become a ninja you'll be moving into circles of power that you can't even dream of."

That sent of thrill of excitement into her. Circles of power? If he was trying to scare her he was only enticing her in, but she kept the Kyuubi's words in mind. She was already in the demon's trap and his to do with as he pleased. She would not belong to another master.

"Maybe I want to step into the world." She answered. "And who are you to know about these circles ANBU-san?"

"Just a man looking to grasp real power." He assured. That statement, she feared, was entirely too true. "And I can teach you some of that little devil."

The question cracked out between them like a whip. "Why?"

The bone white mask seemed to take on a life of its own in the moonlight. "There are things that must be done, acquired, destroyed. And I think some of those paths will run straight through you."

He was strong, she could taste it in the air he breathed and smell it on his skin. It was a cold power, a well honed blade, the only sharp edge in a world of stone and wood.

Gai and Kurenai only taught her simple things, not true fighting and true killing. This man would.

The Kyuubi whispered his directions in her ears. _Don't seem too eager. He wants to use you and we'll just have to use him right back, won't we?_

"Those paths…I'd like to see where they'd lead." She responded confidently.

"Good." He replied. "Then let me introduce myself to you, little devil."

He pulled off his mask and a pale face framed by dark hair gazed at her. His face was so cold and impassive he could have been carved from stone. The only life and color in him were his eyes as red as blood. When he spoke those scarlet eyes gleamed. "My name is Uchiha Itachi."

* * *

Edit: Changes this chapter after rewriting looked like this: entire introduction between the Kyuubi and Sakura was revamped and the Kyuubi is much more bastard-ish in the new version, Sakura is once again more childish, an entirely new scene was added to show how Sakura convinced Gai to teach her taijutsu, how she met and received Kurenai's training was also tweaked to be more believable, a scene with the Uchiha was entirely cut out and Itachi's first meeting of her face to face was included as a new scene, Sakura's and Itachi's relationship is much colder and adversarial than before, also the Kyuubi is his usual nasty self unlike previously, timeline was also shifted to include scenes and times previously unwritten to give a fuller scope of Sakura's childhood relationships and how they affected her.


	3. Killing Them Softly

Disclaimer: Because bloodshed and violence makes Naruto a thousand times better...also: the reason I can never own Naruto.

* * *

**Konoha, Five Months Later**

The katana was driven into the ground and it stood there alone, the only beacon of light in a sea of darkness. And in the shadows and moonlight its blade gleamed like molten silver. It tempted her so, singing a song of death only her ears could hear. But she knew the treachery of that blade, knew intimately how it would betray her.

And yet she cast aside all doubt and ran for it, sprinting and moving as her hands reached out…

The second katana in that field belonged to the hands of her attacker and it swung from the dark and nearly took her head. She ducked under it and rolled by the blade driven into the ground. She drew it with a flick of her wrist and cast the dirt off.

It was almost as long as she was tall and the weight of it in her hands thrilled her.

Her attacker came again and this time she blocked him with the sword. The weight of the thrust sent tremors down her arms. Her attacker was physically strong and staggeringly so, and he would use that advantage and not give her a shred of mercy.

The blades flashed in the dark, casting silver reflection on their faces as they clashed. Swing, thrust, block, parry, slant, guard, retreat, advance. It ran together, the kenjutsu had been difficult to learn and it had been cut into her body until she did.

Itachi punished her mistakes but letting his katana taste her blood. If she didn't have the unnatural healing abilities she did her body would have long been reduced to nothing but scars. But pain was the best teacher he said, and she'd learned well.

The Kyuubi had rather liked this form of teaching. Knowing his sadism she expected no less.

With a brutal twist her katana was thrown from her hands. Itachi drove her to the ground and her side was slashed open as the price of her failure. She did not scream but her mouth opened wide and her back arched in agony. She writhed on the ground until the wound began to close.

Casually, Itachi placed his katana to her neck. "Better, but still not good enough. On your feet little devil."

She obeyed because if she didn't he would cut her again. Itachi accepted no weakness and no rebellion, he was a cold and relentless as the ocean tides and he would wear away at her until she was nothing but dust.

"Again?" She asked.

He picked up her katana and stabbed in into the ground once more. "Until you learn to hold onto your blade you'll fight for it."

She swallowed, getting to a point guarded by Itachi was excruciatingly hard. She'd just spent the last two hours getting that katana just once. Within seconds he'd stripped it away like nothing.

She nodded.

Itachi smiled but it was not like the Kyuubi's smile. The demon smiled hard and brutal and sadistic, but that was because the Kyuubi enjoyed her pain and took relish in finding new ways to inflict it. He cared in his own perverse ways.

Itachi was ice. He didn't care. The smile was as feeling and cold as the blades in their hands. It meant nothing.

Their fight began again.

She was still too weak.

**One Year and Five Months Later, The Academy**

Sakura cracked her neck audibly as she entered through the academy doors. She had spent what she considered to be a worthless year at this place already and she was only seven, leaving another five years until she graduated. It would be a long while before she was free.

She had taken to sleeping during the more useless instruction and deep in her mind the Kyuubi would teach her things than couldn't be learned in any human classroom.

This habit had, in the most bizarre and inadvertent way imaginable, led to her making her first friend: Nara Shikamaru. The boy was lazy on his best days and on his worst he was little more than a walking coma patient. He seemed to find a kindred spirit in her when they slept through the same classes, and slowly but surely they gravitated to each other and eventually played look out when the other was sleeping.

She joined him during a few hooky days of cloud watching and playing shougi after that. She had no desire to stand out at the Academy and missing a few days here and there was no concern, and she honestly much preferred the clouds. Nothing amazing happened between her and Shikamaru; there was no a heartwarming moment that defined the beginning of their friendship, no special memory that she would cherish for all time. In fact, in later years these early months would become nothing more than one long blur to her.

Their friendship started on a day that neither of them could actually pinpoint, and the casual warmth was so easy to fall into that they didn't question it that hard.

Akimichi Chouji had been an entirely different story. The boy, for his rather considerable size alone, had been ostracized by the other children. Sakura had never been allowed to join any of the play groups or games of the other children, mostly because their parents had turned them against her long ago.

When Chouji had the dubious honor of being ostracized on his own merits, Sakura and Shikamaru had gone to him and asked if he wanted to watch the clouds. Chouji had latched on to them so quickly Sakura was certain she couldn't have ever gotten rid of the boy if she wanted to. But her friends had now doubled (as pathetic as the jump from one to two was) and she greatly enjoyed all the snacks Chouji would bring from his home and share with her.

Friends with food, the still childish parts of Sakura reflected, were one of the best things in life.

Sakura smiled to herself as she entered her classroom and immediately ran to the back desk that held her friends. She waved to them and Chouji was the first to wave back.

"Morning guys, how's it going?" She asked airily.

"Tedium to the point of madness." Was Shikamaru's flat response.

She punched his arm and grinned at the top of his head that lying firmly on the desk. "That exciting, huh? You lead a life of intrigue my friend."

Shikamaru snorted into the desk.

Chouji tugged at her shirt sleeve and wordlessly held up a box of homemade cupcakes. Sakura would for her entire life deny that the girlish squeal that followed came from her. "You're the best in the whole wide world Chouji." She told him seriously, taking one of the cupcakes and immediately biting into it.

"Thanks Sakura." The large boy blushed and patted the chair next to him and she immediately sat down. They spent the next ten minutes sharing cupcakes and the childish chatter of seven year olds. Despite Sakura's mental capacities far exceeding her age, her maturity level swung wildly day to day, an unfortunate side effect of the upbringing she'd never really had.

Then Sakura saw her last two friends come in and she shot up out of her chair to wave them over. First was the shy Hyuga heiress Hinata and the second the kikai bug user Aburame Shino.

Hinata had been an exercise of curiosity. After a month of having only two boys as companions Sakura had become intensely curious what it would be like to have a girl be her friend. With that objective in mind Sakura had, as she _was_ a first rate opportunist, gone after the nearest low hanging fruit. That fruit, as it happened, was the shy little Hyuga who couldn't talk without a stutter.

The kids in the class were wary of her odd, bloodline gifted eyes and Sakura (always eager to add something new and exotic to her collection) liked Hinata. One day out of the blue she asked the girl to join her little clique for lunch. Sakura had continued giving invitations and sinking her claws into the heiress until the girl was firmly hers. And as Sakura had guessed, having a friend she could talk with about girly things like hair and boys was incredibly fun.

Shino was the last of her childhood collection of friends, giving her the quite acceptable number of four companions to play with at the Academy. Shino had been another low hanging fruit after their sensei Iruka made the mistake of commenting that all Aburame worked with bugs. Her classmates being children had not taken well to that news, and Shino had been entirely avoided and shunned since.

Sakura as she had before extended invitations for play dates and lunches. It was in very short order the boy became hers, and she found he was as starved for physical contact as she was. In an entirely playful way he became her cuddle buddy. Hugs, holding hands, piggyback rides. It was something Sakura had never gotten and Shino had never got enough of.

As Shikamaru and Chouji were more normal boys they refused to put up with her clinging. Hinata had some acute issues with physical contact Sakura could only vaguely identify as having to do with her family, and so by default she assigned the Aburame the task of being her personal teddy bear.

Shino didn't seem to mind.

All of them got along extremely well. Shikamaru was too lazy to ever put up a fuss over her collecting, Chouji delighted in having new friends, Hinata was quiet and seemed to enjoy the rather odd company, and Shino being the last added had no objections to any of her previously acquired friends.

Her last two friends ascended the staircase to the back of the room as she finished these thoughts. Shino cast a glance to Shikamaru sleeping and shrugged. Sakura shrugged back and indicated to the chairs next to her and both Hinata and Shino dropped into them

"How l-long will he sleep?" Hinata asked, only managing to stumble once over her words. Hinata was improving her stuttering the longer she knew them and Sakura had some vague aspirations of that being gone by the time they graduated.

"Dunno." Chouji replied absently. "Probably until Iruka-sensei throws something at him."

Hinata just sighed. The little girl had an almost frightening level of desire to impress people or at the least not disappoint them. Their sensei was no exception to this and Hinata fretted daily over both Shikamaru and Sakura barley giving effort. That the heiress was projecting her own insecurities on them, despite Sakura's rather childish behavior around her friends, did not escape the jinchuuriki's notice.

Hinata was the only reason Sakura was middling in the low end of the class and not dead last. Sakura hated seeing Hinata cry and if trying a little kept the Hyuga from having a nervous breakdown, Sakura would do that for her.

As Sakura mused, ate cupcakes, and talked with her friends the rest of the class trickled in. She took note of the other interesting cases in her class.

While Sakura collected friends mostly for the sake of it, it was by no mistake each of her companions were clan heirs. The Kyuubi's plan called for her needing powerful friends in high places someday, and Sakura was always on the lookout for making new connections with a child who would one day be somebody. She had a very good eye for future potential and talent.

Inuzuka Kiba was the first she saw. He was another clan heir but he was brash and proud and not a low hanging fruit to be plucked at her whim. Also, Sakura apparently possessed the faint smell of foxes on her and Kiba had been rather put out by that when he first noticed. Sakura had taken offense and they had bickered like children. Not wanting him to spread that little fact around the class she immediately stopped interacting with him. Maybe someday she would earn his friendship and devotion, but that day would not come until one or both of them matured.

Her eyes left Kiba and went to her next person of interest: Uchiha Sasuke. When she had first seen Itachi's little brother she had been eager to collect him as a sparring partner alone. But two things had happened to quash that idea. The first was this: Sasuke was the most popular boy in class. He had a good smile, good looks, and he was the top of the class and both their sensei's and the students adored him. Every little girl seemed to swoon over him and fight for his attention. The second complication had been this: Sasuke was nowhere as good as Itachi.

Even with the age difference between him and his old brother, his talent didn't impress her and she shortly lost interest. The pains of befriending him were far too high. Itachi also, though not mentioning it to her outright, knew they were in the same class.

And that bastard was as cold ice and entirely unpredictable. Sakura did not know what lines if any Itachi had, but she feared crossing them. She knew very well he could kill her with ease if the mood struck him and she would do her damndest not to strike that mood.

No, Sakura would not touch one hair on Uchiha Sasuke's head until she at least had the skill to safely flee Itachi's wrath.

Sakura's next interest was Yamanaka Ino, the bubbly and beautiful blonde heiress, but she'd been an even bigger disappoint than Sasuke. The girl was, simply put, a fangirl. She only cared about makeup and boys and girly things. Sakura did not mind that _per se _as she had her own taste in such endeavors, but Ino paid attention to those things at the expense of her ninja training.

Sakura had not bothered with the girl since. When Ino matured and grew into her Yamanaka heritage Sakura _might_ reconsider her worthy of attention, but until that day came she couldn't care less what happened to the blonde.

Then the last student of their class walked in and he was the biggest target Sakura had been assigned by the Kyuubi himself. Uzumaki Naruto.

Child of the Yondaime, son of the man who imprisoned of the demon king in her stomach, and child of the man who ruined her life.

And the blond was an enigma. He was talented, staggeringly so. He was second in the class behind Sasuke and by all counts he should have been first. But Uzumaki Naruto didn't seem to care. He played pranks, laughed, smiled, said horrible things, and could be counted on to walk out in the middle of class at least once a week.

Sakura initially thought him the spoiled brat she remembered catching a glimpse of long ago. Then every once and awhile she'd catch a glance of those stunning blue eyes and she'd see something strange in them. Disgust, disinterest, and a calculating intelligence he had yet to truly show.

The Kyuubi hated him. The first time she glimpsed him with the Kyuubi looking through her eyes the demon had thrown a fit. Naruto resembled his father and both she and the demon hated him for it. But the Kyuubi had quickly changed his mind from assassination plans and maiming to something far crueler.

_Corrupt him, twist him, make him your creature. Spit on the father's grave and show this village even their prince is not out of your reach. Make him adore you above all others and you will have a revenge so sweet nothing else will compare._

Those words had intoxicated her. She had remembered when he had said them to her in the depths of sleep. She had stood before the gate of the seal while one of his tails had caressed her face and his words were honey and poison and sounded just as sweet.

It had been one of the first times the Kyuubi treated her like something special, and she had vowed to not disappoint that expectation. That she wanted more affection was a lesser concern, but it remained and only helped drive her forward.

And Uzumaki Naruto was out of her reach. He lived a life surrounded by tutors and caretakers and villagers whom adored him. The one time she got within ten feet of him in class their sensei had flipped out and given her detention for a month. If it had been any other teacher than the mild-mannered Iruka she would have probably been taken out back and gutted.

The one time she approached him in public when he wasn't with a tutor or caretaker, a riot had resulted when people saw her near him. She'd been forced to hide in a vent over a meat locker for three hours until the hysteria had calmed and she'd been able to slink away.

At the moment she had no reason to be near him let alone talk with him, and Naruto was everything the village loved and she was everything they hated. There would be no approaching him, not anytime soon.

Iruka bid them good morning as he walked into the class. She watched on in disinterest as he started taking attendance through the rows. Everything was going as usual until he got to one name on the list.

"Nara Shikamaru...NARA SHIKAMARU!" Iruka shouted. His exasperation was clear. This was nothing new to their sensei.

The chalkboard eraser that bounced off Shikamaru's head surprised no one, not even the Nara. His sleepy head popped up. "Present." Then immediately he dropped back to the desk and he was asleep in seconds.

Iruka sighed and covered his face. Sakura, Hinata, Shino, and Chouji stifled their laughter behind their small hands.

Another day of class had begun and Sakura settled in. Just five more years and she'd be free of this place.

**Abandoned District, One Month Later, Midnight**

The shine of the polished blade in her hands reflected moonlight on her face. Sakura swept a cloth down the blade gently, feeling the razor sharp edge just one press away from cutting off her fingers.

The danger of it thrilled her.

Across from her Itachi sat cross legged, his own blade resting on his knees as he sharpened it.

In the sunlight Sakura seemed almost a normal child: loving, sweet, spontaneous. Some of that was real but the lion's share of it was a well crafted mask. In the sunlight she had to hide what she was, her face was forced softer, her eyes had to be dulled, her intelligence ground low.

She had to be unthreatening as possible, strong enough to rebuff the causal attack but weak enough not to draw they eyes of those more powerful.

But under the light of the moon the hollows of her soul were laid bare. Every night Itachi carved a little more out of her, honed her a little sharper, and etched her madness a little deeper. He made her icy and sharp and a weapon that would one day be unmatched.

In the moonlight the Kyuubi deepened her understanding of the world, twisted her genetics a little more un-human, ripped new memories of jutsu in her head until she screamed, and nurtured her in the ways of lies and treason. In the sunlight she would pretend her world wasn't made up of shadows and puppet strings, of blood and suffering, but she knew even that wouldn't last.

Some day the sun would bear witness to her true face and the world would come to rue that day, but for now she sat in the dark polishing a blade.

Itachi sat with her in companionable silence, words meant little to them and they rarely talked except for him to critique her. So when Itachi spoke she was caught off guard. "How does your training with Maito-san go?"

She hesitated. Itachi embodied the word efficiency in every sense. He wasted no motion in battle, no gesture in explanation, no word in speaking. He did not feel idle curiosity and everything he spoke to her had its purpose.

That she could not divine that purpose worried her. "It goes well but my time with him tapers. Now that I'm in the Academy and have an excellent base in taijutsu he's begun to distance himself. I see him once a week, if that." She paused and her voice dipped. "He has given me more than I could have asked for."

She could not tell if it was Itachi or the wind that murmured in the dark.

The only sound was the harsh scrape of his blade being sharpened. His voice came out cool and low. "What about Yuhi-san?"

Sakura visibly and unintentionally flinched. She had _never_ told Itachi of Kurenai schooling her in genjutsu, or displayed her growing talent for it to him. Their world was built on secrets and lies and she did her best to hide what she possessed from him.

In this secret she'd failed. She answered slowly. "The same. She keeps the schedule given to me, but I've been told when she begins preparation for her jonin evaluation she'll cut me loose for good." Telling him that would hurt no one, she hoped.

"Indeed." He agreed. The blade in his hands sang. "How are your little friends at the Academy? Clan children, aren't they?"

She swallowed. She was beginning to sense the purpose of these words. _I know you and I can hurt you._

"Yes. They're all well; I take good care of them." Her aggressive tone was not lost on either of them.

_Touch them and I don't care how strong you are. I'll kill you. _Even though she did not say that she didn't have to. He heard loud and clear.

His chin tilted up and his Sharingan eyes surveyed her like a piece of meat on the cutting board. "Is that so? Little devil, our time together is about to reach its end."

Her skin crawled and her palms began to sweat. In the moonlight she could only see half his face and the rest had been sliced away by the dark. She was once again lost and she hated it. "Have you taught me enough? Or do you have…other reasons?"

The grin that split his face was sharper than the blade in his hands. "I'm about to step into the world. Circles of power beyond this stunted village beckon."

"To acquire?" She asked. "Or destroy?"

"Destroy." The word rolled off his tongue like venom. "You're going to be too sick to go to the Academy tomorrow. Wait for me here."

She nodded. His unsaid threats hung heavy on her and the Kyuubi was silent. She had to stand on her own two feet. "I understand. I'll be waiting."

He stood and leveled his blade at her throat. "Good. Stand on your feet, this is the last time our blades will cross in the dark. The next time we meet come at me with the intent to kill because I will do the same."

She obeyed; the moonlight was stark and cold around them. The world glowed in vivid and sharp relief, and the surreal nature almost made it a dream to her as they took the first leap into battle.

When it was over her blood stood out so red on the grass. Itachi left her broken in the darkness; tendons cut and her back slashed to pieces. Her blade laid alongside her not touched with a drop of his blood.

She was still too weak.

**Abandoned District, 3:00 PM**

"What do you think?" She asked the air. Despite it being the daytime the Kyuubi had roused himself. Whatever Itachi planned had the demon on edge, and he wove instructions and threats into her mind.

_That Uchiha is a hollow wretch. He's beyond madness, beyond reasoning, beyond any cause but his own. If he steps out into the world he will surely leave this village._

"Missing ninja." She breathed. The words felt dangerous and exhilarating on her tongue. Itachi was willing to be hunted for the rest of his life in order to seek the power he desired. She admired him in a way that sent flutters to her stomach.

Itachi was strong. Itachi saw her true face. Itachi had not been frightened. Itachi thought her equal enough to teach her and someday fight with the intent to kill her as a threat.

Deep down, meshed between the broken edges of her mind and the mire of her sociopathic urges, Sakura had come to adore him.

Was this love? She didn't know.

_Pathetic. _The Kyuubi spat. _Do you think a cipher as empty as him would care about your childish little spurts of devotion?_

She immediately curled in on herself. She buried the emotions down so deeply even the Kyuubi couldn't touch them, and did not answer him out of shame.

The wind shifted through the grass and trees and the scent it brought to her warm and sweet. Then she smelled the sharp tang of metal.

"Itachi." She turned and surely enough he stood under a gnarled tree in full ANBU gear. The only thing missing was his mask but she saw dark porcelain in his hands. It didn't look like the Weasel mask she'd come to know.

He beckoned her. "Come here little devil."

She strode out to meet him. He lifted the mask in his hand and she saw the shape of it. It was of a fox. Crimson whiskers slashed across the cheeks and red eyes stared out menacingly from the face. It was black, black as ink, black as the night, black as sin.

She shuddered from the familiarity and reached to touch it.

The Kyuubi hissed. _Don't move you stupid wretch. He knows._

Her throat closed and the world went dim.

Itachi was all she could see and he stared at her dispassionately. His voice seemed to echo. "You know what this means."

She didn't answer but something in her posture gave her away. Sakura was well aware of the Kyuubi's existence within her, and now Itachi knew what she knew.

She couldn't breathe and he stood out vividly against the suddenly gray skies. His voice slipped into her heart as fast and brutal as a knife. "You are a vessel. A human with a beast in her blood. Does the Kyuubi no Kitsune whisper in your ears?"

Despite her terror and the lack of air, she answered flatly. "Whether I have voices in my head beyond my own is none of your concern."

His laugh was short and raspy and too quick to catch. "No. I suppose it isn't."

Some color seemed to come back and it was easier for her to breathe. He knew and he wouldn't tell a soul.

He beckoned for her again and she couldn't move back. She stepped into his arms reach and with a gentleness she thought beyond him, he fitted the mask over her face. Just before it covered her, she saw carved inside the forehead was the kanji for _little devil_. It made her smile.

As he fastened the mask he spoke. "Your time in the shadows is not yet over. Hide your face, hide yourself. Someday I expect you to stand before me with the true face this mask hides."

_Clever. _The Kyuubi snarled. _He's not done with you yet. He sets the pieces, moves you into play, and molds your power. Few people strengthen what will one day be an enemy. He has a plan, for a worthless mortal sack of flesh he would have made a half-way decent demon._

She ignored the demon and asked the question that had plagued her all day. "What did you train me for?"

"The death of the Uchiha." Itachi murmured.

Her blood turned to ice. Inwardly the Kyuubi laughed so hard her ears rang. The battle lust struck next and she stared at Itachi in awe. The strange fluttering in her stomach grew. She was finally at the moment to turn back the tides, strike back, fight. "I get to kill them?"

"It will be your first time won't it?" He asked but the question was rhetorical. She waited for him to speak and he didn't disappoint. "You will. I know you have a taste for suffering, for torture but…" He brought his finger to her masked lips. "Kill them softly."

He walked away and her blood throbbed. The question escaped her. "Why the Uchiha?"

He didn't look back. "That is something you can find out for yourself, little devil."

**Uchiha Compound, 3:53 PM**

It came swiftly and softly. No noise. No warning.

Her first kill was simple and visceral. Her hand over an Uchiha's mouth, the katana through his chest and heart. She hung to his back as he died, felt his hot blood coursing down her hands, felt his chest expand one last time in a futile breath.

Then with one little shudder it was over, and the body fell at her feet. He had been alive and now he was not. She had taken his life, she had more power than he_, _and_ she_ was the one in control. The dead man's Sharingan eyes gazed up at her emptily.

For a little girl once weak who'd run every day of her life hunted like an animal, the control was headier than champagne.

The Kyuubi let her savor the kill, caressing her mind and body with chakra for a job well done. He did not give praise, that wasn't in his nature. If she had thrown up or cried he would have mocked her, but instead she vibrated in ecstasy as adrenaline crashed through her veins and the Kyuubi let her have it.

She was a monster and it felt so good.

"Does it feel as good the second time?" She asked the wind.

The voice in her head was pleased. _Even better._

She liked the sound of that. "Then I better get to work."

The hours bled together. All of the ways the Kyuubi taught her to kill with only her hands and a blade came into full use. Each kill felt just as good as the first and she was certainly getting high off it.

When a blade and a quick kill got too boring she moved to other techniques. As she had to keep things quiet she couldn't delve into her full library of ninjutsu, but her taijutsu and genjutsu were getting a workout as she killed civilians and what few genin and chunin Itachi left for her. And when she assassinated those ninja or let them live a bit longer beyond the initial wound just for sport, she found them…lacking.

After two and a half years of only measuring herself against monsters like Gai and Itachi in combat she was delighted to discover she wasn't as weak as she'd feared. Genin were nothing to her and chunin a delightful challenge. Jonin remained out of her reach but with a few more years of training she was certain she could cross blades with the best of them.

By the time she graduated the Academy she would _be_ _somebody._

Her feet hit a roof and she ran a few more steps to let her momentum dissipate. Though neither she nor her victims could see it, behind the mask she wore her eyes burned as scarlet as the beast within her. She tried to catch her breath but her adrenaline was still surging and her every muscle was thrumming in excitement. As the sun dipped behind the horizon and vanished a little girl reveled in her ecstasy.

There had not been one cold blooded kill today, she was a child who'd found a new favorite thing and she couldn't help but savor it in every delightful way imaginable. One day she would kill without feeling or thought, but that day was still far off.

She spun around the roof with eyes flashing. In every direction bodies filled the streets and the gutters ran sticky and red with blood. There was no one left to kill; she had culled the entire sector clear.

She felt like crying. "Is it already over?" She moaned.

In the back of her skull the Kyuubi cackled. _What a wonderful and nasty little creature you are. Don't despair, there's a whole world of humans scurrying around for you to kill._

The endearments (for him) and the assurance cheered her immensely. Under her skin the red chakra pounding through her veins enhanced her every sense. Faintly, almost so softly she couldn't hear, footsteps fled wildly a block away.

She purred in glee. "One more!"

The Kyuubi chuckled at her enthusiasm and she flung herself off the roof. She was almost upon the straggler (and he smelled young and terrified and his heartbeat was tiny in her ears) when Itachi's killing intent struck her. It was like a raging typhoon.

She froze in place with her chest heaving, sweat broke out over her skin and leaft her shaking like a leaf in the wind. This was the first time Itachi had _ever _directed his murderous intent at her.

The Kyuubi's own killing intent descended over her like a shroud and that was all that stopped her from falling to her knees and vomiting in the street. She immediately crawled backwards into her mind and found herself lying outside the sealed gate, clinging to the cool marble floor.

Her rib cage felt like it was splintering inward.

"Well aren't you a fucking mess. Quit whimpering and breathe before you go and suffocate yourself." The Kyuubi remarked caustically.

"What was that?" She asked. Her lungs felt burned raw as she tried to draw air in.

His red eyes stood out in the darkness as harsh and scorching as fire. "Looks like he didn't want you interfering in his game. Now stop clinging to me here and get out before I _make_ you."

Sakura immediately withdrew back to reality. The Kyuubi had only thrown her from the depths of her mind a handful of times but each had been terrible enough she did everything in her power to avoid it again.

She found herself standing back in the street. No time seemed to have passed and she retreated to the rendezvous Itachi had set just before he unleashed her. In her ears the terrified heartbeat of that last survivor fluttered, still fully alive.

Sakura wondered why Itachi let the straggler live.

The moon had ascended high into the night sky when Itachi returned. His face, hands, neck, and chest were soaked with blood and none of it was his. Seeing the usually impeccably clean Itachi filthy with death made the fluttering in her stomach return full force.

She did not know if it was love anymore. It was a twisted mess of adulation and awe, the thrill in death and violence, the smell of blood and sweat, and the heat of battle and the accumulation of every ghastly thing she adored.

Itachi was everything wrong with her world and everything right.

But the blow of him warning her off with his killing intent stung, and unshed tears burned the back of her eyes. As much as she adored him she also felt an overwhelming sense of spite. "Who did you leave alive?" She demanded.

He stepped closer and his Sharingan eyes were alien to her. She didn't stumble back but the sight of the strange and unrecognizable markings in his irises scared her. They radiated power and barely contained madness that chilled her to the bone, and it was like no Sharingan she'd ever seen.

His voice was a sibilant hiss. "Sasuke is my creature and his existence is not your concern. The massacre is finished."

She could only nod.

The blood red hue and blade-like marking in his irises receded and returned his eyes to the cold onyx she knew. His voice smoothed and lost all inflection. "Go home. I have no more need of you."

She did not run, the adoration and spite warred in her and she couldn't let it end like this. Itachi was the first human to ever see everything of her and accept it unconditionally. She was too selfish to let that end so hastily.

Her voice was soft but beneath that laid a poisoned edge. "This isn't the end."

His head tilted back and he looked at her with empty eyes. "The minute I decided to leave the village our paths were linked. Someday the balance of the world will shift through you. There will be many people who wish to kill you or…_posses_ you for it."

"I belong to one being in this world." Her hackles went up. "And it will never be human."

"Your leash is already held I see." He murmured thoughtfully. "Then cling to that and cling to your life. When I come for it, when others come for it, fight and bleed until nothing stands in your way."

The deadly anger went out of her voice. "Why?"

"I said it before." He walked past her and for the briefest moments his hand brushed her masked cheek and then her shoulder. "That is something you must find for yourself."

She nodded but he was already past her. She came to her decision. "If I get the chance I will kill you Uchiha Itachi."

"And I you, little devil."

The wind hissed and sighed and with that Itachi walked out of her life.

The purpose that settled in her gut didn't feel good or bad, but it felt heavy and bitter and just a tiny bit sweet.

"I loved you." She told the dark.

There was no one there to answer her.

**Konoha, One Day Later**

The day dawned bright and clear and Sakura had practically skipped to the Academy after cleaning and hiding her katana under the floorboards of the closet.

Judging by the mood of the village it should have been storming. The Uchiha clan was dead, one brother was a missing ninja guilty of the crime, and the younger brother was in the hospital and no one knew when he would wake.

The village was _furious._

So furious in fact, no one could even bother themselves to harass her. If she'd known a little clan massacre would have gotten her some well deserved peace she would have tried this _years_ ago.

But she had to hide her smile, even if the villagers were too engrossed in the tragedy and ignoring her, gloating and smiling would…not be well received. She had no pressing desire to be run out of town, hung, or burned at the stake for this. Even if she _probably_ deserved it.

As she ran to the Academy like the carefree child she wasn't, gossip floated to her on the breeze.

"I heard he killed all of them, the entire clan…gone."

"He was only thirteen; my own son isn't much older."

"Can you believe it? I thought Itachi was the heir, why did he throw it all away?"

"They said there was no warning, not one call for help. Itachi killed them all before they could…"

"Did you hear? He left his brother alive. That poor child must be all alone now."

It went on and on. Despite the sheer impossibility of one ninja, even ANBU skilled, killing an entire ninja clan the theory of there being an accomplice was quickly dismissed.

It made Sakura giggle into her hands. If people were this foolish the Kyuubi's plan would be easy.

Her childish and sociopath mind spent the rest of the day replaying last night's events through her head. Every kill was savored and dissected and examined for improvement.

She usually didn't indulge in such things, but every one of her friends was gone that day. The clans were frightened and nervous with the Uchiha wiped out in a single night, and every heir had been kept home until the hysteria passed.

Sakura didn't mind at all.

As she daydreamed over the massacre she thought all the ramifications were already past. She thought Itachi leaving would be the only consequence of last night. She did not realize this but, years from now, she would pay dearly for the Uchiha blood spilled.

**Konoha, Two Years Later**

Sakura at nine was not much different than Sakura at seven.

She still played with her friends every day at the academy. She ate candy with them, sparred with them, played tag and all manner of games. Hinata stuttered less but she was still as nervous. Shikamaru had not become any more motivated. Chouji still ate and denied his size was anything but normal. And Shino still didn't talk much and let his bugs go everywhere.

But she liked her friends because they couldn't leave her. They were children who didn't have the instincts to run or the opportunity to either.

The adults in her life were a different story.

The Hokage still visited once a year at the Academy. He was proud she wanted to be a good shinobi for Konoha. She'd smiled thinly at him and nodded along while inwardly she seethed. The Sandaime seemed even less interested in her now that she wasn't creating paperwork cluttering up the ICU a half dozen times a month. Now that people couldn't harm her, not that they hadn't stopped trying, he seemed to believe all was well.

If only he knew, or at least stopped turning his blind eyes away, he would see what a little monster she'd become. But the old man was too set in his ways and he seemed to think his gamble of throwing her to the dogs had paid off. For that gamble she would bleed the village a hundred fold to repay it.

Itachi was still gone. She'd heard nothing but rumors of him and even those were scarce. It was as if he dropped off the face of the earth and for the moment she wasn't too keen on him resurfacing. Her strength wasn't nearly up to par to survive a battle with him just yet.

At night she would pull up the floor boards and fetch the katana and mask he had given her. She would remember their time in the moonlight as she sharpened the blade. She would remember their promise of violence as she caressed the contours of the mask. They were her only mementos of him and once back beneath the floor it was if Itachi had never touched her life at all.

Itachi had left.

Then Kurenai had too.

"Our lessons end today." The chunin stated firmly, dispersing an elaborate genjutsu that had them falling into a pit with no bottom.

Sakura had looked up, surprised. "Are you going into your jonin evaluation soon?"

Kurenai had shifted and bit her lip, and Sakura realized the woman was giving her the brush off. Kurenai had taught her on a favor to Gai, and four years was no doubt pushing it.

But the genjutsu specialist had done wonders for Sakura and the girl did not mind letting her save face. Sakura clapped and smiled up at the red-eyed woman fondly. "Good luck! Become a super strong jonin okay?"

Kurenai patted her hair and nodded, obviously relieved Sakura wouldn't press. "Of course. Best of luck to you too. I hope to see you in Konoha's ranks in a few years."

Sakura nodded cheerfully but in her mind she felt only a deep disappointment.

Before the chunin left she frowned and eyed Sakura warily. "It's a very important secret that we had these lessons. If you tell anybody it will really hurt Gai and me."

Sakura affected a mock look of horror. "I would never do that!"

That seemed to ease the burden. "Of course you wouldn't, you're a very good girl Sakura. Next time we meet we have to pretend we don't know each other, okay?"

The jinchuuriki gazed up seriously in a way only a child could. "Right. You can count on me sensei." Her voice lost its childish quality and became smooth and dark. "Goodbye then Yuhi Kurenai."

Kurenai startled away from her. For one brief second Sakura had spoken in her true voice and stared at Kurenai with her true eyes. And her eyes were cold and hollow and frosted by bitterness. Sakura realized her mistake and slipped her mask back up.

The chunin seemed eager to brush it off, but her smile was now decidedly tight. "Goodbye Sakura."

She left hurriedly. Sakura stood in the clearing for awhile staring at the place Kurenai had once filled. The woman had not known her beyond the mask nor spent as much time as her as Gai, but the loss still ached.

She would not be able to approach Kurenai again for years.

One week later Gai sat her down for the same conversation.

His eyes sparkled and his teeth were bright and he talked so fast her head spun. "You have done very well my student. Your youth and enthusiasm for taijutsu has inspired me to increase my own training tenfold! But you're getting to the age the Academy will get serious and I have no doubt you'll be on your way to your own sensei in no time."

Sakura knew that Gai or Kurenai hadn't coordinated to cut off from her so close together, but even then she still felt an irrational stab of anger.

She swallowed it down. "Thank you Gai-sensei, I'll do my best."

"I know you will." And for a brief moment serious Gai emerged. "This is goodbye my little friend. When we meet again we must be strangers, with you being…well you, things could get very bad if anyone knew about this training."

"I won't tell a soul." But she thought to herself. _Except the one living in my stomach._

Cheerfully-manic-Gai roared back full force. "Yosh! You truly are a wonder Sakura. Now make sure you practice your kata daily and adjust your gravity seals accordingly. I'm very proud of you so continue to blaze with youth!"

And for the second time in a week Sakura ended up sitting in a training ground alone staring at nothing and no one.

The adults in her life had left her and the rest…were undependable at the best of times.

But the Kyuubi, like so many times before, knew just how to cheer her up. _Well my little wretch, now that no one cares where you go and your vacation is just a week away, I think it's time I taught you a new jutsu and we went on a trip._

At the words jutsu and trip she was back to being a happy little girl. "What jutsu? What for Kyuubi-sama?"

The dark swell of glee was so strong even she felt it. _You need to be two places at once and then we're going to head outside of Konoha for a time._

She did not voice her confusion but he felt it. He tugged at her brain. _Don't get lost on me yet girl. Head to your pathetic hovel and we'll start our work from there._

She obeyed, knowing what would happen next. Another jutsu would be _ripped_ into her.

It did not take long to return to the abandoned district and the tiny closest she lived in. She settled herself on the mattress and like many times before reached for the restraints she'd bolted into the walls. First she chained her feet down, then her right hand, with her left she stuffed a wad of cloth between her teeth, and finally she slipped her free hand into the last restraint.

The Kyuubi did not ask if she was ready. The memory fell on her like lighting, striking her cerebral cortex and slicing a shock down her spine. Every nerve ending between those points screamed in agony.

The Kyuubi possessed senses beyond human compare. He could taste the very nature of chakra, see the resonance of it on the wind, hear it as the spiritual and the physical mixed inside the flesh. There was no equivalent comprehension in the human mind. To compress the memories of jutsu he'd experienced from humans down into her, it was quite literally like he was trying to drive a red hot square blade into a non-existent hole.

And it went just about as well as it could be expected too. Two hours later when her skin had been rubbed raw, she had screamed herself hoarse, and her face was wet with tears, was it over. Her clothing clung to her sweat slicked skin and with shaking hands she removed her restraints and spat the blood soaked cloth from her mouth.

She had done this once without the cloth, and she was surprised that her tongue had grown back at all.

Sakura crawled out of the bed and dragged herself like a wounded animal into the other room. It took every fiber of strength she had left to haul herself up.

She clasped her hands together into seals. She spoke the jutsu that had been etched onto her very nerve endings out loud. "Kage Bunshin."

Across from her a single copy formed from the ether of her chakra. It was perfect in every way, like all previous jutsu she learned from this method there would be no mistake. Having a jutsu ripped and written into her would allow no less.

Sakura smiled coldly. "So what trip are we heading on Kyuubi-sama?"

**Land of Fire, Unknown Location, Three Weeks Later**

"Oh god I'm going to die." Sakura moaned.

Under her trembling and chakra laced fingers, she barley hung to the sheer rock face. Around her the trusty black cloak that had accompanied her through childhood whipped in the wind. Over her face a black fox mask grinned a malicious grin.

She chanced a look below and her stomach dropped. The ground was so far down this fall might _actually_ kill her. She could even pick out the individual shadows from the clouds and they looked like burn marks on the ground.

She shuddered and looked back to the mountain. "I'm gonna die."

_Less bitching and more climbing. _The Kyuubi ordered.

She snarled under her breath and lifted her hand to the next hold. Charka would let her cling to the face without holds but at this height she refused to chance it if her concentration wavered. If she wasn't holding onto anything when that happened…the fall would be long and nasty.

The easiest part of this trip had been leaving the clone behind to take her place (and two spares in case of _accidents_). Considering it was now summer vacation from the Academy, she wouldn't be terribly missed. The clone was only there to play with her friends and retain a memory in case something interesting happened while she was gone.

Scaling the walls in the middle of the night to leave Konoha had been more difficult but doable. The ninja on patrol were more worried about keeping enemies _out_ than _in_ after all.

Following that was the grueling two week hike across Fire Country. She couldn't use main roads and until she'd been far out of range of any path ninja usually took, she couldn't even jump from the trees.

She had run out of provisions in the first week. She had badly underestimated how the strain and stress would make her eat more than she ever had in her life. She'd been forced to put her training at the Academy to use and hunt off the land, after the shame of reaching the bottom of her bag passed of course.

The first rabbit she ate cooked over an open fire had tasted wonderful. Though, mostly, she was certain that had something to do with the Kyuubi. He had spent nearly an hour between praising her for catching it and bitching at her for cooking it. Good meat, according to him, was best enjoyed raw.

She had crawled to a very quiet and dark corner of her brain and ignored him when she ate after that.

The Kyuubi was still tight lipped about where they were going, but he never wavered or seemed to be lost and she dutifully followed his directions.

Then came the mountain. The mountain was steep. The mountain was tall. The mountain probably wanted to kill her.

She had already spent one day climbing and slept terrified for her life on a narrow ledge. She had gotten started late in the morning and finally, blessedly, she seemed near wherever they were going. It was not hard to tell with the Kyuubi right at the forefront of her mind watching and feeling entirely too smug with himself.

_Twenty more feet and over the lip. _The excitement in his voice urged her to speed up.

She scurried the last few feet like a spastic spider and pulled herself up onto the ledge. To her surprise there were trees and grass and a very flat plateau that vanished into the foliage. The Kyuubi mentally prodded her on and she trotted into the woods.

Whatever they were approaching had the demon in a wonderful mood and the farther she walked the more talkative he got. Considering he was her only companion in the world she clung to each word adoringly.

_This place was once easily reached but time no doubt wore that away. It's been millennia since this place was used for its true purpose…now it's just a shell, a remnant of a lost age. _He sounded almost nostalgic and there was a distance in his voice she'd never heard.

No fury. No derision. No saccharine mocking. No poisonous twofaced affection.

At that moment the sheer _age_ of the being within her pressed down on all sides of her mind. Years, decades, centuries, _millennia_. Her entire life, all nine years of it, was less than a blink of an eye to him. She felt small and fragile as if she had sunk to the very bottom of the ocean as a tiny grain of sand. Insignificant and caught by the tides and so easily lost and forgotten.

She shuddered.

There was a vastness to the world she would never understand.

_Here._

She stopped. Before her, out of the trees and roots and ages of sun and wind that had beat down, a goliath and ruined temple emerged.

But that was not what made her breath catch in her throat. It was the stone foxes carved to guard the entrance. Millennia? They looked barely touched, almost new, almost _alive._ But compared to the giant nine tailed best in her these lion sized four-tailed creatures were nothing.

_They're not alive you stupid girl, go in there already._

She inched forward. When the statues did not move she walked a little faster. As she stepped inside the towering archway cool shadows greeted her, smelling of rot and mildew and the dust of ages past.

The hallways were impossibly wide and impossible tall. In places the roof had fallen in and sunlight streamed into the dust. The Kyuubi directed her in, navigating the labyrinth of passages and giving her only the watered down order of left or right or straight.

Even worn and covered in moss, she could still see the foxes carved into the walls. The elaborate designs, if not already ground down, would have surely seemed alive on the bleached stone.

"What is this place?" She asked.

For once he answered her outright. _Temple to the fox gods. Oh yes, there was once a time when you human monkeys had barley left the trees and we the demon kings walked this plain of reality. You humans were so eager to find gods in anything in those days. This was my temple, the place of consecration._

She turned another corner after admiring the design of a fox eating a man in half. "Consecration of what?"

_Your kind knows them as summoning contracts now, but in that time it was a binding. You humans offered the chakra and the blood to call and the lesser demons would answer. Here we could fight without killing each other, wage wars without loss. There is no more room for war in Hell._

"Wait." She halted. "All summons are demons?"

He spat. _Not anymore. Remember that bastard toad of the Yondaime's? There were many demon clans that killed their kings and now only serve the humans. Nine kings are all that remain and our kingdoms are the only true demons. Those others are exiles, fools, and vermin._

"Of course." She would not even allow herself an inkling of doubt; the venom in his voice quashed that. She cast her mind to something else. "So…only the kings could enter the world without the help of the binding?"

_Indeed. Rending reality from one side to another is no small task. It is only at the behest and power of Kings and supposed summon bosses gifting their power into physical scrolls on this side that allows it. The human who calls serves as the anchor, the chakra opens the gate, and the contract rends reality across. _

Her silent awe was enough of a response. Then another wrinkle in that explanation opened up. "But…I've never heard of summoning contracts for any of the nine Kings clans."

No foxes, no raccoon dogs, no demon cats, no octopi-bulls or anything of that nature. Things like that got around in the shinobi world rather quickly.

_They have all been lost or destroyed. Your kind came to fear us. Now they only use those wretched king-slayers as their summons, at the speed your kind breeds and dies the knowledge has probably long passed from existence_.

She asked another question fearful of how he'd answer, but too curious to let it go. "But all the Kings are on this side now. You told me they were all sealed somewhere, in jinchuuriki or by other means so…what happened to their kingdoms?"

The silence was deafening. She came to another fork in the halls and this one had a mural of an enormous fox reveling with humans feeding it meat and wine. The Kyuubi did not direct her left or right.

She closed down on herself, shoring her mental defenses knowing they would do little good if he ripped through her mind in a rage. She braced herself and screwed her eyes shut. She waited in vain.

He sounded morose and she was so relieved it wasn't fury. _I expect hell has descended into anarchy. It may have been nine years here but time moves strangely between realities. But today we're going to find out for sure._

She blinked. "How?"

_Buried in this temple is the last demon contract, the one I forged. You're going to sign it._ He sounded far too pleased for comfort.

She let out a small, terrified squeak. "Oh."

_Oh. _He mocked. _Now turn left._

She did just that and walked into a grand chamber with no ceiling to speak off. The stone was white and the back wall, instead of being a gate, was a massive few stories high carving of the Kyuubi himself. Besides that little detail this room so resembled the temple in her mind it frightened her.

No wonder the Kyuubi had enjoyed the new scenery after the sewers.

_Look for an Uchiha crest._

"What?" Her voice came out much more rudely than she intended.

After a quick mental jolt that was almost gentle by his standards, his answer was decidedly acidic. _Once upon a time an Uchiha with delusions of grandeur tried to summon me. It ended quite…poorly. After that little incident the Uchiha clan buried the contract that particular Uchiha discovered back where they found it. Look for their symbol, those fools can't help but marking what's not theirs._

Sakura did just that and in the middle of the chamber, carved into a stone tile in a large patch of dirt, were three tomoes in a very familiar pattern. She flipped the stone up and started to dig. The stone coffin was five feet deep and too heavy to move.

The Kyuubi in his attempts to unravel the seal on her stomach had taught her so much sealing that, just by her watching him, cracking those on the coffin was child's play for her. The scroll inside was as tall as her and just as wide. She wrestled it up into the sunlight and unrolled it.

All of the names but one had faded and were impossible to read. The most recent read as this: _Uchiha Madara._ For a reason she couldn't place that name gave her chills.

She bit her fingers and smeared them down the scroll. As she only had a first name and no family name that she was aware of, the _Sakura_ written in blood looked small and lonely on the parchment.

The Kyuubi had already ripped this jutsu into her and with the scroll signed there was nothing holding her back. He whispered one last instruction to her, smoothing the ragged edges of her nerves down and slowly pooling his chakra into her guts. _Be overwhelming, be arrogant, be brutal. Stand like a queen and demon before them and do not show a hint of your human wretchedness. If they doubt for even a moment and find any of your weakness my kind will rip your puny body limb from limb._

How cheerful. She cast aside her cloak and removed her mask and threw it. She swallowed hard and clasped her hands together.

The seals passed in a blur as she performed the summoning jutsu flawlessly and slammed her hand on the floor. The smoke the jutsu kicked up choked her and she flung herself back. Sakura was ready for anything and she wasn't disappointed.

A four tailed and silver fox emerged from the smoke, snarling and snapping his teeth. Sakura suddenly had a very good idea where the humans that had made this temple got their inspiration to carve the stone guardians at the entrance.

"Who dares?" The silver fox shrieked. "What bastard summons one of my kind after all these years? Uchiha?"

"Not Uchiha." Sakura smirked and her voice was haughty. "And I dare to summon you."

The fox roared and charged her.

Sakura lifted her left arm and started loosening the bindings over the blood seal. She stood calmly as the fox bore down on her and a feral grin was on her lips. "Give me everything you've got."

She'd only have one shot at this.

The Kyuubi's chakra surged and coated her skin, cocooning her in a haze of pulsing red light. The fox charging her kept coming but its blue eyes were much wider than before.

Its jaws were opened and she stepped into the attack and let the teeth sink into her. She did not make a sound or stagger as her shoulder and her arm down to the elbow vanished under the beast's jaws. She slipped her hands into both sides and with strength nearly impossible for her size she pried his mouth open.

Blood and saliva dripped down her shoulders and she used her own teeth to finish removing the top of the binding on her left arm. The soaked bandages slipped down revealing the five-tailed fox tattooed on her arm. But the demon fox she was grappling with saw it for what it was: a blood seal that could only be made in the presence of a Demon King.

"Have a good taste of my chakra yet, whelp?" Sakura purred, her crimson slitted eyes boring into the beast . "Then know who calls you. I am jinchuuriki, vessel of the Kyuubi no Kitsune, and you will obey me."

She slammed the Kyuubi's chakra into the beast and sent it staggering and skidding away from her. The teeth wounds on her body began to hiss and steam and before the demon's eyes the wounds closed as if they never existed.

"Impossible." The fox breathed.

The wounds vanished and smell of burnt blood hung between them. She smiled with teeth as sharp as razors. "Are you so weak in your faith? Are you a vermin with no loyalty to your King? Nothing can kill the Kyuubi no Kitsune, least of all the humans that scurry around in the dirt. He lives and I am his vessel."

The fox's front paws went flat in front of it and it dropped its head before her. It took her a moment to realize the demon was bowing to her.

_Very good._ The Kyuubi said and moved to the very front of her mind. _Now go place your head against his, I need to talk with him._

"I shall not speak for you?" She asked, murmuring under her breath so the silver fox would not hear.

_This is not a conversation for mortal ears._ His teeth snapped at her. _Now do as I commanded._

She did not question him again. With his chakra in her and her bloodlust pumping she strode at the demon with no fear in her. "Your King deigns to speak with you."

Before the fox could move she pressed her forehead to his giant skull between his ears, burying her face in the soft fur. What followed was the oddest sensation of her life. She was quite literally herded to the far corners of her mind as a link blazed between the Kyuubi and the silver fox, and unfortunately she was between them and it felt like a hollow tube had been rammed through her head and something was passing through it hissing and spitting but too quietly for her to hear exactly what.

Then the seal started burning on her stomach, unhappy with how close the Kyuubi was too pushing out of her mind entirely. The seal was a shield between them, but it had some give to it and sometimes the outer protections would give _through _her and then the layering became the Kyuubi, her, and _then_ the seal.

But the Demon King was through her and pushing the seal right to the brink and the array felt like a rubber band pulled tightly to the point of backlash. The pain was so intense by the time the silent conversation ended, she was on her knees clinging to the silver fox's neck to stay upright.

The connection broke and the Kyuubi withdrew and mercifully the pressure on the seal faded to nothing.

She untangled herself from the silver demon and took a few steps back.

The fox made a sharp barking sound and slammed his tails on the ground. "It shall be as you commanded my Lord. Rest assured, we will not fail you."

Then the fox looked _at _her instead of through her to the Kyuubi. The deference and obvious reverence in its voice faded but the beast at least remained polite. "Give the call and any of our kind will be honored to fight beside you in battle in the name of Kyuubi-sama."

"The honor is mine." Now that that her existence as the Kyuubi's jinchuuriki was fully established, the need for arrogance had lessened.

The fox bowed low and was about to dismiss itself when she stopped it. She called out. "What is your name?"

"I am known as Sano." His blue slitted eyes examined her curiously. "Until we meet again, vessel." And in a hiss of smoke he was gone.

The red chakra drained out of her and she felt the tension seep out of her back. She sagged to the floor. "What next?"

_Bury the scroll, reseal the coffin, and remove all trace of it being here. No one will ever sign that contract again. Once that's done rest for the night here. We'll begin the journey back to the village at dawn._

She nodded and got to work. Her new sealing array had the coffin closed for hopefully all eternity and with an earth jutsu she moved it so far beneath the earth no one would find it without excavating the whole room at least thirty feet deep. The stone tile that bore the mark of the Uchiha she destroyed until it was nothing but finely powdered dust.

With that done she gathered her cloak and mask from the floor and looked for a place to rest.

_You could sleep on the altar. _The Kyuubi murmured far too readily.

She eyed the altar across the room and felt her stomach roll. She hissed. "I am _not_ sleeping on your sacrificial altar!"

He grinned. _Your loss._

**Three Years Later, The Academy**

Sakura at twelve was far different than Sakura at nine.

Her mood swings had long since become a thing of the past. The Kyuubi had reshuffled her mind multiple times since she was five, and he'd finally seemed to hit on the right combination and her personality smoothed out and her childish tics vanished.

She still played with her friends but she'd found herself feeling like an adult surrounded by children. Her temper was still around but it was entirely under control. While she felt fury and anger it did not dictate her behaviors, send her flying into a rage, or make her act out of the character she needed to play in front of others.

She did not think of Kurenai or Gai anymore, loneliness and disappointment had faded and eventually all she felt was the soft press of nostalgia. The nostalgia came rarely.

She did not think of Itachi at all. At the age of ten she had locked the katana and mask under the floorboards and no longer cradled them in the middle of the night looking for memories. Itachi had remained elusive in the world, and the only time her mind had dwelled on him was when she picked up a Bingo book and found his face on the first page.

Having signed a summoning contract was not as fun as she'd hoped. Any expectations of having playmates or companions was quickly squashed as the foxes only came to fight, and if they were not given blood they would try and take it from her. Fighting them was an excellent exercise though, but the Kyuubi only allowed it because she had no sparring partners that could challenge her. That she could not show her real ability to any human left the summoned foxes her only outlet for aggression.

While this brutality earned her their respect, it did not garner her any friends from their number.

She made three more trips out of the village on summer vacation as the years passed. They were all killing exercises and the little girl high on adrenaline was erased and a cool headed executioner was in her place. Sakura killed and killed until not even one muscle would twitch from excitement during the act. Her victims were all civilian and all people that wouldn't be missed. She skirted the bigger cities and culled to her heart's content.

The demon in her stomach approved these exercises, and each time she would leave the village under her cloak and mask they would be in such good moods they would sometimes talk for hours without him remembering to insult her.

But when inside the village for the vast majority of her time, Sakura wore long sleeves and a binding over her left arm to hide the fox tattoo part blood seal from view. No one has questioned her for awhile on why she did so, odd dressing tics being common amongst shinobi. It had not been until her kunoichi training at age ten, when they'd been taught how to dress in other elemental countries' styles, her sensei had demanded the bindings off.

Sakura had then calmly and sweetly explained about an incident when she was four with shoplifting, a starving stomach, an angry owner, and a meat grinder that had taken offense to her arm. The story was true and though Sakura in no way implied she had any wounds left under those bindings, the teacher drew her own conclusions.

The teacher had then walked to the bathroom and emptied her stomach in a sink. No one asked Sakura about her covering her left arm again.

The Kyuubi had applauded her for her creativity in her lies. She had soaked his attention up like a sponge.

But blessedly her time in the Academy was now at an end, and she sat with her friends in the buzzing classroom waiting for the first student to be called to begin their final examination.

Beside her Hinata fretted. "The seals…the seals should go like…"

She shushed the girl gently. "It's all right Hinata-chan. You're a very good kunoichi and you'll do fine on the test. All of us will."

Hinata gave her a dubious glance and Sakura smiled a calm smile only someone with too much experience in deadly situations could have. The jinchuuriki knew why Hinata was dubious, since turning ten Sakura had quietly but pointedly drifted to the bottom of the class and the dead last of the kunoichi ranks.

Shikamaru had noticed and pulled back himself, and somehow without ever exchanging a word they perfectly balanced their grades so they were equally dead last with each other. It was a truly touching gesture, or it would be if Sakura hadn't known Shikamaru just took offense to anyone being _lazier_ than he was.

"She's right." Chouji agreed, though he was so nervous he couldn't bring himself to eat. "We'll do good and we'll all be ninja together Hinata, you'll see."

Shikamaru grunted something that sounded like an agreement. Shino did not look as enthused. "I will be called first, I cannot know how the rest of you will do until today is done."

Sakura grabbed his hand under the table and smiled. She had no doubts all of them would pass. "You can leave a bug on each of us and have them report. No problem."

There was a long pause. She stared. He stared back. She felt something crawling on her scalp and it wasn't her imagination.

"You already did, didn't you?" It wasn't as much an accusation as it was an exasperated sigh. "Whatever. See you when you're done Shino."

"Aburame Shino!" Iruka called from the classroom floor.

Shino squeezed the girl's hands goodbye and patted the boys on the shoulders. He left without a word but his back was straight and determined. She knew he'd do well, he was the highest academically in their group. Though how he compared to Shikamaru, if the boy was actually trying, none of them could guess.

Chouji left next, Hinata departed only eight people later, and Shikamaru was five people after her. Sakura was soon alone and bored.

People kept trickling out of the room. As Sakura had never had a family name nor had any inkling of what it was if she did, the teachers had decided that made her last alphabetically. She hadn't argued this; she had no desire to stand out here where she could be sabotaged at will. At the moment the teachers thought her so incompetent they were trying their best to graduate her so she'd go into the field and get killed. Sakura appreciated their efforts on her behalf as misguided as they were.

Soon all that were left was her, Uchiha Sasuke, Uzumaki Naruto, and Yamanaka Ino. Ino had not changed in the intervening years and she was currently pinning a love struck look on Sasuke.

The Uchiha however had become an entirely different person. Since the massacre he'd not smiled once and the warm and skilled boy, if not completely talented, had vanished. In his place was a brooding and bitter child that had no time or patience for other people. His skill had leapt rapidly and Sakura found herself once again interested in acquiring him for herself.

The only problem was as surly and antisocial as Sasuke had become, his popularity had spiraled out of control. To the girls he was now a tragic hero to be healed by love, to the teachers he was a bright and precious student that had to be trained and protected at any cost, and to the villagers he was the prince of the Uchiha and the last hope for the Sharingan bloodline. But to Sakura he was only a boy who'd finally tasted suffering and had become just a bit more interesting because of it.

But the purpose Itachi had for them, both of them, Sakura still couldn't determine and she was wary of what that meant. She kept her distance.

"Uchiha Sasuke!" Iruka called.

The Uchiha slunk off with his hands in his pockets. Sometimes when she saw the way he walked, Sakura wondered if he was trying to crawl into himself and hide from the world. She'd done that herself enough to recognize it.

Now it was her, Ino, and Naruto left. Ino was pouting and staring after Sasuke and playing with her hair idly.

Naruto…Naruto was drawing obscene things on the chalkboard.

In just the past three years alone Naruto's changes had been even more extreme. Where he'd once been spoiled, a bit sarcastic, and oddly distant…now he was _manic. _He was crude and selfish and loud, he yelled indoors and had no respect for his teachers, he gave people mocking nicknames and skipped half his classes to go eat ramen, and he wouldn't shut up about the damned ramen either_._

The boy was outright obnoxious in his attitude and he only exacerbated it by wearing the most eye-gouging orange outfit she'd ever had the misfortune of laying her eyes on.

But nothing Naruto did could diminish the blind adoration everyone in his life had for him. The villagers called it rebellion and laughed at his mean spirited pranks. The teachers barely chastised him for his worst offenses and turned a blind eye to all else.

And yet the worse he got and the shorter his attention span became, he remained second ranked in the class without effort. And still in his eyes she'd catch glimpse of a strange loathing and coldness she couldn't yet place.

There was no denying it.

"Uzumaki Naruto! You're up next kid." Iruka shouted.

Naruto turned from vandalizing the board and with a flick of his wrist the chalk sailed out of his hand and nailed Iruka between his eyes. The boy smiled brightly but underneath that was a malicious edge. "_Sorry_ sensei, you surprised me."

No, no denying it. There was something very _very_ wrong with Uzumaki Naruto.

Iruka grumbled but didn't scold the boy. Naruto strode after him with his hands behind his head and smiling so widely his eyes were shut.

Sakura hated him. And she couldn't help but feel there was far more to Naruto than anybody, even her, knew.

Ino didn't talk to her and soon the blonde girl was called away too. It was if Sakura was invisible but instead of that angering her she shrugged it off. So many slights had been piled against her she couldn't afford to dwell on them lest she cease to function. That way only led to madness, and she'd indulged in that madness too much in her younger years.

"Next up…Sakura." She sighed when the instructor called her name, and she walked down to center of the room to join him. It was about time.

Iruka gave her a sharp glance of distaste but said nothing. Her expression of dull indifference never wavered. She wasn't going to give up the game now.

Time to become a _proud_ ninja of Konoha.

* * *

Edit: This entire chapter is nearly unrecognizable compared to its old version. Three new scenes were included between Sakura and Itachi to showcase their more complicated relationship and her training with him, the Uchiha massacre was rewritten to be more believable and gritty, how Sakura met her friends in the Academy was expanded along with her musings on the other children like Sasuke or Naruto, how Gai and Kurenai's relationship with her ended was more fully addressed, how Sakura actually GOT the fox summoning contract and going to the temple of Fox gods was added, another scene with Sakura musing on her classmates was added, Naruto's characterization got an entire overhaul, miscellaneous scenes of her taking the graduated test and others were deleted for space constraints, also her meeting with Kakashi and her new team was shifted to the next chapter.


	4. Deals With the Devil

AN: Rewritten, redone, whatever you want to call it. Now with 100% more awesome.

* * *

**Academy**

New genin teams were sorted in a very specific way, so specific in fact anyone with a half a brain could take advantage of the system from the inside.

At the current moment of her life Sakura lived for three things: the Kyuubi, her friends, and the Kyuubi's plan, which called for her to make connections. The best connections she could get her hands on were her own peers, and she wanted the best she could get her vicious little fingers into.

And the best was Uzumaki Naruto and Uchiha Sasuke. If she could get on a team with one or both of them the problem of their social statuses preventing her from making contact would be gone. They would be, not to make things sound any worse than they already were, completely at her mercy.

So one day after realizing team assignments had a pattern she sat down with Shikamaru, with a pad of paper and a pen of course, and tried to determine how their class would stack up. She'd redone the list three times but with the pattern she'd discovered…

It looked like her wish wouldn't come true. Shikamaru as the boy with the lowest grades, would be sorted with the rookie of the year and the top kunoichi. As it happened to Sakura's derision, that would put Shikamaru on a team with Sasuke and Ino.

Ino had never cared much for her abilities, but with her clan background and the poor state of the civilian born girls of their year (and Sakura taking a dive) Ino had not had much competition.

The only good news was that she, as the lowest ranked kunoichi, would have a fifty-fifty shot being put with the second highest shinobi. Or conversely the second lowest boy (a civilian she did not know) would be with the second highest male and the second top kunoichi. That meant Sakura had a half and half chance of _maybe_ being on Uzumaki Naruto's team.

And since it usually came down to their sensei's and the Hokage to sort teams…Sakura had no doubt the latter option would be taken, cutting her off from both of her targets. People were just spiteful like that.

Then Shikamaru had in one sentence made all her hopes and dream come true. And became her favorite person in the world. Again. "You know, my dad's been talking to me and some higher ups in the clan about recreating the Ino-Shika-Cho team."

Sakura had squealed in delight and hugged Shikamaru until he was senseless.

That had put a whole new spin on her list and made her drive her grades as low was she could, and even Shikamaru had to struggle to match her academic string of failures. Ino would be out of the running and if Shikamaru wasn't going to be slotted as the dead last, and as they were so abysmal no one in the class could compare, _she_ would become the dead last.

That meant she held the kunoichi slot on her team and they would be forced to give her the top two boys in the class to balance her out. That meant she got both Naruto and Sasuke. If it worked out as she hoped she would kill two birds with one stone, and she was guaranteed to have the most powerfully stacked squad in the history of the village.

There were, as usual, a million things that could go wrong but Sakura was unerringly confident the system would play itself out. The traditions this village had mired itself had a tendency to hold fast, even when the people who usually supported them didn't want them too.

So that morning she sat in her desk with her new headband around her neck, a calm façade in place, and a nervous tic developing along her jaw. Iruka had never taken so long to settle the class, Naruto had never been so obnoxious in delaying them, and Sasuke's fan girls had _never_ spent so much time tittering over who got to sit next to their idol. If Sakura had known she would have set Iruka's alarm clock an hour early, sat next to Sasuke, and drugged Naruto into comatose oblivion.

She turned her chair sideways and stared at her friends instead as they chattered. If she didn't keep her eyes off the front of the class something…_unfortunate_ would probably happen.

"Somebody's nervous." Shikamaru drawled.

Her intense gaze flicked to him and she purred dangerously. "And what makes you say that Shika-chan?"

The mocking nickname made his eyebrow twitch. "Your eyes are boring holes into us, for one."

"That's not nerves." She lied between her teeth.

"Oh yeah?" Shikamaru raised his eyebrows and now all four of her friends were staring at her. "Then what are you doing, hm? Trying to read our minds?"

She smirked. "Trying to figure out which of you will be my boyfriend." She cast an appraising glance at Hinata. "Or girlfriend, as the case may be."

Hinata turned so read she teetered on passing out, and Chouji had to reach out to steady her. The boys all went dead silent and Sakura smiled at them blandly. Then, slowly, Shino started laughing. That set all five of them off and soon they were laughing so hard they were crying.

Sakura sat back up, wiping at her eyes as she did. "You never know guys, you never know."

The joke was well taken but now that she thought about it, it really wasn't a joke. The Kyuubi had been messing with her body makeup enough her hormones had been set off earlier than most, and while her body didn't outwardly show the any sign of puberty her blood and her brain were an entirely different matter.

Shino and Hinata had taken the brunt of this new found fascination. Shino because he had already been designated as her personal teddy bear, and Hinata…well, Sakura had kept harassing the girl with affection until whatever issues her family had given her over physical contact faded. And while it did not really progress anything beyond hugs and cuddling, Sakura had looked at all her friends and begun to wonder.

She supposed if she was measuring only by intimacy, Shino would technically be the most likely for her to date. She liked him quite a bit but it was not a passionate love, and when she was away from him she did not think of him often. It was usually when she was face to face with him and her hormones started talking that she seriously considered him.

As for Hinata…sometimes she loved the girl so dearly and wanted to protect her from her family so badly, Sakura's heart ached. What she felt for Hinata was a protective streak and mix of fondness that bordered on the obsessive, and Sakura knew if she dated the heiress it would be as if the Hyuga was her princess and Sakura her knight. There was no such thing as fairytales in the world Sakura lived in, but sometimes she thought she could make one for them if she tried hard enough.

Chouji, loving and needy as he was, would give her his love forever if she dated him. That, and he would bring her even more wonderful snacks every day. She didn't want to say she was thinking with her stomach but honestly…between her hormones and stomach Chouji was serious competition in her mental speculation.

And Shikamaru…he was her oldest friend. He was frighteningly intelligent and also the most undemanding person she knew. Dating him would be easy and comfortable and she knew they would never fight. And whether she chose to explore that with him or not, he would always hold a very special place in her heart.

Sakura touched her stomach, feeling familiar fluttering building there at these thoughts. She hadn't felt this since Itachi and she rubbed at her stomach idly. She was lonely and she was interested and her body was eager to agree with her.

Then Sakura realized she'd been so wrapped up in contemplating the possible romantic subtleties of her life, she'd missed Iruka announcing the first four teams.

She jerked up in her chair. "Did I get…"

Hinata slipped a hand to her under the desks and the girls clasped their fingers together. "No. You haven't been called yet, none of us have."

"Thanks Hinata." Sakura sighed. "I got a little distracted there."

At least she wasn't nervous anymore over the team placement; the fluttering in her stomach was too busy having a hormone party to bother. She snorted.

Iruka kept reading his list. "Team seven! Your squad will include Uzumaki Naruto…"

Sakura took a sharp breath. This was it.

Iruka cleared his throat and his face flushed with frustration. "Sakura…"

The jinchuuriki closed her eyes and bit down on her lips so she wouldn't grin manically. She was one for two, would lighting strike twice?

"…and Uchiha Sasuke."

It took every fiber of willpower she had not to cheer, pump her fist, dance on the desks, or hug Iruka until he thought she was trying to kill him by suffocation. She could not do that outwardly but _inwardly _she was dancing outside the Kyuubi's cage, waking him in the process and cheerfully doing her best to annoy him. "I did it, I did it, I did it, I DID IT!"

One blazing red eye opened. "Did you finally lose your mind when I wasn't looking? Because that _better_ be what this is or you'll find yourself really losing your mind when I rip out your brain for waking me."

The chanting subsided but the dancing did not. "I got them on my team, the Uchiha and the Uzumaki. Both of them."

She was bursting with pride. She had few concrete successes in her life she could point to and say: I did that. But this little manipulation was done without a shred of assistance or drop of chakra from the Kyuubi. It was all hers.

"Just getting them isn't the same as corrupting them, if you do that _then_ you can come back to me and do your little monkey dance." The fox mocked.

Even his surly mood couldn't ruin the moment. She finished her dance and sat herself right in front of the seal. "No, getting them isn't enough." She grinned viciously and the devil was in her eyes. "But it's a start."

**Four Hours Later, Academy Waiting Room**

It was as if _everything_ was trying to ruin her good mood.

First had been Chouji and Hinata's miserable faces when she had been sorted onto a team without any of them. Her friends all felt guilty because Shikamaru and Chouji were together and so were Hinata and Shino. Sakura was alone.

It had taken ten minutes of furious whispering back and forth to assure them she was quite happy being put on a team with two people, who by all counts, had never even spoken to her once.

Then Iruka had pulled her aside after the teams were sorted for the longest lecture of her life. The long winded sermon basically boiled down to this: she would be on her best behavior, she would not even _dare_ bother her two teammates, and she would not infect them with her dead-last-ness.

Sakura had just smiled through the lecture dimwittedly, her mood dented but not enough to get her particularly angered.

Then her two teammates wouldn't talk to her. Naruto had gotten too caught up in sabotaging the electrical wiring in the ceiling and Sasuke would only grunt at her when prompted. This failure would not have bothered her too much, but then she got stuck there for four hours still not making any headway because their sensei _still_ hadn't shown up.

So when Naruto, having gotten bored shorting out the entire floor's lighting, put a chalk eraser in the door frame with tacks sticking out of it she hadn't said a word. If anything the cruel streak impressed her and if Naruto happened to bloody their new sensei…Sakura _completely_ supported that.

"Someone's coming!" Naruto whispered conspiratorially, bounding across the room and throwing himself onto the desk next to her. He smiled with such saccharine innocence Sakura wanted to vomit.

A gloved hand reached inside the door frame and pulled. And upon the silvery head of Hatake Kakashi the tack-stuck eraser fell. It bounced from his skull and hit the floor and the jonin rubbed his head.

Sakura knew after hearing stories from Gai, Kakashi was incredibly deadly and incredibly smart. Letting the eraser hit him also meant Kakashi was incredibly eccentric.

"Ow." The jonin muttered. Dryly at that.

Naruto pointed and laughed. "That's what you get for being late sensei, isn't that right girl sitting next to me?"

Sakura marveled at Naruto's sheer _ability_ to fit so much jerkishness in so few words.

In response she let out a short, sharp, and sarcastic laugh. "Yes. It was simply _hilarious._"

Naruto kept smiling obnoxiously and Sakura wasn't sure if her sarcasm had been lost on him. Kakashi cleared his throat. "My first impression is…I hate you guys."

Yep, it was official, _everything _was trying to ruin her good mood today.

**Academy, Roof**

Hatake Kakashi had his favorite book open and his nose firmly buried in it. He hadn't turned a page in ten minutes. It was only force of habit that had him pretending that he was still reading at all.

He couldn't tell if he was unhappy with the new team he'd been given or not. The argument with the Hokage had been very…unfriendly when he'd first found out.

Uchiha Sasuke he was okay with. The boy had a bit of an attitude but he was quiet, and as the only person left in the village with a working knowledge of the Sharingan, Kakashi had always been vaguely aware the Uchiha would end up his student someday.

As for Uzumaki Naruto…Kakashi couldn't decide how he felt. As the son of his former sensei and the man he had admired most, Kakashi had once tried to be a part of Naruto's life. At age four little Naruto hadn't paid attention to him. The boy had been surrounded by so many 'old family friends', 'admirers of the Yondaime', and people who were just plain leeches Kakashi couldn't get a word in edgewise. He had never been able to be a part of the blonds' life in any capacity and Kakashi doubted Naruto even knew who he was.

Then Naruto had gotten an attitude and no one took him to heel for it, and whenever Kakashi glanced at the blond who so resembled his father in appearance but not in conduct, the jonin felt sick.

And last was the reason for his terse verbal spar with the Hokage: Kyuubi jinchuuriki Sakura.

"You can't be serious." Kakashi had remembered saying flatly.

The Hokage had looked up, unsurprised and unamused. "I am serious Kakashi. This will be the makeup of the graduating squads and far more persuasive people than you have tried to change my mind on it."

The jonin had grabbed the arms of his chair until his knuckles turned white. "You can't put them together. She's the reason Naruto doesn't have a father!"

"Sakura," The Hokage replied coldly. "Is the reason Naruto even has a village to live in. I will not have this argument with you Kakashi, my decision is final."

Kakashi responded stiffly. He knew he'd lost this battle before it had begun. "My objection stands."

Sarutobi flipped through the paperwork on his desk, indifferent. "Your objection is duly noted. If you teach Sasuke to utilize his Sharingan, mellow Naruto out, and keep Sakura as alive and intact as when she was given to you, I'll consider your obligation fulfilled."

"Thank you Hokage-sama." Kakashi had bit out.

The Hokage had not even looked up at him when he left.

And now here he was facing down his new team part mentally scarred Uchiha, manic Uzumaki, and not particularly bright jinchuuriki. It was a recipe for a migraine.

Kakashi snapped his book closed. Naruto vibrated in excitement, Sasuke just glared at him harder, and Sakura stared at him with a rather vacant expression. It was time to see what the kids were made of.

He cleared his throat. "Let's start with the introduction then. Likes, dislikes, hobbies, dreams for the future, that sort of thing."

Naruto crossed his arms and tilted his chin up in challenge. "How about you go first sensei? Since we just met and all I wouldn't want you to miss out on the fun of...introductions."

Mouthy as always. Kakashi decided he would humor the boy. "…me? Well my name's Hatake Kakashi and I have absolutely no desire to tell you any of my likes or dislikes. As for dreams for the future…well that would just bore you. And I do have an exceptional amount of hobbies…" But just because he was humoring them didn't mean he'd be helpful. Kakashi loathed even the appearance of being anything but mysterious and partially irritating. "Well now that that's out of the way and you're being so exuberant, why don't you go first Naruto?"

Sasuke didn't look terribly impressed, Sakura…well she still seemed a few brain cells short of thought process anytime soon. Naruto just grinned and started fidgeting with his headband. "Well my name is Uzumaki Naruto! I like cup ramen and miso ramen and pork ramen and…"

The list of ramen went on for over a minute before Kakashi raised his hand to interrupt. "I think we get the point Naruto, how about your dislikes?"

The smile on the blonds' face went hard. "I dislike people who interrupt others."

The barb was unexpected and rather vicious in delivery. Kakashi was starting to see what the Hokage meant about _mellowing_ Naruto out. More patient people than he had tried to curb the boy's nastier tendencies though, and Kakashi was in no mood to get into his own attempt now. "That's lovely. Any dreams?"

"I'm gonna be Hokage." The boy smirked but there was something elusively dark about it. The dream had been said with all conviction but for some reason the way he'd said it, it all seemed like Naruto thought it was a bad joke.

A hint of unease settled in the back of his mind. Naruto was a real piece of work and Kakashi knew he'd only scratched the surface. But for the moment he would ignore it and he turned to the Uchiha. "How about you Sasuke?"

The Uchiha's expression turned solemn. "I dislike a lot of things but don't really like anything. And it's not a dream I have but an…ambition. I'm going to resurrect my clan and kill a certain man."

That ended about as he expected. The threat of violence made Naruto clap sarcastically. Sakura at some point had started cleaning her nails and not even listened.

The jonin looked to his last genin and felt an intense stab of revulsion. "Sakura?"

The girl glanced up from her nails and asked in confusion. "What?" She blinked rapidly. "Oh right, introductions. My name is Sakura and I like my friends. When Chouji brings me snacks or Hinata laughs, or Shikamaru takes me cloud watching or Shino gives me piggyback rides. I dislike the ICU at the hospital." She finished flatly.

The revulsion instantly cooled. Kakashi had heard of Sakura's legendary track record in getting sent to the ICU as a child, and he wondered if what intelligence she may have once possessed had been long bled out on the concrete across Konoha's streets.

She kept talking, rocking back and forth absently. "I don't have hobbies, hobbies are way too expensive. And as for dreams…I dream at night, does that count?" She looked eager for an answer.

Kakashi covered his face. His sigh was long suffering. "No Sakura, it doesn't count."

The girl just shrugged and went back to her nails. She was a vapid one alright.

There was no avoiding it any longer and he began to explain the second and real graduating test to his genin. He had feeling with the group in front of him, tomorrow would be a _very_ long day.

**Training Field 7, 6:00 AM**

Sakura tried not to dance. She always danced when she was excited and when she got too excited the dancing would give way to taijutsu. At the moment she was keen to keep her real abilities under wraps, thank you very much.

She would slowly begin showing her real talent but it needed to come at a steady pace or everyone would realize she'd played the fool at the Academy. And when people realized this she'd be under a whole new wave of scrutiny.

When she'd first entered the Academy there had been various spies from various factions monitoring her progress. After three years of her lackluster performance every spy had lost interest and labeled her an imminent failure. That gave her a hell of a lot of wiggle room to work with before the more powerful members of this village got her in their sights.

There was a time for pride and a time for fools, and currently the fool ruled supreme so she moved around distractedly as their sensei talked.

"You have until noon to get one of these bells from me." Kakashi explained. He pointed to his belt and the two bells tied there. "Whoever doesn't get one will get tied to a log, go without lunch, and be set back to the Academy. Any questions?"

Naruto and Sasuke glanced at each other and then her, and though no one said it they were all aware there was one less bell than their number. Someone was automatically getting sent back.

And that didn't make sense in the slightest. Sakura frowned.

Kakashi clapped. "Sounds like fun don't it? Your final test begins…now!"

Sakura moved sideways and Sasuke leapt and she tracked him absently as they hit the trees to take cover. Sakura found a high vantage point and that's when she realized Naruto had stayed behind.

"That insane idiot." She hissed, clamoring up the last few branches and dragging a genjutsu down over herself so she could watch what followed.

Naruto was standing in the middle of the training ground with his hands behind his head. Kakashi was watching him and whatever he might have thought of the blond, the jonin's voice came out light and cheerful. "I'm going to be honest, you're not very bright, are you?"

The blond answered dryly. "I guess not. I don't have time for bullshit so how about we fight and get this over with?" Naruto was grinning so widely Sakura thought it must be painful.

"If that's what you want." Kakashi sighed.

The fight that followed was short and brutal and confused Sakura to no end. Naruto was _good_. Good in a way he'd only been hinting at in the Academy. He fought like a well seasoned genin and not a recent graduate, and he threw around ninjutsu and chakra like it was water. His taijutsu was undeniably solid and she recognized some of the forms as higher end Konoha style.

Somebody outside the academy had been teaching Naruto a few things.

Then Naruto threw out kage bunshin and she also knew someone had been teaching him forbidden jutsu. Only the best for the _son_ of the Yondaime.

She hadn't seen this kind of ninjutsu use outside of herself, but she liked to think the only person in this village who knew more than her was her sensei himself copy cat Kakashi, the stealer of a thousand jutsu.

And speaking of Kakashi the jonin humored Naruto for five minutes. Then Naruto's posturing or attempts just annoyed the jonin and suddenly the blond was tied to a tree with wire. Upside down tied to a tree with wire, if nothing else Sakura appreciated the style of it.

She didn't know if it had been a jutsu or just quick hand work, but either way Naruto was out of the game.

"Good try Naruto." Kakashi smiled under his mask but the grin was fake. "Maybe if you spent more time training instead of running your mouth you might have beat me. Better luck next year."

The jonin leapt away in the direction of Sasuke and Sakura was left alone with her thoughts. She pensively watched Naruto straining against the wire and swearing as blood ran to his head.

She had been so hopeful for her team, after all the trouble she went through of stacking the deck and manipulating the system just right, she was going to lose one of the boys back to the academy. Then the teams would get reshuffled with who had passed on the other teams and…

"That bastard!" She spat.

Of all the things she expected this wasn't it. Sakura grinned.

Kakashi was a liar. The entire test was a sham. Either her entire team would pass…or they would all fail. Their lots were the same.

"Teamwork." She chuckled. "That tricky bastard. Well if that's the game you want Kakashi I'll give it to you."

But since she would need both of the boys she might as well asses Sasuke's skills against a jonin, and she left Naruto to stew for a bit to watch the Uchiha in action.

He was no Itachi but at least compared to Naruto, Sasuke definitely had more style to his taijutsu. And with a few fire jutsu thrown into the mix she knew that he'd become a formidable fighter in the upcoming years. However he was too cocky and she got to watch him get trapped up to his neck in the ground.

For a boy as haughty at Sasuke it must be galling, and Sakura wished she'd brought a camera so she'd have blackmail to last them the rest of their lives.

Kakashi gave his assessment. "You're also pretty good, I'll give you that Sasuke. You may not have Naruto's ninjutsu supply but you use yours efficiently and your taijutsu is top notch."

The jonin sighed. "But you've got the same problems. Try deflating your head, taking on a jonin head on? Act that arrogant again and you'll be on your way to an early grave."

Sakura wondered if Sasuke noticed the hint Kakashi dropped, but judging by the Uchiha's furious expression she rather doubted it. Both boys were good fighters but their grasp of finer strategies and subtleties were tenuous. And their egos…their egos were appalling. Sakura had bowed low to the Kyuubi himself, but seeing an ego anywhere near his level in a human…it sickened her.

Her fingers itched for a kunai, her muscles trembled for a fight, her very blood screamed for it, but she bit the insides of her cheeks to the point of bleeding and wrestled it down. If she fought Kakashi she'd go all out and her well played mask would all be for naught. She wasn't about to flush seven years of hard work down the drain just for a fight she could go wild in.

She bit down on her knuckles and breathed in deeply. She cast her mind back, back into the darkness of her memories, back into the moonlight.

Itachi. He'd taught her patience by making her cower in the dark. Making her wait hours for the tiniest of openings, making her hold her breath and still her heart and become quieter and more insubstantial than the shadows.

Coldness bloomed in her veins. Though she did not have her katana as it was still hidden under the floorboards, she could imagine the weight of it and that calmed her.

She breathed in.

Patience, precision, calculation, and execution. The way of the shinobi.

She breathed out.

She'd go to Naruto first.

Her senses spiked, Kakashi was looking for her. Well she couldn't have that just yet. A complicated genjutsu had been masking her position but it looked like her time had run out. She dropped the genjutsu and formed a clone.

She eyed her doppelganger. "Go play with Kakashi, keep things simple."

The clone nodded. "You got it boss."

The clone ran one way and she went another and she found herself in the tree Naruto was tied to. She grinned down at him. "Hey there."

He looked up and scowled. "Come to laugh at me?"

She slithered her way down the tree trunk and lowered herself so they were face to face. "Maybe." She giggled vapidly. "Maybe not. Maybe I'm here to untie you?"

His face twisted at her laughter. Naruto only saw the fool and he returned the favor. "Maybe the sky is purple. Maybe you're a damn moron and I don't want the help of the dead last."

She contemplated slitting his throat, it would be so easy but…no. He was worth more alive than a quick thrill.

"I may be the dead last." She temporized. "But I'm not tied to a tree now am I?"

His lip curled back. "So are you gonna untie me or not?"

She hummed. "In a minute, if I untie you you'll just go looking for Kakashi again all eager for a fight and I'll lose my chance."

"Fighting Kakashi is the point." He snapped. "Or did you miss that when he explained it?"

"Oh I didn't miss anything." She murmured venomously and the shades of foolishness dropped to show a hint of her real intelligence. "Haven't you figured out the game yet?"

For the first time his bravado slipped and she saw confusion and calculation in his eyes. Naruto was smart and there was no denying that, but the question remained of just _how much_.

"What do you mean?" He asked carefully.

"Sixty-six percent failure rate and yet only one person on our team fails? Do some teams arbitrarily lose two or even three people just to balance the rate? Why did they sort the team so carefully just to fracture them and remake them again?" She fired off the questions rapidly, watching Naruto absorb each one.

His eyes were as sharp as blue steel. "He's bullshitting us."

"Bingo." She drew out a kunai. "Now let's strike a bargain. You help me, I help you, just like this little test except in real life. Missions, training, life and death, that sort of thing. We are teammates aren't we?"

He worked that over and eyed her warily as he did. "Why does this sound like a deal with the devil?"

"Oh honey." She laughed and it was sweet and childish and the most sinister thing Naruto had heard in his life.

"Don't you know?" Her face moved even closer to his and her grin was razors. "The devil has nothing on me."

He flinched away and she delighted in it. She drew back at her own pace, knowing she had control in this new relationship forming.

"Sounds like a party." Naruto finally decided. "You've got your bargain."

Her heart soared. She finally had a foot in the door with Uzumaki Naruto. Even if they failed this test now that in was so valuable she'd be okay with flunking. She remarked cheerfully. "All right then. Just hold still while I cut you down."

With her chakra sharpened kunai she made quick work of the wire and soon they were both on the ground letting blood circulate back to their brains.

Naruto's voice was oddly flat. "You're not as stupid as you look, are you?"

She let a harsher smile slip out before she drew up her mask. "I have a feeling I could say the same to you, Uzumaki-san."

She could see the curiosity in his eyes and Sakura left it at that. She'd baited the hook and now she'd let Naruto swallow it in his own time.

"Let's go find Sasuke." She told him instead. "You do the talking, I have a feeling he won't be quite as accepting if this comes from me."

"No kidding." The bright obnoxious smile came back on his face but Sakura now saw it for what it was. Uzumaki Naruto was wearing his own mask and what laid beneath it was far different than what he showed.

They found Sasuke where Kakashi had left him still up to his neck in dirt looking like a decapitated head. He was not thrilled to see them.

"Oh, the dead last and the second best." He deadpanned. "Joy."

"We're thrilled to see you too Sasuke." Naruto answered sarcastically. "Now do you want to remain the amazing talking Uchiha head or can you _lower_ yourself to us digging you out?"

The dark haired boy frowned and looked away. That was as good a response as any.

Naruto exchanged a glance with her. They had a silent conversation right there and Naruto turned back. "But we're not digging you out until you make a little promise with us."

"If I'm promising to help you paint the Hokage monument or put glue in the water supply _again_ you can forget it." Sasuke snapped.

Naruto chuckled. "Nothing that complicated. You're gonna help us beat Kakashi and pass this stupid test."

"Then who gets the bells? Me and you. You and her? Her and I? What?" The Uchiha raised an eyebrow and Sakura had to stop herself from laughing. Obvious and haughty disdain from a boy buried up to his neck was hysterical to watch.

Naruto rolled his eyes. "The bells are bullshit. If we beat Kakashi's ass we all win. So are you onboard or not?"

Sasuke observed them both and she could tell he was weighing them up. He finally spoke after a long moment. "I'm in. But do you want _her_ as dead weight in this?"

"Believe it or not." Sakura responded dryly. "I _can_ hear you. And trust me, I'll carry my own weight just fine he-who-is-buried-up-to-his-neck."

He snorted and turned his head away. "Whatever. Let's just do this."

Sakura formed a few hand signs and smiled. "With pleasure. Now I'm going to get you out so try not to move or you might lose an arm."

The look of horror on Sasuke's face was priceless.

**Training Field 7, Clearing **

Kakashi stood alone, his tall figure leaving a small patch of shadow on the ground as noon came fast approaching. An orange book was held loosely in his hand and a bored expression was visible in his eye. He was relaxed and wasn't even paying attention to his surroundings.

Naruto was tied to a tree. Sasuke was in the ground.

And his fight with Sakura had been dreadfully dull. Wild taijutsu, no ninjutsu to speak of, and a depressing weakness to genjutsu. He'd left her wandering the woods stuck under one and he hadn't had it in his heart to do any more to her.

All the kids were out of the game, and though Sasuke and Naruto had showed promise Kakashi wouldn't be their sensei anytime soon. Those who couldn't grasp something as basic as teamwork weren't ready to go out in the field.

Then quite abruptly Sakura wandered out of the woods. Apparently the girl had finally slipped her genjutsu after an…hour.

Kakashi lowered his book. "Come for another round?"

She shrugged. "No. Lunch." And she moved in the direction of the bento boxes he'd left by the monument.

His hand tightened around his book. "You didn't get a bell."

She stared at him blankly. "I'm hungry."

The sight of her standing in front of a monument of dead ninja whose blood was on her hands sent a surge of rage through him. But…she was too pathetic to even be demonic. The Kyuubi no Kitsune would have never lowered itself to the depths this girl wallowed in.

He pinched the bridge of his nose. "I don't even care. Do what you want."

She clapped happily and ripped into a box of food. Kakashi went back to his book, only twenty more minutes and…

The dozens of Naruto's kage bunshin that split from the shadows of the trees nearly gave him a heart attack. They came in fast and hard and didn't give Kakashi one second to counter. It turned into a brawl.

A brawl Kakashi was still winning.

"You know Naruto, doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different outcome is the definition of insanity." Kakashi supplied cheerfully.

Naruto smirked. "Who said things were the same?" And that Naruto's hair turned dark and suddenly he was breathing fire.

It took a replacement technique of unnatural speed to get him out of the way of Sasuke's jutsu. The glimpse he caught of the Uchiha was lost, and he vanished into the crowd of kage bunshin that kept pressing the attack.

"So you're working together for the bells and cutting Sakura out of the bargain?" Kakashi asked casually, grabbing a clone trying to kick him and swinging him through five clones, dispelling them in an instant.

"We don't need her." One of the clones called before throwing a weak wind jutsu.

Kakashi batted the jutsu away and slammed another clone into the ground. "I suppose not. Still, don't you even feel a little guilty?"

Suddenly his feet touched hard stone and he realized he'd been pushed back to the monument. A hand hit his hip and he felt a tug. He batted whoever it was away and he readied himself for a further assault.

To his surprise the clones all dispelled at once, leaving Naruto and Sasuke standing alone in the field.

"No." Naruto answered. "We don't feel guilty at all."

"You're giving up that easily?" The jonin asked incredulously.

Behind him a girl laughed. "We already finished the game." And he heard the bells jingle. He touched his belt and his hand came away empty. He closed his eyes in both shock and amazement.

"You had Sakura come out early and take a position behind me, dismiss herself as a threat, and then you two came along and maneuvered me back into her so she could snatch the bells." Kakashi shook his head. "So how are you going to divide them up?"

Sakura walked around him and planted herself firmly between the two boys. "I don't know, they might be nice souvenirs, what do you say?"

Sasuke crossed his arms. "I don't need trinkets."

Naruto tapped his headband. "Don't want it or need it. We won the battle sensei, so how about you drop the act about the bells meaning shit?"

"So you figured it out." Despite himself Kakashi eyed them with new respect. "Which one of you got it, Naruto?"

The blond shook his head.

"Sasuke?" He questioned.

The Uchiha refused to meet his eyes and looked up at the sky darkly.

He wheeled on the jinchuuriki. "Sakura?" He finished incredulously.

The girl shrugged. "I wasn't taking down a jonin alone."

"Huh." Kakashi mumbled. Today would officially be the most surreal day of his life, and he was so shocked by the outcome he would not remember to give his famous 'trash and lower than trash' speech for another week.

Whether he liked it or not Kakashi had his new genin team.

**One Month Later, Training Field 7**

"All right kiddies." Kakashi snapped his book shut. "That's it for today. Another training session at nine tomorrow and then we hit the missions office."

All three genin groaned.

"More missions?" Sasuke hissed.

"They aren't even missions!" Naruto whined. "They're imposed slave labor. Come on, teach us some good jutsu or get us a real mission, not that D-rank crap."

"Rules are rules and tradition is tradition." Kakashi responded blandly. "If you want to get anywhere you have to start at the bottom."

Both boys grumbled and Kakashi eyed his third genin. His third genin eyed him back.

"Any comments Sakura?" He finally asked.

She buffed her nails against her shirt. "Tradition is tradition." She parroted back. _And someday I'll burn it to the ground._

That answer didn't seem to satisfy him, but the jonin said no more and vanished. All three genin were alone and Sakura looked to her teammates. "So who's up for an after-training training session?"

Naruto raised his hand. "I'm in."

The response Sasuke gave was the same as she'd gotten for the past month. "I'm out of here." And he shoved his hands in his pocket and walked away. He had no time for her or Naruto and if they weren't on the same team, Sakura was certain Sasuke wouldn't even _look_ at them.

"You know we'll totally get stronger than you if we're training more!" Naruto shouted at his back.

She could just imagine the look of derision on Sasuke's face as he answered. "Oh please, you'd just slow me down. I don't need a dead last and second best trying to teach me to fight."

And therein laid the problem. In front of Kakashi Sakura couldn't show any talent, and every time they sparred Sasuke easily knocked her around. And every time she offered to train with him when Kakashi wasn't around he wasn't interested. It was a nasty catch-22 she'd gotten herself into and she had yet to find a way out of it.

Naruto was about to shout something else but she raised a calming hand to stop him. She called after the Uchiha. "Not everything is as it appears Sasuke. You'd get more out of this than you realize."

He snorted. "Well doesn't that sound clever? Where did you get it, off a fortune cookie?"

Naruto snarled. "Just say the word and I'll knock his damn head off."

Sakura shook her head and watched Sasuke until he was long gone. She sighed. "There's no point in you doing it Naruto. Sasuke is a creature of ego and if you beat him into this he'll just get surly and resent us for it. It has to be by his choice, that's just how he works."

Naruto made a low and guttural noise. "Che. Whatever. Let the bastard rot."

It was unfortunate but Naruto and Sasuke just did not get along. If she was forced to quantify it she would say they hated each other, and she couldn't even pin down exactly why. Then again with two egos of their size in the same vicinity they really didn't need an excuse.

"Let's fight." She voiced instead.

That seemed to cheer Naruto up considerably. "Well alright then."

They got into position in the field, Naruto's stance high and aggressive like most of Konoha's taijutsu, her stance low and loose and looking rather ad-hoc. Their spar began in less time than it took a person to blink.

And it ended a few minutes later as all of their spars did, with her back to the ground and Naruto holding her neck like he'd crush it.

"Come on." Naruto snapped. "Why can't you fight better than this?"

"You're not ready for it." She answered. Pushing him off her and getting back to her feet.

She had yet to show Naruto her real abilities. She was taking things slow with the blond and until she could really trust him to keep his mouth shut, and she wasn't showing him that she could fight and kill like a jonin.

"Bullshit." He replied. "You move like you can fight, really fight, but you don't. Why not?"

"One thing at a time." She cut him off. She dusted herself off and took her time as she did. Naruto could boil, he needed to be taught patience.

"Well?" He kept pressing.

The takedown took exactly three moves. Her hand cracked him between his eyes, her ankle hooked behind his knee to send him down, and she then drove her heel into his shoulder to pin him against the ground.

Naruto gasped and stared up at her in shock. Maybe even a little pain.

She flicked her hair over her shoulder. "You're not ready. One thing at a time, let's move to ninjutsu."

She lifted her foot, letting him get back to his feet. He rubbed his shoulder but didn't seemed that bothered by it. "Who taught you to fight?" He asked curiously.

She was saved having to answer by the appearance of thee children trying and failing to hide behind a tree and watch them. When Naruto saw them he groaned and covered his face. "I'm so sorry for what's going to happen Sakura. I really am. I thought I'd ditched these idiots for good."

Naruto apologizing? This couldn't be good.

Naruto shouted at the tree. "What the hell are you idiots doing? Get out here!"

A short boy wearing a scarf and with wild brown hair jumped out. He was followed by a red haired girl and then a boy with glasses and a bad cold. The three children struck a pose. Sakura immediately recognized the one in the middle, the first boy.

Sarutobi Konohamaru and one and only grandson of the Hokage. What was he doing out here?

"Hey boss! You promised to play ninja with us and we're here to collect!" Konohamaru demanded.

Sakura tried not to laugh. "Play ninja?"

Naruto gritted his teeth. "I promised them anything to go away, _anything_. I'll be honest; I thought I'd never have to go through with it."

The three children kept staring.

"I don't think you're getting out of this one." She told him brightly.

Naruto massaged his forehead as if trying to ward off a headache. "I hate you."

She nodded. "I get that a lot."

He stared at her oddly but before he could say anything Konohamaru had planted himself between them and grabbed her bandaged arm. "You can come play too. Since you're the boss's girlfriend."

"I'm not his girlfriend." She replied flatly.

Konohamaru blinked. "Oh."

She parroted him mockingly. "Oh."

It seemed to go over the boy's head and he just smiled again. "Well you can still play."

Sakura paused; to be honest this was the first time in her life anyone had offered to let her join their games without her soliciting it or manipulating it out. And even if it was stupid and childish she couldn't quite bring herself to turn them down. "I've got an hour." She smiled sharply. "And so do you Naruto, let's go _play._"

The blond nodded but moved closer to her and whispered under his breath. "You're a bitch, you know that?"

"I get that a lot too." She flicked her hand against his back playfully. "Now don't fall behind or we'll leave you."

Naruto grumbled but followed along, Konohamaru hung off her arm, and the other two children crowded around her. She smiled at them all even though it was fake.

There wasn't a lot left of her that was normal but the mask, and the mask smiled for her when she couldn't. The monster in her had forgotten how to do that a long time ago.

A few hours later, much longer than she'd initially stated to Naruto's derision, their game was finished. The children were exhausted and Konohamaru stared up at her in wonder. "You're good at this. I like you better than that guy."

Naruto rolled his eyes. "Thanks Konohamaru. I guess that just means you can go to Sakura now to play ninja and never ever speak to me again." He sounded pleased about that too.

Sakura snorted. Despite how cheerful and exuberant he acted, underneath it all Naruto was as anti-social as Sasuke and twice as bitchy about it.

She ruffled Konohamaru's hair. "Come to me anytime. Ignore that guy."

Konohamaru nodded seriously. "Right. We can play all the time and you can be my nee-chan."

"Be your sister?" She asked blankly. Once she actually thought about it though she realized it was another connection to form and she wasn't one to turn down affection when it was offered…

"You got it little brother of mine." She answered warmly.

Konohamaru and the children were too young to understand, and Naruto right at that moment had looked away, but the smile on her face was far from friendly. It was downright predatory.

Jinchuuriki Sakura had a new up and coming leader of the village to mold.

**One Month Later**, **Hokage's Tower**

Team Seven waited for their next mission assignment all fairly calm and fairly quiet. It was late in the afternoon and they'd already done two missions for the day. They were tired and Kakashi was feeling particularly vindictive after Naruto had dumped a can of paint on his head, and in punishment had taken them through the office for one more round of menial labor. The sooner they got out of there the happier they'd be, so they waited with their mouths shut and their hands itching.

The Hokage was in attendance for once and leafing through a stack of papers. He read off from them as he did. "There's gardening in the north district, babysitting children at the daycare in the Communications division, trash duty by the Water Plant..."

Beside her she felt Naruto tense. His jaw was working under his skin and Sakura realized all hell was about to break loose. She inched away from the blond, if things went wrong she'd let the golden boy take the blame.

"No, no, no old man!" Naruto crossed his arms mutinously. "We're the best damn genin team you've got and you have us doing chores a civilian could do asleep! Put us on a real mission or stop wasting our time, I could be sparring right now, I could be learning jutsu. I could be doing a million things more important than this. I could be taking a nap!"

The Hokage didn't look surprised and he brought his pipe to his lips and took a long drag, contemplating Naruto as he did. "You're doing yourself no favors shouting at your superior, Naruto."

Naruto just raised his chin in defiance. "You're not doing your future Hokage any favors not letting him take a real mission and put some experience under his belt."

The Sandaime's eyes flashed and he chuckled slowly. Sakura didn't know what he could find humorous in Naruto's insubordination.

"Well if you really want another mission so badly…" The Hokage pulled a scroll from the stack of paperwork in front of him. "I'll give it to you. Just know this, mess up and there's no second chances."

"I only need one chance." Naruto answered confidently. "Now lay it on us."

The Hokage smirked. "Your objective is to protect a certain individual to Wave country from bandits and all other assorted problems on the way. Considering your…skill, it shouldn't be a problem. Send Tazuna in."

Their client that came in was an older and gray haired man with bloodshot eyes. The source of his bloodshot condition shortly became obvious when he lifted the liquor bottle in his hand and took a long swig.

Their first client was a raging alcoholic. Lovely.

"Are these brats supposed to protect me?" The man surged forward a few unsteady steps and narrowed his hazy eyes on them. Suspiciously. "They don't look very smart. I mean that girl…why is she staring at the ceiling?"

Sakura was doing just that so the fetid and drunken smell of his breath wasn't wafting to her nose directly. Kakashi for once was quick to cover for her. "Don't mind her, she's always like that. I'm a jonin and trust me, if the kids can't handle the riff raff I'll step in. You'll be perfectly fine."

Sakura chose not to argue that.

"All right kids." Kakashi dropped his book down for a moment and looked at them seriously. "Gear up and meet at the main gate, we leave tonight."

Naruto threw a mock salute. Sasuke just grunted a non response. Sakura played with her hair.

Their first C-rank mission was already off to a _wonderful_ start.

**Outside of Konoha, One Day Later**

Sakura had bought a Bingo book when she got her headband. The headband was her ticket into every shinobi supplier, rations house, and armory in the village and she'd been keen to put it to good use. Among the weapons, newer clothing, and assorted supplies every good ninja needed, she'd picked up a new Bingo book.

Her old book, gotten out of a trashcan, was woefully out of date.

Just like before though Itachi had been on the first page, his old picture the same as ever. There were still no new sightings of him and if she wasn't so certain of his skill, she would have thought him dead. She had turned the page quickly not willing to linger on old memories.

She had memorized the new pages and little did she know this mission would put them to good use.

Sakura followed behind Naruto, neatly sidestepping a puddle under the hot noon sun. Kakashi skirted the puddle as well and his gaze lingered on it longer than it should. That was Sakura's first clue something was wrong, and it was then she sensed the chakra and heard the gentle clinking of metal against metal.

All of her senses kicked into overdrive. She only had time to call her teammates' names before she turned to see Kakashi covered in chains and the blade-laden metal pulling tight.

Hot blood splashed across her back, very fake, very genjutsu laden blood. Kakashi sure had a tendency towards the dramatic.

"One down." A voice murmured and it belonged to a man she recognized. He was one half the Demon Bothers, missing ninja of Kiri, and suspected accomplices of the failed assassination coup led on the Mizukage by Momochi Zabuza. They were on page seventy-six of the Bingo book.

Sakura felt Kakashi in the trees above them watching them patiently. If the jonin wanted to play games she'd let him, she hadn't gotten the chance to kill in so long…

One of the brothers reared back and brought his chain gauntlet right on her head. She flipped out of the way letting her body bend at an almost unnatural angle to avoid the swing. The second brother came after her only for Naruto to interfere.

"Not so fast." The blond grinned. "You're fighting me." The missing ninja didn't answer but merely swung the chain connected to his arm, aiming for Naruto's chest. The genin bent out of the way and when the chain passed harmlessly overhead he saw an opening. He went for it with his hands flying through seals as he went.

Four clones appeared around him and the first two threw kicks that were blocked. The next two kicks hit the chunin in the knee and the gut, breaking his kneecap and three ribs.

Sakura watched the chunin go down, still occupied and in full on battle with her initial attacker. If nothing else she could certainly multitask well.

The demon brother she was fighting howled in rage when he realized his brother was down. He redoubled his efforts on her, trying to rip her limb from limb.

She flipped a kunai into her hand and wondered how she could make this death look unintentional when Sasuke was at her side. "I got him!"

He spat out fire and the second demon brother spun the chain to try and disperse the flames. That just revealed the shuriken hidden underneath. Sakura was impressed but she refused to let Sasuke take her fun. As Sasuke led the charge she followed right behind him and moved in his shadow.

A roundhouse kick from Sasuke tied up the chunin's arms, and when Sasuke threw a punch (that the chunin bent back to dodge) she leapt over them. The chain flailed into the air to try and knock her down. The barbs of it sliced down her cheek and in retaliation she flicked her wrist once. The kunai hit home and slid into his exposed throat. The demon brother went down thrashing with blood pouring out of his neck.

Sasuke jerked back and stared at her. She stared back calmly. "Are you alright Sasuke?"

"Yeah." He chewed on his lips. "What did you just do?"

They both looked down at the man as he died. Sakura answered softly, touching her bloody cheek. "I think that'd be obvious."

The living Demon Brother screamed. "You bitch! I'll kill you—"

He was silenced by Naruto kicking him in the back of the head and knocking him out cold. Kakashi landed from the trees and looked at the mess they'd laid out. Tazuna was cowering on the ground and clutching his bottle of alcohol to his chest.

Kakashi eyed both the living ninja and the corpse and then began picking through their clothing and examining their weapons. When he was done with that he looked over his genin team starting with Naruto and ending with her. He grabbed her by the chin and examined her face.

"The chains are poisoned." He tilted her head to the side and she felt like a piece of meat. "We'll need to get you back the village to bleed this out."

Sakura licked at the rivulets of blood ruining down her cheek and lips. She tasted the bitterness of poison there. "This poison is nothing." She spat it out on the ground. "This isn't going to kill me."

The jonin eyed her sharply. "You're sure?"

Naruto shouted. "What the hell are you talking about? You've been poisoned!"

Kakashi raised his hand. "If she says she's not going to die she's not going to die. She would know."

Naruto stared at her around Kakashi, his eyes blazing. His curiosity had been spiked again but she said nothing. He would have to come to her and not the other way around.

"You killed that man." Kakashi continued.

She debated how to do this but dim and slightly insane had worked out well for her so far. She shrugged. "It was that or get my head cut off."

The doubt in his eye was clear but he did not hash it out with her in front of her teammates, and for that she was happy to let it all slide.

"In that case…" The jonin cleared his throat and turned to their client. "Tazuna? We need to talk."

**Boat, Two Miles off the Land of Waves**

Gato of Gato Shipping Industry was involved in every legal and illegal trade and vice under the sun. Drugs, weapons, slaves, extortion, blackmail, espionage. If it was mildly illegal and had a price, Gato had his hands in it.

And he wanted Tazuna dead and wasn't willing to spare any expense to get it done. He had missing ninja and an army of mercenaries to get that done and her team was now right in the middle of it.

There was no other place they'd rather be. Despite seeing someone dying Sasuke was excited, Naruto was as hyper as she'd ever seen him, and she was always looking for violence.

The boat rocked gently on the water and thick mist obscured their vision on all sides. The three genin were sitting together in the bottom of the boat with their knees bumping. Naruto watched her like he expected her to drop dead any second and Sasuke just looked at her as if he'd never known her.

She didn't know if that was an improvement or not.

Despite the calm of the water everyone was on edge and Kakashi hadn't even opened his book. When a bump indicated they were on land they disembarked. It would be a silent trek from here on out and Sakura knew the next ninja would be a jonin. With a sinking and yet thrilled feeling she had an inkling who that next ninja would be.

There was no warning, no smell, no feeling of foreboding, no faint sound to alert them. It was only her years spent in the darkness under Itachi's blade and a sixth sense well honed that made Sakura drop to the ground and bring Naruto and Sasuke and the client with her.

Kakashi roared. "Get down!"

A giant sword came screaming over their heads and embedded in a tree about twenty feet away. Sakura saw a few dark strands of hair fall from her head, cut.

She swallowed.

A man with bandages on his face and camouflage clothing landed on the handle of the sword. He craned his neck back and the face she was immediately recognized. Momochi Zabuza. It was just as she had guessed.

"Kakashi no Sharingan, no wonder my men failed." Zabuza said and he sounded utterly delighted.

She was reminded of the Kyuubi, of the guarantee of violence in his eyes and the thrill in his voice when he spoke of killing. Zabuza was exhibiting all of those signs and either he or her team would leave dead today. There was no other way a sociopath like him would operate, she would know, she was of the same breed.

"Momochi Zabuza, missing ninja of Kiri and proclaimed Demon of the Mist." Kakashi tilted his head back calmly. "Looks like I'll be needing this then."

And Kakashi pulled up his headband and revealed the Sharingan he had underneath. Without wasting a second he charged Zabuza intent on finishing the battle as quickly as possible. He did not speak to the rest of the team but they automatically moved back into a protective formation around Tazuna.

The air fell heavy on them and with a start Sakura realized both of her teammates were breathing shakily. She hadn't even noticed the horrid killing intent settling around them all, she was so used to being in the presence of the Kyuubi that all other murderous intent was left wanting in comparison.

She sent some of her own out subtly, easing up the killing intent on her teammates with her own sharpened by the Kyuubi's chakra flowing in her veins. Shortly after that she felt the Kyuubi stir.

_My my. _His whispers pulsated inside her skull. _What a fine mess you've gotten yourself into._

She rolled her neck feeling cartilage shifting and cracking loose. She felt _good._ "Things are going to get crazy so sit back and enjoy show." She murmured under her breath. His chakra immediately injected into her eyes allowing him to catch a glimpse of the outside world through her.

And what they saw was blows being traded, water clones being formed and destroyed in rapid succession, feints within feints, plans within plans, and the unfolding of a jonin battle more high paced than anything she'd seen in years. Her blood thrummed with the tempo of the battle, her crimson hued eyes searching for the opening that'd let her in.

It came far too quickly.

Zabuza caught Kakashi in the chin with a kick, sending the Konoha jonin skidding into a lake and beneath the water. When Kakashi surfaced he was surprised to find that he couldn't move. "What the...the water is heavy."

Zabuza landed right next to him on the water, raised his hand, and chuckled. "Water prison technique." The sphere of water bubbled and surged up and neatly encased Kakashi inside. The Konoha jonin was immobilized.

And now all that stood between Zabuza and Tazuna were three newly graduated genin. Sakura smiled.

"Get out of here and take Tazuna with you! He can't go after you while holding the jutsu!" Kakashi shouted.

Zabuza chuckled. "Not quite." Another water clone rose up out of the water, darkening and taking Zabuza's form and stepping on the shore. Naruto and Sasuke tensed up and gripped their kunai tightly .

"Do we go?" Naruto asked tightly.

Sasuke grunted. "We don't stand a chance against this guy."

Sakura spoke soothingly, keeping her tone calm and even for the boys. "Think this through, what happens if we leave Kakashi here?"

"He dies." Sasuke answered sharply.

"Then what?" She prodded.

Naruto was the one to answer. "Zabuza chases us down. He's faster and we'd never get to the village before he would catch up. We die."

She nodded. "We get Kakashi out of there or we beat Zabuza ourselves, either way running would mean we just die tired."

"Okay…" Naruto sounded like he was trying to assure himself. "Okay. I think…I think I gotta plan."

Sakura fought the Kyuubi's chakra down and let her eyes return to normal for a moment. It was more difficult to see through the fog but she shared glances with both genin. "What's the plan Naruto?"

With amazing steadiness Naruto detailed his plan to them in short and quick whispers.

The water clone came closer. "Do you children really think you're true ninja? Don't play around, brats like you don't know a thing about what it really means to fight for your life."

Naruto and Sasuke, usually egotistical beyond belief, reeled back and had their muscles cord up like coiled springs ready to break. Them being afraid would help nothing so Sakura shouted back. "Oh fuck off. We're not pretending to know you so please, kindly, stop pretending you know us."

That seemed to steady them and both boys came back to stand shoulder to shoulder with her.

"Time to go wild?" Naruto asked, composure and bravado regained.

She smirked. "Damn straight."

Naruto pulled a windmill shuriken from his bag and let his gear drop to the ground. He threw the shruiken to Sasuke and the dark haired boy caught it and grinned. "Ready when you are. Hit it."

Naruto formed a hand seal and they were surrounded by a sea of clones. Sakura melted into the crowd, applying a henge and moving to the front. The clones let out a roar and charged Zabuza's doppelganger.

The water clone laughed and swung his sword, taking out four of Naruto's before they could even get in melee range. "If that's how you want it brats come and die on my sword!"

Naruto's clones continued the charge, breaking out into complicated taijutsu strikes that soon had Zabuza's clone fully engaged.

Meanwhile Sasuke swung his whole body forward and threw the windmill shuriken into the fray. When it missed the Zabuza replica laughed. "Your aim sucks kid!"

The Uchiha smirked. "Who said I was aiming at you?"

The faux Zabuza's eyes widened and that cost him as three Naruto's took advantage of his distraction and plunged kunai into him. They watched him bleed water until he burst. Behind the dying clone the real Zabuza watched the windmill shuriken screaming towards his chest.

Unnoticed by all Sakura slipped into the water and disappeared beneath the surface in a stream of bubbles.

"Please," Zabuza sneered. "No shuriken can touch me." And to prove that point he caught it in his unoccupied hand. So it came as a surprise that there was a second shuriken in the shadow of the first, and with less than a second to spare Zabuza jumped and the shuriken scraped along his shins.

"Still not good enough." The missing ninja laughed.

He almost didn't notice that the shuriken behind him turned into Naruto clutching a kunai tightly.

The blond roared. "Take this you son of a bitch!" He threw and the kunai almost landed but at the last second Zabuza brought the first windmill shuriken he'd caught and blocked. The kunai bounced off harmlessly.

Their attack had failed.

Naruto fell into the water and swam down hard as he heard Zabuza begin to spin the deadly balde in preperation to throw.

"You're finished!" Zabuza snarled, getting ready to release it and pierce the water and end Naruto's life. He didn't notice that the water beneath his feet was bubbling and beginigng to froth dangerously. His third surprise was the last mistake he'd make and the water exploded upwards in a roar.

A wave of chakra smashed against the Demon of the Mist with the water and sent him skipping away like a thrown rock. The water prison shattered around Kakashi and the jonin, already drained of charka and running low, was caught equally in the explosion that sent him spinning in the opposite direction. His head hit the water at an odd angle and a burst of pain rocketed through his skull. He only knew darkness as he sunk beneath the waves.

The only thing that saved Hatake Kakashi from drowning was the fact Naruto had been right underneath where he landed. Naruto grabbed his sensei and got them above the water and then took them both to shore. Once there Sasuke and his clones that were still alive helped them out of the lake.

When Naruto and Sasuke looked back to the epicenter of the explosion Sakura had risen up out of the water with her chakra crackling on her skin like a lighting storm. She was grinning broadly and the devil was in her eyes. "Zabuza!" She called out sweetly. "Don't tell me a little explosion like that killed you!"

The jonin dragged himself up on the surface of the water with a truly deranged light in his eyes. "I'm going to kill you slowly for that. Nobody screws with me and gets to live little girl."

On the shore Naruto shouted for her and for the first time she heard him truly afraid. "Sakura! Run and get your ass back here and we'll hold him off together!"

"You're not getting out of here." Zabuza hissed and the mist thickened further and cut off her view of the shore. "You're dying out here with me, so don't get any delusions of running back with your tail between your legs." He lifted his hand and this time two clones emerged from the water and headed towards the shore.

She prayed Naruto and Sasuke could handle it because right now she had her hands full.

"I have no intention of running." She laughed harshly. "Do you wanna know a little secret?"

Zabuza seemed to consider that. "I'll hear your last confession; it's the least I can do for a dead girl walking."

"How nice of you." She replied dryly. "I'll let you know the truth: you're not the worst monster out here."

In the back of her head the Kyuubi moved forward. _This will be at the limits of your abilities, are you willing to make the gamble? You can leave those idiots on shore to die and outrun this worm easily._

She answered the Kyuubi under her breath. "I want to kill, I want to fight, I want to see my limits. It's been so long…"

_Then try not to die wretch. _The Kyuubi's chakra hit her like a tidal wave, dragging her down to the blackest depths of power. _I'm giving you the limit you can accept, so you better win._

Zabuza didn't seem to notice her inner conversation. "Then who's the biggest monster out here?"

Her eyes burned scarlet. "I am."

His deep chuckles rang in her ears. "You think that some little kunoichi can take me on? You're more delusional than I thought." His killing intent spiked at the end of his sentence to try and to scare her into a quivering ball of terror before the battle began.

The killing intent of the Kyuubi no Kitsune roared up through her like an erupting volcano. His chakra surged right up with it, frothing and raging and bathing the water in an eerie red glow. The killing intent alone was like a physical blow, shaking Zabuza down to his bones.

Her animal eyes gazed at him and she licked her teeth that were sharper than razors. She barred those teeth to him in a facsimile of a grin, it was like looking into the face of a smiling cadaver. He had been too quick to judge. "What are you?" He hissed.

"I thought I already told you?" And she exploded into motion. "I'm a monster!"

He lifted his blade and she crashed into it, grabbing it with bare hands coated in chakra. She used it like a spring board and twisted, slamming her feet into his sternum and blasting him off his feet. He fell towards the water and she stayed on him with chakra sheathed fingers slashing at his chest like claws and ripping open flesh and exposing muscle to the air.

He couldn't breathe and he could see the milky white bone of his ribs exposed from his mutilated chest. There was no breath in his lungs and with a silent curse he replaced himself with water from the lake to get out of her range. He'd intended to play around with her and that was the worst mistake he could have made. She wasn't playing, she wanted to kill him and Zabuza began to fear she might actually succeed.

"Running so fast?" She asked coyly. "And here I thought the big bad Demon of the Mist was going to kill me?"

Zabuza gritted his teeth ran through hand signs with his muscles and skin ripping in agony as he did. A dragon made of water roared out of the lake, opening it's watery jaws and bearing down on Sakura like a typhoon.

The Jinchuuriki went through her own hand signs and gathered air deep into her lungs. She let out an explosive breath and a dragon made of flames burst from her lips and crashed head on into Zabuza's jutsu.

When fire met water the flames burnt out and the water turned to superheated steam. Zabuza didn't have time to move or scream before the steam hit him, burning his skin raw and peeling his already wounded chest muscles from the bone.

He fled from the steam towards the shore and his eyes tracked it warily. From the white and deadly clouds a crimson form shot out like a meteor. It hit the water and skidded to a halt. Sakura smiled from where she had landed untouched by the steam. Her red cloak of chakra wouldn't let her be harmed by something so trivial.

When she saw the direction he was going she gave chase and it was a foolish thing. One did not try to corner a wounded animal carelessly and that went doubly true for wounded shinobi.

Even off balance Zabuza had more strength in his body than she had hyped-up on the Kyuubi's chakra. This time when he swung his sword he did not do it halfway or to cut her, he swung it with every intention of crushing her.

When she tried to catch the sword with her hands again she found he'd coated the blade in his own chakra, cutting through her crimson shroud like a knife before she could compensate. Her arms buckled back and splintered, her fingers broke with wet pops, and she tried to roll to the side to avoid the worst.

She didn't move fast enough.

The sword hit her exposed side, gashing out skin and muscle and nearly spilling her guts onto the ground. Sakura shrieked and grabbed her side and the red chakra went around her like a cocoon. She scampered back from the wounded jonin leaving a long, dark, and slick trail of blood out behind her.

Sakura stayed kneeling on the ground pumping chakra into her side to mend the damage and her broken fingers screamed with the agony of it. Zabuza was leaning on his sword panting heavily and his chest was a mess of gashes, burns, and exposed bone. Both breathed in heavily and eyed the other guardedly.

Sakura's hands fell from her side and while there was blood everywhere the wound was momentarily patched. Her hands and arms were still a mess but she didn't need them. She grinned as the blood began to burn and turn to steam, cauterized away by the Kyuubi's chakra. There were no more words and no more boasts.

Sakura coiled up and from the red chakra clawed arms formed to compensate for her broken ones, and she was ready to spring and begin the fight anew. She was forced to stop short when a senbon needle pierced Zabuza's neck. The jonin stared at her in mute surprise and she stared back in equal confusion. Without even a gurgle he fell to the ground, dead.

A teenager only a little older than her dropped down from the trees with a few needles held carelessly in their hands. Sakura eyed the lithe figure trying to determine the gender, and her lips curled back from her teeth. "Who the hell are you?"

The ninja shifted with well toned muscle rippling under their skin. A boy perhaps?

The mystery ninja answered her in a high and lilting soprano. "I am what you would call an Undertaker and Hunter Ninja of Kiri. I've been chasing this man a very long time, thank you for distracting him like this."

Sakura took back her initial thought of the ninja being a boy; the voice was girlish enough to give her too much pause for that.

Sakura kept her eyes on the he-she's masked face. The mask was vaguely familiar and the longer she looked at it the surer she was. It was a genuine ANBU mask from Kiri and there was no doubt of that.

She did not dare drop the red chakra but Sakura got to her feet and pulled back. "You shouldn't intrude on other's fun."

The Hunter Ninja bowed their head. "Then I apologize, if we ever meet again I'll make it up to you."

Sakura snorted. She highly doubted she'd ever lay her eyes on this ninja again. The Undertakers were legendary and feared in and out of Kiri, and to other villages they were as invisible as ghosts and as ever present as nightmares. Seeing one face to face was like striking the lottery, except the prize of winning was a violent death and an extended autopsy.

"I'll keep that in mind." Sakura answered.

With that the Hunter Ninja nodded at her once, picked up the corpse, and vanished into the mist as if they'd never been there to begin with. Sakura shuddered.

She let the red chakra go and as soon as it bled out of her the pain in her guts hit her like a sledgehammer. She went to her knees. The wound in her side reopened and blood spilled out. She gasped in agony. "Fix it!"

The Kyuubi answered her and his disinterest to her pain was obvious. _You used the limit; your chakra pathways are burned closed. You managed to cross the threshold between the healing nature of my chakra and the corrosive effect, congratulations, you're crippled until further notice._

The growl that escaped her lips couldn't be helped. "Thanks for warning me." She spat.

His laughter grated inside her skull as she half-stumbled and half-dragged herself in the direction she remembered last seeing her team. She cursed the weakness of her body every step of the way. Seven years of genetic manipulation and she could barley accept two tails worth of chakra before she burned out and her body failed on her.

When she was nine she'd made the mistake of taking on more chakra longer than she could last under without harming herself, and she'd spent two weeks outside of the village during one of her summer fieldtrips laid up with half her skin burnt off. It was an experience that didn't bear repeating.

Her legs gave out. She fell to the ground cursing, the stumbling had turned entirely to dragging and she dug her nails into the dirt and got to work. Dragging herself with broken fingers and broken arms was agony. It took ten minutes for her to get back to her team and by that point the mist had finally started to clear and her entire front was covered and sticky with blood.

She saw Naruto first and then he saw her. There was a gash across his forehead and he was holding his ribs gingerly. Half of his face was coated red. When he caught sight of her he tried to get up from the ground but failed. He winced and crumpled and settling for calling out to her. "Sakura! Are you all right?"

That roused Sasuke who was laying on the ground next to the blond, his arm bent at an odd angle that couldn't be anything but broken. He glanced up as well and she saw that his face was burnt. More than that thought she saw that his eyes were oddly hued. Sharingan hued.

For the first time Sakura just smiled out of happiness. "I'm in one piece, that's more than I can say for Zabuza."

Sasuke ratcheted himself up on his arm that wasn't broken. "What happened?"

"Fought with Zabuza and he beat me half to hell." Her head was beginning to spin wildly but she knew enough to keep things simple. "Hunter Ninja came out of nowhere and took him out. Last I saw Zabuza was off to a rather nasty autopsy."

Sasuke rolled his Sharingan eyes and each had one tomoe inside. "So in other words someone bailed you out."

Sakura shrugged. "Pretty much. So what happened to you two that got your Sharingan active?"

Sasuke gave a start and his hands flew to his face. Naruto glanced over unsurprised at the development. "Oh you finally noticed Sasuke? Took you long enough."

The Uchiha was too busy grabbing a kunai and using the reflection to examine his eyes. Seeing he was far to absorbed in his bloodline activating to care for them anytime soon, Sakura turned to her other teammate. "So what happened to you?"

"Two more water clones." Naruto touched his head wound. "Also beat us half to hell. I took my guy out with a wind jutsu and a clone hidden in the ground but not before he busted up half my ribs. Sasuke did a fire jutsu when one had him by the throat, burnt his face all up in the blowback but it did the job. I guess his Sharingan came up during the melee."

It wasn't very descriptive but in the end Sakura guessed it really didn't matter. She looked for Kakashi's body and found him unconscious a few feet away with Tazuna standing over him. Tazuna appeared comatose and he had some blood on his chest. He was clutching his bottle of alcohol and drinking from it vacantly. With a sinking realization Sakura realized the bottle was already long empty and Tazuna had yet to realize it.

"What about the old man and sensei?" She asked.

"Oh." Naruto glanced at them and his voice was unconcerned. "Whatever you did under the water to break that jutsu Zabuza had him in knocked sensei out cold, so I brought him back to shore. As for the old man…I guess he's not cut out for ninja fighting right in front of him."

Sakura just nodded. She got to her feet shakily feeling a bit better, mostly because the bones in her arms had shifted and fused back into place while she was resting. It took another five minutes of snapping her fingers (which she'd been force to relocate one by one) in front of his face before Tazuna eventually came-to from his stupor. She took charge. "Lead us to your house and help us carry Kakashi."

The bridge builder nodded dumbly. Sasuke got up under his own power but stayed close to her, occasionally leaning on her shoulder when he became too weak. She and Naruto linked arms around each other and acted as the other's crutch.

It was slow going but after three hours they reached Tazuna's house. Little did they know their mission had barely begun.

* * *

Edit: Okay, what got changed in this chapter was: Sakura keeping her cover as an idiot student in front of Kakashi and being the dead last, the teams being sorted as they did was more fully explained, the bell test was revamped to be more realistic, Kakashi's attitude and character was given an overhaul, the team dynamic between Naruto and Sakura and Sasuke was tweaked and Sasuke became more Sasuke-ish, the demon brothers fight was redone, and the Zabuza fight was redone with way more injuries this time around to reflect three genin taking on a jonin even if one of them was a jinchuuriki, and Sasuke's Sharingan got activated earlier.


	5. Behind the Mask

Disclaimer: If I owned Naruto…well, let's just say it's probably better for all of us that I don't.

Edited Version

* * *

**Tazuna's House, One Day Later, 7:00 AM**

She drifted slowly back into consciousness and her whole body ached with the effort. Sunlight burned at her eyelids and it was making her head throb. All she wanted to do was sleep: sleep until the world ended, sleep until the sun burned out, sleep until she forgot her own name.

But the sun won out, it always did.

Sakura's eyes opened.

The futon she was in was warm, smelling like dust and mildew and sweat. The sweat she assumed came from the two boys sleeping on either side of her. There had been only three extra futon mats in the house fetched by Tazuna's daughter when they arrived. One was for Kakashi, still out cold.

The other two were pushed together and the three genin made do sleeping under a large comforter side by side. They were all too wounded, too broken, and too bloodied to care. The only mention made about sleeping in such close quarters was Naruto and Sasuke shoving her between them and then refusing to acknowledge each other.

Even at their worst things really didn't change.

Sakura pushed herself up and off the futon (and over a still sleeping Sasuke in the process) and moved to the window. She shut the curtain with an angry huff and doused out the sunlight. When her eyes adjusted to the dim light she took stock of her team and knew that while they were sleeping she could get them fixed up with none of them the wiser.

She moved to Kakashi first: broken ribs, chakra exhaustion, concussion. Her hands briefly glowed green as she begun to heal him; years of the Kyuubi's chakra mending her back together had etched into her an awareness for healing that could only be matched by the best of medics.

Her chakra circulatory system, still heavily burned out from her over exertion of demonic chakra, itched with the effort. She ignored it as best as she could and moved back to her bed.

Sasuke was next: broken arm, heavy bruising, third degree burns on his neck and face. She healed nothing completely but she took away the worst of it and mended the broken bones. He would be sore and would likely ache for days, but he'd be ready to fight.

Naruto was last: half his ribs busted, some internal damage on his liver, and the half closed gash on his forehead. She mopped up the blood from his face; Naruto had fallen asleep so quickly last night he hadn't even washed.

She hit her limit, unbearably low in the wake of her own injuries and demonic chakra overdose, and groaned and collapsed back on the bed. She crawled over Naruto and under the blankets.

She couldn't quite sleep and instead listened drowsily as the house slowly came to life. Water ran through the pipes, soft footfalls echoed down the stairs, grease sizzled in a pan, and voices murmured gently. She filtered the events from yesterday at a snail's pace and there was something nagging at her about what happened.

She heard the door creak open and saw Tazuna's daughter stick her head in. The woman raised her eyebrows at their sleeping arrangement but said no more. "Breakfast is ready kids."

Sakura just nodded from where she was buddled under the puffy comforter between her teammates. When Tsunami left she roused them from their slumber. When their eyes opened they both looked like hell.

She whispered softly. "Foods downstairs, I'll see you there."

Sasuke just nodded and rolled back over, Naruto kept looking at her. His voice was a low croak in his throat. "How are you doing?"

"Alive." She murmured. "I've had worse."

Naruto frowned, he'd seen the state of her side being ripped to shreds and if there had been worse than that…

Sakura got up before he could ask. He was getting closer to the edge and almost ready to make the leap. But that leap wouldn't come with them feeling like hell on empty stomachs and barely healed injuries.

She went downstairs, minutes later Naruto followed.

**Five Hours Later**

When Kakashi woke he did not ask for food, water, or even his book. He did not ask why their faces were bruised or in Sasuke's case burned, and he did not ask why they laid on a futon staring at the ceiling. They were unable to do anything but lay around while their bodies mended, not that he asked anyways.

No, upon waking Hatake Kakashi asked for a report, and Uzumaki Naruto was the one to give it.

It was as insubordinate and sarcastic as one could expect for the state they were in. "Well let's see, after you took that header into the water I valiantly risked my life to take you to shore. Over there Sasuke and I protected you and the old man from the second assault of water clones, and after a long and very difficult battle Sasuke and I were victorious as one could expect from ninja of our skill. During that Sakura got a sword put through her side and made friends with a quite nice Hunter Ninja that killed Zabuza and took his body away. Oh, and we took you here. And Sasuke's Sharingan activated, did I mention that yet?"

Kakashi should have known better than to ask and he sighed heavily. Then he tensed up and turned his hardened eyes to her. "The Hunter Ninja took the body away?"

Sakura nodded and felt her earlier unease return. Something was wrong from yesterday and she had the inkling suspicion the jonin knew what.

"That wasn't a Hunter Ninja." Kakashi said grimly. "They always dispose of a body on site. _Always. _That was Zabuza's accomplice that took him away and it looks like he's still alive. But the accomplice would only have acted if there was no other choice…Sakura, what did you do?"

She lied between her teeth. "The explosion that knocked you out was from water proof exploding tags." Actually it was from a very over-powered S-class water jutsu but he didn't have to know that. "It messed up Zabuza's chest really bad. I kept after him and I'll be honest it was going to be a suicide run and…that's when the Hunter stepped in so I canceled the attack. Looks like I shouldn't have."

She knew Kakashi wouldn't believe she'd fought a jonin to a standstill without some uncomfortable questions being asked, so lying about exploding tags and suicide attacks was more in the realm of incompetent genin capability.

"I see." The jonin answered. Wether he bought it was hard to tell from his bland tone. "Then we're going to be training and healing, no one is any shape to do much else."

Sakura decided now wasn't the time to start suggesting assassinations, she had the feeling Kakashi wouldn't like it. And as for training…what's the worst he could throw at them?

**Forest, Next Morning, One Mile East**

Trees. The worst he could throw at them was _trees._

Sometimes she wondered if Kakashi was really trying to teach them or if he just wanted them out of his hair.

"I already told you sensei! I can _do_ this exercise." Naruto grumbled, hanging from the bottom of a branch and waving his arms around. It was an odd sight to witness.

Sakura, hanging by her hands from a branch she'd nearly fallen from _pretending_ not to know tree climbing, scowled. If she had to suffer Naruto damn well was going to suffer the same. Sasuke seemed to be thinking similarly, judging by the glare he was burning into Naruto's skull from his spot on the forest floor.

"That's nice." Kakashi answered and flipped a page in his book. "Where'd you pick it up?"

Naruto replied tightly. "Old tutor. Now come on, give me a jutsu or something, I'm bored out of my freaking skull here."

Kakashi just turned another page. "Give it a day to polish up Naruto, your chakra control is a little shaky with how much you have. And I've noticed you've been giving off too much excess smoke when making shadow clones lately…"

Naruto gritted his teeth and had mutiny in his eyes. Sakura and Sasuke snickered under their breath. There was no love lost between their team.

"Do it again." Their sensei commanded. They all got back to work.

The minutes bled into hours and the hours slipped away, the sun rose and fell and the sky turned from dusky blue to a dizzying azure. Kakashi had left an hour in gone to who knows where.

Naruto had kept walking up and down the tree for hours while snarling under his breath. Sasuke had looked at him with his Sharingan halfway in and picked up the technique, he had performed flawlessly since. Seeing they both had their act together Sakura went from pretending to fall every few steps to moving the whole length of the tree when noon struck.

Then Kakashi came back for Sasuke to train the boy's newly developed Sharingan. Naruto had thrown a fit, Sakura had seethed, and Kakashi had not changed his mind and Sasuke left smirking.

Naruto and she were alone and the hours went on.

When the shadows grew long and the moon began its ascent Sakura let the chakra from her feet fade and plummeted head first to the ground. At the last second she flipped and landed on her feet gracefully, carelessly, _instinctually_.

Naruto stared at her from the trees with shadows dappling his face and hair. His eyes were a deep and fathomless blue, bluer than a winter sky and far colder. "I've been wondering about a lot of things lately." And his voice was deeper than the shadows.

It was time. The hook had been baited, her poisons laid out, and her barbs sunk in. One way or another she and Naruto would have their reckoning.

"Like what?" Where she would usually be coy her voice was flat, her real voice, the voice of the monster that had once skinned a man alive just for the sheer _hell_ of it.

"Who are you?" He asked piercingly. "You act dumb but I can see that's all just an act, you don't die when you're poisoned, you know jutsu no one teaches at the academy, you can fight, and you also know how to fight without _looking_ like you know."

She let his words wash over her and she sampled his suspicions and measured his paranoia. And she knew just from that, that Uzumaki Naruto was _exactly_ what she was looking for.

"You asked me once who taught me how to fight." Her gaze pierced his and her eyes were like shards of jade in the moonlight. "Let me tell you: a chunin with a taste for genjutsu who owed favors, a jonin easily guilted, and an ANBU with his own agenda."

He descended to the forest floor and they stayed on opposite sides of the clearing. When he stepped into the light his face was hard and cold and the mask was stripped away. "Why?"

"Piss off enough people and you can't step three feet in the village without someone trying to rip your guts out." Her grin was nasty and cruel and split the dark between them. "I guess you could say I have a talent for it, and let me say getting your guts ripped out _hurts._ So I learned to fight and what I couldn't learn I got people to teach me. It's as simple as that."

They circled each other and Naruto was like ice. His distrust slipped out from his words like frost. "What do you want? I know what people look like when they want something, when they want a piece of you, when they see you as something to be _possessed _like a trophy. So what do you want?"

She laughed. "You of course."

His reaction was far more violent than she could have anticipated. He struck at her with punches and kicks and tried to draw her into a brawl. She weaved around his blows, her hair flowing around her like ink cast in water. Her pale skin showed ghostly in the moonlight.

Naruto spat out his words between blows. "I've spent my whole damn life with people trying to make me into something! Wanting me to be like my father and be so fucking perfect! Be the best, be faultless, be smarter, be better. Don't fail him, don't disappoint his memory, don't be a horrible son. Every. Single. Fucking. Day!"

"I know." Her words were like venom, sinking into the fractures of him shattering right in front of her. And she touched every cell of him with her poison. "You were the prodigal son. The beloved one, the legacy of their hero that died to save them all. Of course they wanted you to fill his shoes."

"It wasn't fair!" He shouted and threw another punch.

She let it graze her cheek and the bruise bloomed. "I know it isn't. So you ran away didn't you? Pranks, that ungodly obnoxious behavior, those nasty jokes, that cruel streak a mile wide."

He growled. "So? I couldn't be what they wanted and they wouldn't leave me alone! I did what I had to do to get away from their expectations, make them think I was a failure that couldn't be salvaged."

"But you didn't." And that stopped him short.

He stared at her like she was alien to him. Their silence filled the clearing and she touched her bruised cheek. She stared at him with calm and clear eyes, flawless jade without one imperfection to be used and broken. Her voice was equally as flawless. "No matter how bad you got you never dropped your ranking in class. You kept training, you kept fighting, you kept learning _everything_ they taught."

"I…" He stumbled over his words. "I just didn't—I mean— I couldn't give up being a ninja…"

Her voice was like a scalpel, precise to cut away everything it touched. "That's just it. You were trying to run two directions at once, trying to climb up and throw yourself down. You can't try to destroy yourself while making yourself into something new Naruto, that's why you're in so much pain."

His legs shuddered and gave out and he just crouched on the ground. His face was in his hands. "What does it even matter? You're just like the rest of them, wanting me to be your ticket to something better…"

She interrupted him. "I want you to be Hokage."

His head snapped up. "What?"

She repeated herself.

He blinked, the coldness in his eyes melting to confusion. "Why?"

"Our village is rotting." Her expression was vicious and yet as unfeeling as ice. "You were their Prince, you got all the glitter and the adulation, you were the one to sit in the gilded cage. I was their bane and I was in the mud and the blood of the worst of that place. Tradition before progress, clans before ninja, politics before justice, hatred before reason, blame before understanding I can't be Hokage Naruto, people hate me too much for that. But you Naruto…you _can_, and I'll do anything to make that happen and help you change things."

Anything beyond one word responses seemed beyond him. "How?"

"By building you into a legend that will make even your father pale in comparison. I can teach you how to fight with the best: the intricacies of genjutsu, the rhythm of taijutsu, the fury of ninjutsu. I'll teach you politics and poisons, assassins and blades, and…"

"And?" He hung on her every word.

"I'll teach you how to kill."

The resonance of those words echoed between them, heavy and foreboding, dark and enticing.

He did not answer her and she did not expect him too. She turned her back to him and left with one parting salvo. "If you're going to keep destroying yourself you seem to be doing that _quite_ nicely on your own, but if you want to become something new, something more…I'll be waiting."

She arched her neck back, looking at him and showing him the profile of her bruised cheek. Then with a malicious grin she touched her face and red and green chakra sparked between her fingers and skin. The bruise vanished.

The message that it sent though remained.

_I can change anything, even you._

The hook had been baited, her poisons laid out, and her barbs sunk in. Her part was done; the rest was up to Uzumaki Naruto to finish.

**Tazuna's House, Next Morning**

Naruto did not return that night. Kakashi did not seem worried and Sasuke did not seem to care (though she was certain Sasuke's lack had more to do with no Naruto meaning more futon space for them).

And after waking with only her and Sasuke in the bedroom, Naruto's side of the futon untouched, she ate breakfast out on the porch waiting for him in the gray hours of early morning.

Naruto did not return.

Kakashi sent her to the forest she had vacated late last night leaving Naruto wallowing in the shadows and his ghosts. She'd ripped open the wounds he'd so carefully hidden, but healing those wounds…she'd just be more likely to poison them.

When she got to the trees she had become hopeful and rushed the last few steps. The clearing was achingly empty. There was no sign of what had transpired there last night, no lingering shadows, no hints of bitterness and hatred in the wind. The world moved forward not caring for their little drama.

Sakura really didn't know how that made her feel.

She did not bother pretending to learn tree climbing with no audience to watch her. She fell into the training regimen she used in the village before joining with her team. Advanced self-genjutsu, an invisible taijutsu fight alone, a run through of the more powerful ninjutsu combinations she was forming, and a quick exercise of her kenjutsu.

Her katana was currently enclosed in a small mess of seals stitched onto her belt that held her pouch and kunai holder. The katana was not standard issue but high grade ANBU steel, courtesy of Itachi from long ago. She chose not to show it to those who'd see it for what it was, and Kakashi was one of those people which necessitated the hidden seals and secrecy.

She was about to draw the katana from its hidden resting place when something shifted in the wind. She paused to look to the trees and from the deep shadows and sunlight a familiar figure emerged.

Naruto.

He was different. His orange jumpsuit was gone and so was the ever present smile that split his face like a wound. He wore the basic black undershirt that usually resided under his jacket and a simple pair of gray cargo pants that looked a bit shoddy. He'd no doubt bought them at some poor Wave Country store just this morning.

It was his face though that really snared her: for the first time Naruto looked at her in the sunlight with his mask down. The bitterness and contempt he'd carried hidden under false good humor and a too bright smile had faded. In its place was a new composure, cool and subtle, backed by bright eyed intelligence that seemed to see everything yet show nothing. And ever so slightly his lips curved with a smile, touched with a hint of humor and sarcasm she'd known in his worst moments too well.

"Hello Sakura." His voice came out evenly, confident but not overbearing, soft but layered aggressively.

The real Naruto was collected, intelligent, and not willing to take shit from anybody.

She returned the greeting. "Hello Naruto."

He stepped farther into the clearing and they met in the center by a seemingly silent and mutual agreement. He held out his hand to her and the sunlight felt so warm on her skin when they touched.

"My name is Uzumaki Naruto and I'm the future Hokage."

She grasped his hand. "My name is Sakura and I'm the future top kunoichi of Konoha. A pleasure to finally make your acquaintance Naruto."

And in the sunlight and the shade their world shifted.

**Incomplete Bridge, One Week Later**

Guard duty was dreadfully dull. The only saving grace between the hours of mind numbing boredom was that Naruto was a delight to talk to. With his biting wit, grasp of multiple subjects to lengths that even surprised her, his drive to leave no stone unturned, and his tendency to stick to her side like glue, he was the conversation partner she'd been waiting years to find.

Talking with Gai had been an exercise in futility and testing the lengths of her sanity, Itachi had been a verbal spar that left her usually more afraid than anything, and Shikamaru was interesting when pressed but anything longer than five minutes was like pulling teeth.

Not to speak ill of any of them, but in the end she had to say Naruto was a step up.

They had just finished conversing about the complications between combining wind and fire jutsu simultaneously when bridge construction wrapped for the day. Seeing it was time to head back they got to their feet (and jumped a few stories down from the crane they were perched on) and joined Tazuna to escort him back.

This escort led straight through a tiny village balanced on the Wave Country shore, and lest said the entire place was depressing. Except for a few shops here and there the economy was in shambles. Desperation clung to the air like some stagnant disease. There were beggars on every corner, the store windows were mostly empty, paint peeled off the side of the buildings, and it was like this place hadn't seen anything new in decades. There were more homeless children begging for food than she could count.

By the time they were halfway through she and Naruto had wordlessly emptied their pockets and packs of rations bars and handed them out. When they had given away every edible thing they had more children still came to them, hungry.

Sakura recognized the expressions on their desperate faces, knew the agony of having one's stomach trying to eat itself after days without food. Sakura wasn't in the business of saving people but this more than anything made up her mind.

Gato had to die.

Naruto looked around casually, his eyes taking it all in and in the torrent of emotion that brought on she could see he had reached the same conclusion. A thought began to percolate in the back of her mind. She let the plan unfurl and morph and take on new and horrifying contours.

Even if he had reached the same conclusion Naruto had not made the same intuitive leap. While she plotted, he distracted himself by linking his arm with her. A grin plastered on his face far too friendly for comfort. "You know the way things stand you're my best friend and a girl."

"I hadn't noticed." She deadpanned but secretly she was rather pleased she and Naruto had reached friendship status so quickly. Even Shikamaru had taken a month of solid work to make him admit it.

"Have you ever been in love?" He asked blandly.

This time her gaze shot to him and her expression was sharp. "Why do you ask?"

He shrugged, still with that too friendly smile on his face. "Just curious."

They had shared small details of their life over the past week, Naruto doing more talking than she, (and what she did share highly edited) but they had never spoken of something this deep since the first night when Naruto had shattered right in front of her. The question struck her as odd and intrusive but she was willing to answer. "Once. Though my definition of love is a bit…bizarre."

"You don't say?" He answered wryly, but then his voice dropped to a more serious octave. "What was it like?"

She flipped through her thoughts trying to order them into something coherent. Somehow she doubted she understood love anymore than she had when she was seven and watched a bloodied Itachi walk out of her life. She took a deep breath. "It's a little like…admiration. Adoration maybe, you think of them when they're not with you and when they are you keep trying to sneak glances at them. You want to know what goes on in their head, know everything about them, everything they think, be the center of their time and attention and not let them have anything else. You want to…"

She trailed off, she had the feeling saying: _you want to fight with them and see them bleed_ was not in the standard or even sane definition of love. She let it drop.

Naruto waited but after a long pause it was obvious no more would be forthcoming. He let it drop too. "Okay."

She raised an eyebrow. "Still not going to tell me why you asked?"

He wouldn't quite meet her eyes. "Like I said: curious. And if you don't mind me asking…who was it?"

"Oh no." She chastised him. "We don't play that game of questions unless you're willing to fess up too."

He scowled. "Fine. I was…I was always told I was supposed to love the village and everyone in it because that's why we were protecting it. I…no matter how much my tutors or the people who wanted to meet me or even the Hokage told me that, I never loved that place or its people. I never understood why I should."

Every day, more and more, she was coming to realize Naruto was the perfect person to center her plans around. She tried not to smile. "I see. The person I loved was an ANBU with an agenda. He took an interest in me and it was impossible for me not to take an interest back."

"So will I be running into this guy back in the village?" Naruto looked perturbed about that.

"No." She shook her head. "In fact if you ever meet an ANBU or former ANBU who professes to know me, run. Just run and don't look back."

He grimaced. "That doesn't sound healthy."

She shrugged. "It never is with me. By the way, we've got company about ten feet back."

He did not glance back or tense or do anything to show his new awareness as a good shinobi should. They stopped to look into a store window and eyed their followers in the reflection.

"Tazuna?" She called out to the old man. He looked back in concern having seen them stop. He raised his eyebrows.

She smiled comfortingly. "Go back without us, we're going to take care of something here."

The old man glanced across the street and without a word beat a hasty retreat. Their followers stayed with the genin which worked just fine for Sakura.

They eyed the four tall, burly, and unshaven men loitering with lumps under their jackets that resembled blades.

"Gato's men?" Naruto asked calmly.

"Doubtful." She answered. "If they were they would have gone straight for Tazuna instead of staying with us. My guess is two kids in clothing that looks way more expensive than anything that can be bought on this island…"

Naruto lowered his voice. "Bandits in a shit place like this? Lovely."

She smirked. "Let's not be unfriendly here Naruto. How about we give them a good time?"

His chuckle was decidedly nasty. "Too right. Lead the way."

They slipped into an opening between two run down stores and noted the men doggedly followed them every step of the way. They only had to wait a minute before the four thugs followed them in.

The leader of the group was the widest, meanest, and dirtiest son of a bitch Sakura ever had the misfortune to lay her eyes on. The bandit spoke in a gravelly voice that attested to too many years of hard liquor. "Okay kids, hand over all your money nice and easy and we won't have a situation on our hands. We don't want things to get...out of control."

Naruto stepped forward. "Out of control? If you keep trying to fuck with us that'll be exactly what happens." Loathing was practically dripping from his voice.

The leader-man laughed and his lackeys joined in, and their breath stunk of alcohol and cheap cigarettes. Naruto was rather short and without throwing killing intent around his threats weren't going to impress them.

"Just for that brat I'm going to take a few minutes alone with that pretty girl you've got before I kill you. Call it even." The leader leered at her.

In all of her years and all of the atrocities that had been done to her: the curses, the beatings, being left strung out on poorly made poisons, laying bloody on sidewalks with people walking by, the nights in the ICU barely left alive…there had been one thing, one invisible line no one in the village had ever dared cross with her.

This man had just decided he wanted to cross it. If she hadn't already known she was going to kill him this would have decided it for her. Her eyes blazed with the promise of hell. "Oh honey, a few minutes alone with me and I'll have you _screaming._"

Naruto realized the real implication of her words. The bandits did not.

They all roared with laughter and one of the lackeys finally spoke. "Looks like we've got a regular little whore here boss."

Naruto went over the edge. "Go to hell!"

The lackey drew out a cheap blade from under his jacket and brandished it at the genin wildly. Naruto was unimpressed and took two steps in, broke the man's elbow, and bent his arm in and shoved.

The lackey looked down in pure shock at his own blade sticking out of his own stomach.

Sakura hit the seals on the back of her belt to activate them, and drew her katana out from storage in one smooth stroke. She unsheathed the blade and the leader and his two unwounded men backed up in fear as they realized their mistake.

Her lips peeled off her teeth in a sneer. "Well boys you've got your few minutes." She raised the blade. "So let's play."

One charged, one tried to flee, and the leader stayed in place. Sakura went for the coward first, weaving between the other two while raising her blade for the strike. She angled the blade perfectly and sent it through the man's back, ribs, and straight into his heart.

She allowed her arms to relax and threw the man off the sword to the ground. The last two bandits were now trapped between her and Naruto. The lackey that had charged was met with Naruto's fist, breaking his cheek bone with the first punch and crushing his throat with the second. The lackey went down wheezing and by the sounds he was making Sakura knew he didn't have long to live.

The man Naruto had stabbed in the stomach was writhing on the ground and bleeding out. Sakura did not know if it was inexperience or cruelty, but Naruto's kills would both die slowly.

The leader was the only threat left. He back peddled to the wall and all of his earlier bravado was gone. He babbled. "Do you know who I am? I'm one of Gato's men! Let me go or he'll kill you both and he'll annihilate you and everyone you love. No one stands up to Gato and lives!"

She cooed, drawing in with her blade angled low. "You poor thing, I was just going to put you out of your misery. But now that you told me you're one of Gato's thugs…" She leaned in and purred. "You're going to _scream_ for me."

Naruto spoke up behind her and his voice was jarringly flat. "Sakura they're…dead."

She did notice a sudden lack of wheezing and screaming in the background. She did not turn from the leader and kept him trapped to the wall, but she did answer back to her teammate. "Yes, people with crushed throats and knives through their stomach usually do that."

Naruto's voice went up an octave, not quite panicking but getting close. "I killed them."

"First time, huh?" She asked, knowing the answer. "Go take a walk and clear your head, I'll finish up here."

"But…" He sounded angry and afraid and a few other things she couldn't pin down.

She finally spared him one glance, knowing the bandit couldn't get the drop on her. Her tone brooked no argument. "Are you ready to learn torture Naruto?"

The shock was clear but his answer was immediate and honest. "No I'm not."

"Then take a walk." She turned back to the leader and watched him squirm. "Me and my new friend here need to have a little…_conversation."_

When Naruto returned the bodies were gone, and Sakura had three perfectly spaced drops of blood sprayed across her cheek . It was the only marker to whatever horror had passed in that alley while he was gone.

"Gato has his headquarters on the other side of the island." She told him idly. "And a hell of a lot of mercenaries to protect all the drugs and weapons he has stored there. Wherever Zabuza is holed up it isn't there."

The casualness she told him this with, after what he _knew_ had happened in this alley, chilled him to the bone. "What…what does that mean?"

"It means we're going on a fieldtrip. Off the books. Off the record. No Kakashi and no Sasuke." She looked up at him and there was no sign of the bloodthirsty glee or stone cold killer he'd caught glimpses of. She was once again matter of fact; all business as if this was something as mundane as ordering lunch.

He couldn't help but mirror that attitude because any less meant a long and slippery slope that would end in madness. "I'm in."

She grinned. Unbeknownst to Naruto, doing his first illegal act off the books just because she had asked him too made him _hers._ And there was no going back.

Unknowingly, Naruto reached up and wiped the blood of her face with his thumb, and the contact was warm and Sakura didn't jerk away. The blood on her hands was moving to his and he'd accepted it willingly.

**Two Days Later, Gato Shipping Industries, Wave Headquarters **

"So in through loading dock, up the inner stairs wile trying to avoid anyone seeing us, and we go for Gato's head." Naruto sighed. "Sounds _totally _simple."

In his hands blueprints of the sprawling complex were covered with their plots and strategies. This plan was no less insane than the others, but at least it seemed doable. He really didn't want to know what Sakura had done to get these either.

She nodded cheerfully. "In a nutshell yes, that's the plan."

"All right then."

She handed him a jacket wrapped around something hard and he unraveled it to find a mask inside. It was a black fox with the eyes and whiskers painted blue, the same shade of blue as his eyes.

He held it up to her in silent question, and from her equipment pouch she pulled out an identical mask painted red. "Someone who meant…meant a lot to me, gave this to me on the night of my first serious raid. I wanted to continue that tradition."

He didn't quite know what to say to that but the gift filled him with a strange touch of both warmth, hope, and anxiety. "Thanks." He muttered and fastened it on.

She gave a warning. "Just know you can only wear it when it's just us. I was told that mask has some…ugly connotations Konoha wouldn't appreciate. I think that's why it was given to me in the first place, as some kind of sick joke on them."

"Then why do you wear it?" He asked incredulously.

"Like I said," She slid her own mask on. "It was from someone who meant a lot to me."

They were silent for a minute pulling on jackets and hoods, fastening masks, and checking their equipment. They were preparing for the worst and covering their identities if they failed. There were too many people in that building and the odds of their being spotted was high, and Sakura would not fool herself into believing differently. This could never be traced back to them or Konoha or things would get ugly.

Two clones were at the bridge with Tazuna, and Sasuke was with their sensei still training his Sharingan. Kakashi was too wrapped in training his current favorite to give their movements much mind.

Zabuza had yet to appear but with the injured state he'd been whisked away in, she doubted he would attack for another few days. Hopefully her and Naruto snuffing his boss would drop the contract and have him leave, that was what they hoped at least.

She signaled for them to move and they leapt over a steep embankment and skidded down to the marshes below. They wove through the reeds like ghosts, moving to the shore and shipping docks that opened on the ground level. It was their ticket in to Gato.

They sprinted the last few feet to a concrete wall and moved up the sheer face like spiders before lifting their masked faces over the lip. Something illegal looking was being unloaded from a boat and at least thirty men were milling on the dock jutting into the sea.

They exchanged a wordless glance. Naruto went first, Sakura followed. They rushed to a set of crates and ducked behind. On this went, checking corners, rushing empty spaces, and dodging mercenaries as they traversed the wide docks at the center of Gato shipping.

The inner staircase, with blueprints on hand, was easy to find. Getting past the guards was not. All six of them.

"Genjutsu?" Naruto whispered.

She chewed on her lip. "Let's give it a shot."

She gathered the details of the genjutsu in her mind, smoothing the curves, sharpening the edges, honing the lie. It was as subtle as mist and insidious as poison. The guard closest to the door heard an insult that wasn't spoken and turned and punched the man next to him.

With the genjutsu at work she snared two more men, having them see slights that weren't there and hear slurs unspoken. The brawl was quick to start and even quicker to move away from the door. It went onto the dock taking all six guards with it and it grabbed the attention of everyone else.

Slipping through the door after that was rather simple. It closed behind them with a click and even with his mask on Sakura could tell Naruto was grinning at her. "Nice."

She didn't get a chance to answer.

"Who the hell are you?" A new voice shouted.

They leapt away from each other and turned to see a man standing farther up the staircase. A radio in hand. Sakura didn't have to think twice. "The radio!"

Naruto threw a kunai, shattering the handheld and cutting the man's palm. He screamed and clutched at his mauled fingers and that was all Sakura needed to jump to the next landing, grab his head, and snap his neck in one clean thrust.

The body slumped down the stairs with a meaty thwack.

"Well shit." Naruto muttered. "What now?"

She eyed the stairwell and her anxiety kicked up a notch. "We'll stick the body at the bottom and move up as quick as we can. That should buy us some time."

Naruto was already dragging the body down with help from a clone and trying not to let too much blood smear on the floor. "How much time?"

"Ten minutes, fifteen if we're lucky." She sighed. "And here I was hoping this would be a quick in and out. I should have known better."

As soon as the body was wedged behind the stairs they sprinted upwards, this time more wary for those above them. They had only gotten up eleven flights when the shouts started.

"Damn it!" Naruto hissed. "That wasn't even five minutes!"

She grabbed him by the elbow and halted them by a steel door. She rubbed a quick and soothing hand down his arm. "If we can't be lucky Naruto…" She grinned devilishly under her mask. "Then we just have to be good."

He sobered up. Just then the door next to them slammed open and a man rushed through. He was met by both genin plunging a kunai into his chest. He was dead before he hit the floor. They gathered the kunai, not willing to leave a trace of anything that could implicate ninja in this assault.

She stepped over the dead body and Naruto followed her.

The slaughter at Gato Industries had begun.

**Top Floor, Gato Shipping Industries, Senior Office**

Waraji had been a samurai once but now he was just a washed up mercenary working for a man with too much money and a thirst for a personal army. What had led him to Gato's employ was a rather simple thing: Waraji liked to hurt people.

By all counts he fit in perfectly and it had not taken long for him to rise to the position of personal bodyguard and all the perks therein. Gato hurt and killed so many people on a daily basis right in front of him Waraji never got bored.

So the washed up samurai was delighted to watch one of Gato's more incompetent security men squirm.

"Sir, two intruders have been reported heading up the inner staircase." The frightened man as he tried not to meet the eyes of any of those in the room.

"I know that you idiot!" Gato roared and his sunglasses slipped down to reveal inky eyes. "What kind of report is that? Telling me something I already know but not doing anything about it! Waraji!"

The old samurai grinned. "Yes sir?"

Gato snarled. "Show your associate the mistake of giving me a report that wastes my time."

Waraji nodded and drew his sword. "With pleasure."

The man flinched and tried to run and for that Waraji took his entire arm instead of just his hand. The blood sprayed across the expensive marble floor and the screams were music to his ears.

Gato grew bored of the man's suffering quickly and waved to the other bodyguard. "Zori, get that trash out of here."

Zori did just that and Waraji returned to his place standing behind Gato's chair, feeling the thrill of other's pain.

"Sir," He inquired. "Do you want us to take care of the intruders?"

"No." Gato snapped. He sat back in his expensive leather chair, imported from a distant country at an exorbitant fee, and considered. "I have enough men here to take over a small country, there's no need to bother my best."

Waraji liked being called the best so he did not object. He settled in to wait not realizing his time was already ticking away.

**Gato Industries, 13****th**** Floor**

Metal doors slammed back and reinforcements poured into the floor wielding every kind of weapon she could name and some she didn't even recognize. Bodies of workers and guards were already strewn haphazardly around them. They'd hit stalemate, a stealth mission had turned hot and now it was heading towards scorching.

And if they weren't careful they were going to burn.

"We have to thin the ranks!" Naruto shouted.

She couldn't help but agree as her katana separated another man from his head. "I know. Hey…remember that talk we had about fire and wind jutsu?"

After blasting a man out a window, Naruto glanced back. "Yeah. So?"

"Wanna try it?"

His cheer was all the answer she needed.

Nartuo's clones flooded the room and charged into the chokepoint by the doors. Some were destroyed on the way there but many were not, and in a flash the clones exploded. A huge blast enveloped the doorway and the sound of metal shredding and glass shattering was deafening.

The crackling of fizzing skin, sizzling muscle, and fracturing bone was far louder. The screams came next.

It was a technique Sakura didn't even know Naruto knew, and honestly she was quite impressed. But she didn't waste a second watching the carnage and threw her arms wide. The whirlwind jutsu she kicked up was so charka charged it turned into a slicing tornado. It connected with the flames and morphed to a superheated fire twister that exploded at amazing speeds down the hallways, traveling up stairways and into rooms for three floors before it dissipated. Even if someone had survived the initial flames, all the oxygen had burned away and suffocated those who survived.

She asked casually."Ready to head up?"

He gave a low whistle as he admired the damage. "I'm good to go."

And the massacre went on.

**Gato Industries, Top Floor**

Waraji liked to hurt people. At any other time, under any other circumstance, he and Sakura would have gotten along splendidly. But here and now he did not realize the danger he was in and he stood behind Gato's desk, listening.

The explosions had started twenty minutes ago and continued. Occasionally the faint screams grew so loud they could be heard floors apart.

Gato was gripping his desk so hard that his knuckles had turned white. Intercoms only relayed static and all the outer lines out had gone dead. Whoever was infiltrating the building was a pro. This excited Waraji more than it terrified him.

Another scream came much closer and Gato's face turned a sickly shade of white.

Gato's voice was shaking so badly he was hard to understand. "G-go out th-there and kill the int-intruders."

Waraji was only too happy to comply, Zori looked less thrilled but they pushed out of the office and went to wait at the stairs with swords drawn. Another scream came up and it went on for a few agonizing seconds before it cut off abruptly. Waraji had no doubt whoever had just screamed was dead.

"I don't like this, man." Zori hissed. "We shouldn't have to die here, let's bail." With that said Zori started backing towards the opposite exit.

"You spineless bastard, you can't—" Was all Waraji got so say when he heard the sound of glass breaking.

Neither he nor Zori had checked the windows as intent as they were on the closed door, and it would be their last mistake. All Waraji saw before he went down with his neck burning in agony was a black face with blue eyes and the flash of steel. The kunai that slashed his throat was too quick to block, too quick for him to even raise his sword.

It tore into his skin, cutting a sticky line of agony across his neck that robbed him of his strength and sent him to his knees.

But the cut was shallow enough he did not immediately die and Waraji found himself kneeling on the expensive marble floor, his head lolling, staring at Zori who had a blade through his eye. His commrade laid there spread eagle on the floor. Dead.

A thin hand, far too small, reached down to pluck the blade from Zori's eye socket. He realized two things: his attackers were wearing masks, and second…his murderers were children.

The blue-eyed fox mask, inky and black as sin, stared at him with its dispassionate gaze. The boy behind the mask spoke and his voice was so young it gave Waraji chills. "Nothing personal man." The kid slapped his shoulder and Waraji fell to the ground too weak to even fight as his neck kept gushing blood.

"But you know how it is." The boy continued. "No witnesses and all. Tough cut, isn't it?" And even as Waraji died the boy mocked him.

Blood spattered the floor as he began to hack and cough, finding he couldn't take in any oxygen and trying only ripped the wound in his neck further.

Waraji liked to hurt people and for the first time in his life someone decided to return the favor. It would be the last.

The second masked face turned to him, this one painted scarlet on black. It regarded him with the same dispassionate eyes and judged him and found him wanting. The figure was too small and too slight to be anything but a girl.

She turned on her heel and through his dimming gaze he watched her throw open Gato's office doors and stride inside like a queen.

Gato begged like a beaten dog for his life. The girl just laughed while Gato screamed and when all was silent all he could hear was the slick, wet, and heavy sound of something being cut.

The boy went around the room placing strange tags over the walls, stepping around Waraji and not even sparing him a glance. It was not that the boy refused to look at him out of guilt. The boy simply didn't care.

When the papers on the walls were set the girl strode back out and the grinning fox mask she wore seeming a horrible facsimile. In her hand she held the severed head of Gato by the hair loosely. It was as if it were a toy to be thrown away at her whim. Blood dripped on the floors as she walked and from the ground Waraji could only stare up at Gato's face, frozen in a last mask of horror and terror.

His vision was leaving. The girl pulled out a scroll and in a flash of light the head vanished. He was too far gone too wonder, too far gone to care what they'd want with the head.

Finally, the little girl looked at him."When you slit someone's throat you need to make the cut deeper."

The blue-eyed devil shrugged. "Maybe it was intentional?"

The red-eyed devil giggled. "How cruel. You learn so fast."

"I do try." The boy murmured back.

The girl snapped her fingers and the tags on the walls glowed. He heard glass break as both jumped out a window and vanished. A second later the tags ignited and the room exploded in a shower of flame. Waraji died an unknown death, and no one in the world would know or mourn his passing.

**Tazuna's House, Two hours Later**

The bloody jackets were burned, the masks were hidden out in the woods, their weapons carefully cleaned, and their gear returned to pristine condition. With their atrocity hidden for the moment they went back to Tazuna's house quickly, not willing to linger in the open any longer than they had to.

They had an image to maintain and lies to tell after all.

Tsunami was just beginning preparations for dinner when they opened the front door and walked in. Her son, Inari, was off brooding in the corner and did not look up at either of them.

Sakura cast an enquiring gaze to Tsunami. "Are sensei and Sasuke back yet?"

The woman gave Sakura a nearly mothering smile. "No dear, not yet."

Sakura hummed under her breath, considering. Maybe there wouldn't be that many lies to tell after all. "Thank you Tsunami-san. We'll be upstairs resting."

Tsunami gave another mothering shake of her head and turned back to the stove. Having someone look at her like that was a bit odd as Sakura had no recollection of anyone being parental with her _ever_. And the Kyuubi's manipulative attempts really didn't count. She shook it off, not willing to pine for things she'd never had and never would.

Inari regarded them icily as they left but frankly Sakura did not care for his problems. Everybody had issues and she didn't have time to deal with everyone's, nor any desire too.

The bedroom upstairs was empty and they stripped with their backs to each other, oddly comfortable in each other's presence after what they'd just done. Naruto was chatting with her amiably as he pulled off his shirt, half-smiling a real smile when he caught sight of a blood stain on the inside of his wrist.

He let out a strangled moan at the sight. Before she could turn to see what was wrong Naruto was out of the room, across the hall, and in the bathroom. Sakura trailed after him understanding exactly what was going on.

Naruto stood over the sink gripping it like it was all that was keeping him alive in the world. He dry heaved three times before getting himself under control.

Sakura had enjoyed her first raid and slaughter on the Uchiha compound years ago, adored it and found ecstasy in every single kill. But Naruto despite his viciousness and his masks and his less than stellar emotional stability was not a monster like her. And only monsters could be responsible for dozens of deaths within the space of a few hours and, when all was said and done, only wonder what they were having for dinner. Sakura wondered if Naruto would ever reach that same point when she was done with him.

She spoke up, neither pitying nor disgusted. "Do you want me to rub your back for you?"

Naruto glanced at her from under his bangs with dry but painfully red eyes. He spoke softly, not begging, not crying, just bluntly. "Yes. Please."

She stepped up behind him and placed her hands on his bare shoulders. She rubbed down in soothing circles, seeking out points of tension under his smooth and tanned skin. His muscles were hard under her fingers, coiled tight, painfully so.

She murmured something half comfort and half a song into the silent air between them. When his hands on the sink had stopped shaking and his back had loosened under her ministrations did she stop.

"Better?" She asked.

He nodded wordlessly.

Seeing they were back in safer territory she grinned mischievously. "We could go cuddle on the futon if that'd help."

He threw a towel at her. "Oh go to hell!"

She laughed and jumped out of the way and Naruto chased her back to the room. When Sasuke came back twenty minutes later he found them laughing and wrestling on the futon behaving like children half their age. Sakura had Naruto in a headlock and the boy was hissing at her as he tried to wiggle loose.

Sasuke just rolled his eyes and left knowing there would be no sleeping on the futon before dinner. The two genin were too involved in their play to notice him or care.

**Tazuna's House, Next Morning**

Sakura woke when the futon rose a few inches, indicating one of her teammates had gotten out of bed. It was unbearably early and she couldn't quite bring herself to open her eyes. Instead she kicked her foot back and contacted Naruto's shin.

It was Sasuke who had woken, then.

"Sensei? What about them?" She heard Sasuke whisper in the dark.

She went very still and mimed sleep.

She heard Kakashi answer. "We've got the guard shift today, let them sleep."

He did not wake them to give them a new training regimen before he left, he didn't write a note. Kakashi and Sasuke left the house and Sakura laid in the futon buried under the thick comforter wondering if she really cared.

She knew how Kakashi felt about her. Knew how his eyes followed her with barley contained loathing. She also knew how disinterested he was, how little he cared for her training or her life or anything else. Sometimes it seemed the indifference won out more than the hatred and she became less than a shadow in his eyes.

Less than the wind, something not even to be thought of, something not even worthy to be remembered. Of all the ways people had treated her in her short life this was new and she wasn't sure if she preferred it or not.

She rolled over intent on falling back asleep. She couldn't.

Something was in the air, foreboding and thrilling. It wormed its way under her skin and sent a slow itch down her spine. There was something out there more important than sleep.

It was right then that one of the dozens of clones she'd scattered around the island dismissed itself. The mist was thickening near the bridge. Unnaturally. She knew what that meant: killing Gato hadn't finished the mission.

She shot up out of the futon. "Naruto! Get dressed!"

The blond rolled over to stare at her groggily as she geared up at record speed. He mumbled sleepily. "What'sa matter?"

"Zabuza is coming to the bridge."

That sent Naruto flying out of the bed as well. Amusingly the speed he moved at left him skidding on the smooth wood floors and almost off his feet. "What? But I thought if we killed Gato…"

"Apparently Zabuza didn't get the memo." She checked the kunai holster on her leg. "We'll just have to tell him. _Politely _of course."

Naruto flinched. "That doesn't sound promising." He grabbed his weapons off the floor and moved to leave.

"No I suppose it doesn't." She gave him an appraising glance. "You may want to put on pants before you get any farther out the door."

He flushed and grabbed his pants off the floor.

She chuckled and strode out past him but not before turning for one last parting shot. "By the way, nice boxers."

Naruto's spluttering was priceless.

**Incomplete Bridge, Ten Minutes Later**

What Sakura and Naruto already knew at the house miles away was becoming readily apparent to the rest of Team Seven. Zabuza was at the bridge and there were bodies everywhere.

Tazuna clutched at his chest and his head jerked from side to side as he tried to count the number of his friends now dead. "What? How—"

Kakashi raised a hand and shoved Tazuna back. "Sorry Tazuna, but we've got company."

"Funny you should say that Kakashi..." Another voice spoke from the mist and it was horribly familiar.

At the sound of that hated voice Sasuke started trembling in excitement. He'd spent the past two weeks training up his new bloodline, learning the new depths of his power, and he was eager to finally get to use his Sharingan in combat.

The broken arm and burns from the last fight was already forgotten in his excitement. At that moment Uchiha Sasuke knew no fear.

Zabuza and the fake Hunter ninja slipped from the mist, their footsteps silent on the concrete as they approached. Zabuza's upper half was covered by bandages, not all his wounds healed, but impatience and pride had spurned the missing ninja to arrive earlier than was probably healthy.

The missing ninja's dark eyes examined what was present of Team Seven. "Well well. It looks like it's my lucky day…"

"What makes you say that?" Kakashi asked casually. He'd already come to the silent but unfortunate conclusion that numbers were not on his side today.

"I get to kill you and then track that little girl down at my leisure. She still owes me a few pints of her blood and a few limbs for the wounds she gave me." The mad glee on Zabuza's face could not be mistaken for anything else.

Kakashi blinked in confusion. "You mean Sakura?"

"Is that her name?" Zabuza asked. "Then yes I suppose, _her._"

Kakashi, since the first scrap with Zabuza nearly two weeks back, had the feeling that something had happened while he was unconscious that didn't quite line up with the reports from his team. Sakura had said something about suicide attacks but…Kakashi now had to wonder just what she had done to piss the missing ninja off.

"Enough of this." Zabuza raised his sword and grinned under his bandages. "I fight you while my brat fights yours. Sounds about fair, doesn't it?"

Kakashi didn't get a chance to say anything before the fake Hunter ninja had crossed the space between them and kicked Sasuke away. The Uchiha recovered admirably and their fight raged to one end of the bridge while Kakashi stayed with Tazuna.

Zabuza didn't wait long. The mist turned thicker than a curtain and then came the sword, a flicker of silver in a sea of white. The Konoha jonin dodged but felt a few drops of his own blood hit the ground.

The fight for the bridge was on.

**North End, Incomplete Bridge**

The two genin watched the fighting through the mist. Or more accurately Sakura ,who possessed inhuman senses from genetic tweaking, gave Naruto a running commentary about what was going on. And what they saw, all things considering, wasn't half bad.

Sasuke was holding his own. The Uchiha had the fake Hunter just slightly outstripped in speed and with his Sharingan active he dodged attacks easily and managed to keep one step ahead of his enemy.

Then the ice jutsu came and even trapped, under pressure, and surrounded on all sides, Sasuke was still outlasting his opponent. It just reminded her to get to work faster on acquiring Sasuke for herself if this was the kind of progress he was making.

She turned her attention to Kakashi's fight and the jonin wasn't fairing as well as his subordinate. Zabuza was outwitting him. Between the mist and the missing ninja's rather advanced silent killing technique, Kakashi was fighting blind and losing ground. And on top of that Kakashi was the only one protecting Tazuna making his fight twice as hard as he had to keep defending one stationary spot while Zabuza could come in at any angle.

If things continued the way they were the odds of Kakashi losing were high.

But she wasn't going to let it get that far.

"Naruto, I need you to go keep an eye on Sasuke and step in if he gets overwhelmed. If he keeps doing as well as he is however…stay unnoticed." She ordered.

Naruto nodded and knowing the message was received, she got up from the railing they were lounging on. She moved into the mist.

He shouted after her. "What about you?"

She kept walking. "I'm gonna go pay Zabuza a visit."

Naruto snorted. "Oh goody."

Sakura just smiled and began to run. Her blood was thrumming and her chakra was itching for a fight but right now the chance of a good brawl was put on the back burner. She would not forget how even off balance, wounded, and weakened, Zabuza had crushed her arms and snapped her fingers and gashed her side open.

If not for the Kyuubi she would have died. And now that the opportunity of surprise was no longer on her side…Zabuza wouldn't play with her this time around. No, a fight was out of the question, especially with Kakashi still conscious. If he was fully aware she couldn't throw around the Kyuubi's chakra as that would lead to too many questions she didn't care to answer. And without the red chakra…

There was no winning. Not this fight.

She circled where Zabuza was stalking Kakashi through the mist and with her enhanced eyes she could barely pick them out. She stopped hiding her presence and let her footsteps echo down the bridge. It was as good a calling card as any.

Like moth to a flame Zabuza came for her. Like a good shinobi Kakashi stayed with the client and waited with kunai at the ready. This would be nice and private, then.

She stood against a railing and waited, tasting the air that was metallic with steel, sweet with blood, and bitter with the tang of the ocean. Today felt like the right day to end this.

"I guess this really is my lucky day brat." Zabuza led out of the mist with his sword, angling it for her heart as he advanced on her. "And here I thought I'd have to chase your ass down to kill you.**" **

He towered over her and she felt tiny in comparison, but she'd faced down the Kyuubi and a Demon King really put everything into perspective.

"Imagine that." She replied cheerily as she unfurled a scroll from her belt. They stalemated there for a minute, her eyeing the sword, him eyeing the scroll. She knew exactly what the blade would do but he was genuinely baffled and worried over just why she was brining a scroll to a sword fight.

She decided they'd waited long enough. "You do know you're not going to get paid for this, right?"

Zabuza growled and the sword went higher. "You're really asking for it aren't you? Why don't you just show me those pretty little red eyes of your and come die on my blade, brat."

"Thanks," She activated the scroll and plunged her hand in. "But no thanks. I like all my limbs where they are right now, but really, you're so considerate for asking."

He let out a guttural sound but before he could make any attempt to kill her she snapped her arm from the scroll and flung something heavy at his feet. He jumped back thinking it was a bomb but the meaty thwack and splash of blood told him differently.

He stared down at Gato's head, eyes milky in death and tongue lolling out of his mouth. A smear of greasy blood pooled out from the roughly separated neck, trails of sinew and muscle shimmering in the blood.

He checked for genjutsu already knowing it wasn't an illusion. Gato was dead.

"When?" He hissed.

"Yesterday afternoon." She purred. "It was such a good time; you really should have been there."

"Fine then." Zabuza snarled. "I'll just kill you and your team for free, no extra charge."

She tilted her head and smiled as she did. She could show no doubt and no fear, just as the Kyuubi had taught her. If he smelled weakness she'd be dead in seconds. "I suppose we could do that." She let a small amount of the Kyuubi's chakra bleed into her eyes and her irises bloomed scarlet. "But consider this: what you saw last time we fought was only a small fraction of my capability. And it's been so long since a fight really let me get _wild…"_

Zabuza was half-mad, there was no doubt of that, but madness had a way of recognizing madness. And Sakura was standing on the razor's edge of a very nasty fall…

"Monster." He spat, and she could tell her feral eyes unsettled him.

"I prefer demon, but I suppose monster is a good stand in." She hopped off the railing, letting a shimmer of her killing intent reach out to him.

The intent caressed his skin like a burn: aching, vile, restless, poisonous, _corrosive_. It was unnatural as her crimson eyes and her too sharp teeth smiling up at him.

He regarded her like a feral dog that could bite at any moment. "I thought Konoha had stopped doing experiments, but I guess even the perfect village has their shame." That seemed to amuse him but it was uncomfortable and was snuffed as quickly as a candle in a gale. "Just what did they make you?"

"An abomination." She tasted that word and it felt right on her tongue. "Anathema. Monster. Aberration. Beast."

Her eyes went half lidded and smoky, redder than freshly spilled blood. Her tongue ran across her lips and her face split into a wound of a grin. "_Sacrifice."_

And Zabuza stepped back.

The victory tasted so sweet. Her bluff had worked.

"I'm not getting paid enough for this shit." He moved away but not once show his back to her.

"You're not getting paid at all." She did not bother to hide both the cruel humor and raw bloodlust in her eyes.

He bit out a snarl that was half a growl and half a curse. "You're a fucking bitch, you know that?"

"I'm a lot of things." She did not elaborate on just what those things _were_, however.

He made a strange signal with his chakra and suddenly a mirror of ice formed next to him and the Hunter ninja of indeterminate gender stepped out. The confusion in the Hunter's high and silken voice was clear. "Zabuza-sama? What do you need?"

"We're leaving." He stated flatly. And with that Zabuza vanished in a swirl of mist.

The Hunter ninja regarded the place Zabuza had once filled and then Sakura with a tilt of their masked head. "I'm sorry; it looks like I won't get to repay you this time either."

Sakura tried not to jump in shock. The ninja had actually been serious with that promise when taking Zabuza's body away? Sakura shook her head. "I don't mind. I guess we'll have to wait for next time."

That seemed to settle it and the fake Hunter nodded. "Next time then." The mist swirled again and the mysterious figure was gone and Sakura _still _didn't know if it was a boy or a girl. This was going to drive her insane for _weeks_.

Now alone, irritated, and spoiling for a fight that was never going to happen, Sakura looked at the ground to Gato's decapitated head. With a considering gaze she picked it up. "I think I might have a use for you…"

**Center of the Bridge**

Kakashi was on edge, the mist was clearing up and there was no sign of Zabuza. He'd been sweating and tired from the battle, and standing as still as a rail for over half an hour had left his muscles aching and his mind straining.

Tazuna tugged on Kakashi's sleeve and pointed ahead ."What's that on the end of the bridge?"

The jonin's mismatched eyes narrowed. When the mist cleared a little bit more his jaw unhinged.

Gato, drug kingpin, ad-hoc dictator, and all around bastard had his severed head thrust on a pike.

And in all the reports filed at Konoha a week later that was how the C-rank escalated A-rank mission ended: with a head on a pike, a missing ninja taking the blame, and a brand new bridge that changed Wave Country forever.

* * *

Edit: Changes for this chapter are as followed from the original version: Sakura and Kakashi's animosity is far more subdued and nuanced, the dynamic between Team Seven was made more realistic, Naruto talking about his past was improved and a lot of details were filled in to explain his characterization better, the attack on Gato was scaled back to be a stealth mission gone wrong, the fight on the bridge was touched up with Kakashi and Sasuke, and lastly Sakura's confrontation with Zabuza was made far more gritty and dark that instead of him being scared off by genjutsu Sakura just made him realize fighting someone as psychotic as her was a bad idea and Zabuza left of his own free will, also Sakura was made to be a lot less reckless in throwing the Kyuubi's chakra around and taking on jonin.


	6. Uncertain Memories

Disclaimer: I claim no ownership, mostly because if I actually owned Naruto the law suits I'd get for mentally scaring small children would bankrupt me.

* * *

**Hokage's Tower**

Kakashi had always disliked giving oral reports. It felt like such a waste to write every little detail down (in triplicate), hand in paper copies to three separate offices, and then get dragged in front of the Hokage and recite it all verbatim. Honestly, it really all _was_ in the report.

"Do you know who killed Gato?" The Hokage asked sharply. His usual laid back composure was nowhere to be found. Kakashi sort of wished her had the kindly grandfather version and not the stone cold shinobi looking at him right now.

Though Kakashi was rather relieved the room had been cleared out before he gave the report, less people to see the Hokage take a strip out of his hide. "At the moment all bets are placed on Zabuza considering he disappeared just before the head appeared. And after examining what was left of Gato's headquarters…it looks like two pros took the place down, which matches with Zabuza as he did have a skilled accomplice."

"I see." The lines on the Hokage's face deepened. "We sent our own ANBU after him when we received your report but the odds of us actually tracking him down are slim. In any case your team did an excellent job of handling such a dangerous mission, how are they faring?"

"Sasuke's Sharingan activated." Kakashi couldn't keep the pride out of his voice. "I've started training him in its use, all of his tomoes haven't come in yet but—"

"And Sakura and Naruto?" He interrupted dryly.

Kakashi tried not to wince. "Sakura is in the same condition she was given to me, and as for Naruto…"

"Not mellowed in the slightest I take it?" The question was asked in such a way that Kakashi knew the Hokage already knew the answer.

"I'm working on it." Kakashi hedged.

The Sandaime raised one eyebrow. "Of course."

The jonin felt like a child being chastised for stealing cookies and it was rather demeaning. "Anything else sir?"

The older man moved some papers around on his desk. "As you know the chunin exam is coming up…"

"You want me to enter the kids?" The jonin replied incredulously.

"Do whatever you think is right." Sarutobi answered blandly. "But the sooner those children are chunin…"

"The sooner they're out of my hair." The jonin muttered under his breath and then spoke up louder. "I understand sir."

The Hokage inclined his head once. "That's good to know. You're dismissed Kakashi."

While it would be undignified to say he ran from the room, Kakashi certainly left at an above average speed. It would also be safe to say the jonin and the Hokage had their own reasons to want to see Team Seven become chunin.

The sooner Naruto was a chunin the sooner Sarutobi could drag Jiraiya back to finally straighten the boy out. And the sooner Sakura was a chunin sooner the rumblings in the ranks for her graduating with her abominably low grades would die down.

He hadn't worked all these years maintaining the peace of this village just for old prejudices to rile things up again. And the Hokage returned to his paperwork, lamenting another day of his already waning life lost to tedium.

**Konoha, One Month Later**

The mission to Wave hadn't changed the overall dynamic of Team Seven and in fact, nothing had really changed at all. Sasuke was as surly as ever, Kakashi was still disinterested in them, Naruto still gave everyone (except her) hell, and she acted as vapid as ever.

Kakashi still ran them through basic training sessions, they still did D-rank missions, and she and Naruto still had after-training-training sessions that Sasuke refused to attend.

The only thing that really had changed were her and Naruto. Their relationship was…different.

They were friendlier, warmer, more in tune as if they had their own frequency no one else shared. And the more she saw of him the more Naruto saw of her. Since she'd given him a crash course in Ninjutsu, Genjutsu, Taijutsu, stealth, weaponry, assassination tactics, and all things ninja related, Naruto had realized the depths of her skill far outstripped his.

It did not seem to bother him and in fact, it only spurned him on to train harder and try to wrestle every technique she knew from her. And teaching someone else was a delight she'd never had.

She had helped her friends at the Academy but only in polishing up their basic skills. And all of her friends in their own way had seemed to realize she was far more skilled than she let on. Yet none of them pressed her and only took what she would give. Sakura missed all of them dearly but with each of them on teams and missions and new training schedules, she only had a few stolen hours with each of them since she'd graduated the Academy.

All five of them hadn't been together in the months since, and that realization was a steady ache that sunk deep in the back of her mind, not quite thought on but not really forgotten.

But Naruto was different and that was enough to fill the sudden gap in her life. He had no patience, no ability to wait, and every moment with him was like an onslaught of inquiry and wonder. Naruto wanted to know every thought inside her head, every technique in her arsenal, and evading him on that was a delightful challenge in its own right.

Currently she was right in the middle of one of those evasions. "I told you, I live on the other side of the village. Small place, out of the way, you wouldn't want to see it."

They were sitting knee to knee covered in sweat, lounging under a tree as rain poured down around them. Their spar had been cut short but a fast moving thunderstorm and now they sat on thick grass under gnarled branches trying to pass the time.

And Naruto was passing that time trying to peel her life apart. "You always come from the direction of the Clan Compound district. There aren't any houses out past that direction unless you're _really_ taking the long way around."

Sometimes Naruto was too smart for his own good. She scowled at him. "Let it drop."

"No." And the blond was as stubborn as hell too. "I wanna know where you live so I can find you in case something bad happens. You know where I live, fair's fair."

Oh she knew where he lived, ever since he was nine when he'd moved into an expensive apartment complex to live alone. Her scouting on him had been _very_ thorough.

"Nothing's fair." She muttered.

They were too close under the tree and he heard every word, and it was then she realized how close his face was to hers smelling of sweat and rain. His voice went low. "Then we'll just have to make it fair."

She strung her fingers together in a nervous tick, running the options over in her head. Naruto wasn't going to let this go, she had no doubt they'd spend the next month or three with him following her home everyday trying to figure out where she lived. It would be a good exercises for him in tracking with her giving him the slip everyday but…eventually she'd make a mistake, everyone did.

It was only a matter of him knowing now or later. She sighed. "I live in the abandoned district. One of the old compounds from an extinct clan, it's very private and no one ever goes through there."

"Wait…wait." He stared at her intently. "Does that place even have running water or electricity? Anything?"

Her embarrassed silence was answer enough.

"That's it." He declared. "You're moving in with me."

"What?" She asked flatly.

"You're." He pointed at her, "Are moving in with," He pointed at himself, "Me."

She laughed. "Bullshit."

**One Week Later, Apartment Complex**

"I can't believe I moved in with you."

She stared around the apartment in curiosity, feeling almost disgraced how easily he'd coerced her into this. When Naruto really wanted something he got it.

"I'm persuasive like that." Naruto smiled broadly. "I got a futon for you to sleep on in the living room and I freed up half my closet space and got an extra dresser for your stuff."

A war raged in Sakura's head between keeping herself insulated in Naruto's life, the convenience of finally never having to see the inside of a public bathhouse again, and an aversion to any kind of charity. She had never been given anything in her life for free, and she felt that the other shoe would soon drop down on her head. She was far too paranoid.

"What do I owe you?" She asked. Luckily the conflict in her head stayed out of her voice.

"Your undying affection for the rest of our lives." He answered promptly. "So what do you want for dinner?"

There was never a dull moment with Uzumaki Naruto. She sighed. "Sushi please."

**Konoha, Two Days Later**

"You were right. Looks like the chunin exams really are starting…"

Hearing Sasuke say that was more than worth the price of spending four hours talking to him while he'd been trying to ignore her. Admitting anyone else was right seemed to cause Sasuke pain, and she rather liked pain…

"Did you think she was lying?" Naruto asked and the accusation was clear.

Sasuke's lips twitched. "Everybody gets lucky once I suppose."

Sakura could see another conflict brewing between her teammates and decided that for once inciting their animosity wasn't on the agenda. She pointed at the street. "Another team from Iwa at three o' clock. Look kind of mean, don't they?"

That distracted the boys and the three of them, lying side by side on their stomachs on a high roof, returned to their scouting of the competition.

"They don't look like much." The Uchiha sniffed.

For once Naruto agreed. "Yeah, compared to Zabuza those guys will be pushovers."

Sakura hummed in agreement and for awhile they remained silent, only exchanging words as they guessed at the specialty and origin of the genin teams walking through.

The calm if not entirely companionable train of conversation was broken by Naruto. "Think Kakashi will go through with nominating us?"

Both Sasuke and Sakura considered that. The Uchiha looked rather grim at their prospects. "Knowing Kakashi there's about an equal chance of him nominating us as there is for him to fall asleep reading his smut and forget to."

She had to stifle her laughter. "I think we're safe on this one. Sensei has been extending our training regimen and having us take less D-ranks. I mean, he even taught us an earth jutsu yesterday and he _never_ teaches us jutsu."

And the jutsu he'd taught them while not that powerful had been an obscure and foreign jutsu she'd never seen, and considering her repertoire him having something ninjutsu related she didn't know was a feat. The Kyuubi, in ripping every Konoha jutsu into her head, had made sure of that.

"Aw hell." Naruto groaned.

She regarded him quizzically. "What now?"

"Brats at eight o' clock." He jerked his head at the street.

She followed the gesture and saw Academy students pouring into the road, no doubt done with their lessons for the day. The children were laughing and running, weaving through the crowds of villagers and foreign ninja at a wild pace only children could keep. It was a recipe for disaster.

"What do you think the odds are—" She never got to finish the question because, at that moment, Konohamaru and his friends ran smack dab into a team from Suna.

"I think." Naruto answered her in that eerie way he had of knowing what she thought without her saying. "That the odds are a hundred percent on this one."

She swore.

Sasuke chuckled.

"Come on, we need to go bail him out." Sakura got to her feet and watched as Konohamaru got hauled up by his neck by the Suna ninja. And Konohamaru was panicking and flailing and she knew it wasn't going to end well.

Naruto whined. "Aww come on Sakura. A little smacking around will do the kid some good, maybe make him less annoying."

"I'm going to pretend you didn't say that Naruto. I'm also going to pretend I won't be forced to misplace a kunai somewhere _in your person _for that_._"

Naruto laughed nervously. "Duly noted."

She smirked and out of the corner of her eye she noticed Sasuke smothering a loud laugh into his arms. It was the first time she'd heard Sasuke do anything but chuckle condescendingly. It was an oddly contagious and bright sound considering from where it originated.

"Then sit back and watch the show boys." In one smooth movement Sakura stepped off the building and landed on the street. It took only a few seconds to navigate the crowds and she was less than a breeze and a shadow to them.

She was on the Suna team in seconds and her cheery grin made them reel back in surprise. "Well hey there, having fun?"

A boy a little older than her, black body suit, ceremonial face paint the color of congealed blood, a rather nasty look on his face, jumped back in shock. The older blonde girl standing a bit farther back didn't startle as much, but her tanned hands immediately fell on a folded up fan on her back. Fighting position.

How quaint.

The boy had what was either a very oddly shaped club or a puppet on his back, and she assumed the latter as Suna did have an affinity for puppets. So, a puppet user and a wind user, meaning both were probably still in a long-range specialty stage. One usually didn't start shoring up their shortcomings until chunin or later, and now that she was well within their range…

The Suna boy finally answered. "Stay out of this, I don't feel like beating up another kid today. Scram."

Sakura tilted her head and giggled, her vapid persona fully engaged. "No. This looks like a fun game and I want to play."

Konohamaru, his eyes bright and barely holding in tears, stared at her incredulously. She fluttered her fingers at him from low at her waist, a calming signal to stay put and shut up. Konohamaru swallowed but nodded, completely willing to trust her.

That he was willing to place his confidence in her so easily raised this from a game to a step away from violence. No one touched her friends. No one.

"Are you stupid or just crazy?" The Suna ninja snarled.

She moved in a step closer, her body rippling with a languid fluidity that should have been a warning. "Crazy sounds close enough."

Her hand snapped out faster than whip and in one smooth move twisted the other genin's wrist and sent him to his knees. She nearly broke his arm in the process.

Freed, Konohamaru dropped on his feet and attached himself to her back to put her between him and the genin who'd attacked him. She did not comment on the dampness of his tears soaking through the back of her shirt.

The puppet user howled in pain and the blonde girl started pulling her fan loose to fight. The older girl snarled. "Let him go _now_ bitch."

Sakura's face was as impassive as stone, but her irises were dark and jagged with fury. "You think you can come in here and fuck around with our people on our turf? Your little teammate here is lucky he's only going to leave here with a few strained muscles, I should be keeping his arm and let him learn how hard it to use a puppet with only one hand."

The girl paled, stepped back, and her hand fell from her weapon limply.

Sakura snorted disdainfully. "I thought so." She let the boy's arm go and he scrambled back. For one wild moment she thought he'd attack for the humiliation she'd just given him, but one look up into her eyes boiling with violence told him what a bad idea that'd be.

The two Suna genin crowded together, their faces tight and murderous. From up above she heard someone start clapping slowly and quite sarcastically. She glanced up to see both her teammates on a nearby ledge in perfect position if she'd needed support or gotten in over her head.

Naruto was the one clapping, Sasuke was smirking and leaning against the building lazily. She flashed them both a smile.

It was right then when she was feeling warm and fuzzy inside from adrenaline, winning a conflict, and a healthy dose of fondness for her teammates, that her world went off kilter.

Déjà vu.

There was a resonance in the wind: a memory not hers, a dream not dreamed, an old friend she'd never met. Whatever it was it echoed down into her, flaring every nerve ending and imprinting on every cell.

The hairs on her neck stood up and the resonance shivered down into even her bones. The Kyuubi woke like a snap, claws digging up into her mind and it felt like steel was burrowing into her flesh.

_Still yourself._ He was grinding his words down into her skull. _Another King approaches. _

On the ledge right next to Sasuke, Sakura felt the first tell tale signs of a shunshin zeroing in. The resonance ratcheted up a notch and she shouted. "Sasuke! Naruto! Get down here!"

Both boys exchanged glances and didn't move, no doubt ready to bicker and banter for awhile with her before moving. At any other time she would have welcomed it but the shunshin was about to drop in whatever jinchuuriki was coming and her danger senses were screaming at her.

Her tone took on a frenzied edge. "Contact coming up on your six!" That she fell into combat speech, more than anything, sent them leaping without looking to land at her side. They both turned and all three of them watched a boy with blood red hair appear in a whisper soft hiss of sand.

His eyes were dead, his face flat, and a tattoo was gashed into his forehead. He moved like a predator that had only ever known prey.

The Kyuubi pressed forward and it felt like his tails were curling around everything in her to crush down, whether to protect or destroy she couldn't tell. _Tanuki._ He spat. _The One-tailed King. It's been awhile since that insane bitch reared their head. Why don't you say hello?_

The other Jinchuuriki had no flare of recognition in his eyes, no primal understanding that he stood before a predator the same breed as himself. She wondered why and the Kyuubi heard. _You are not quite human; my genetic manipulation has guaranteed that much. Demons always know other demons, and that you and I remain so closely linked…you will know when others of your kind stand before you. That child may be jinchuuriki but he smells too mortal, too breakable, he has none of your grasp my wretched jinchuuriki._

The red haired monster finally spoke in a low and flat rasp. "Are you causing problems Kankuro? Temari?"

Both Suna genin flinched. The puppet user, Kankuro, answered shakily. "N-no Gaara. Everything is fine, we promise."

"Don't lie to me." Gaara's voice was as harsh as sand grating on sand. "Or I'll kill you."

Kankuro and Temari shivered and cowered away. Gaara looked to her team and his eyes were unfathomable. "I apologize for them."

Naruto touched the small of her back with his finger tips and they shared a short nod, he was letting her take the lead.

She picked her words. "Accepted. Try keeping your pets on a better leash."

Gaara showed no real notice of having actually heard her and he disappeared in another swirl of sand, just to reappear between his teammates. They both flinched away again like beaten dogs.

Gaara regarded them in what she could only guess was disgust. "We didn't come here to play around. Let's go."

The Suna genin turned to leave and she saw Sasuke straining forward, an undeniable curiosity on his face. Sakura grabbed the back of his shirt. "Not here, not now."

"I want to know who that is." The Uchiha hissed at her.

Sakura noticed while she and Sasuke bickered, Naruto kept his eyes firmly on the retreating backs of the Suna team with a deadly gleam in his eyes. Something in that conflict has roused his ire, or maybe just his battle lust and she couldn't really say which.

She'd deal with Naruto later. She placed her focus back on Sasuke and pitched her voice low. "If that is who I think it is there are better places to look for information."

The dark haired boy scowled, but his disgruntled furrow was soon replaced by something more wary. "You really do like making people underestimate you, don't you?"

She smiled thinly. "There's also a better place and time for that too. Look," And she realized Konohamaru was still clinging to her back. "Konohamaru's pretty shaken up; let me take him home before we do this. I'll see you two at the usual training grounds in an hour and we can hash this out there."

Sasuke crossed his arms but nodded. Naruto spoke up distractedly. "Sure, I'll be there."

With that out of the way she gathered Konohamaru up, shooed away his friends who were hanging back watching, and started the long walk back to the Sarutobi compound. All the excitement and no doubt healthy dose of terror had worn the little boy out, and by the time they got there Sakura was more carrying him than anything.

The compound was oddly quiet; it was a large and sprawling place that now only held three occupants. The Hokage, his grandson, and the Hokage's son and Konohamaru's uncle Sarutobi Asuma. The clan had once been larger but now it had been winnowed and bled to three members. And unless Konohamaru had a hell of a lot of kids…it would end within their generation.

The village was rotting away piece by piece and she knew no one was making anything new to replace what was lost.

Sakura knew the Hokage was in his office at the moment so the regular ANBU detail wasn't around, and she and Konohamaru entered the compound uncontested. The silence within was melancholy and she could feel the flickers of loss and rot in the empty echo of their footsteps.

His bed was easy to find and she settled him in before turning to leave. His small voice called after her. "Nee-chan?"

She stopped in the doorway. "Yes?"

His pale face was drawn. "Do you think Naruto will really become Hokage?"

She came back to the side of his bed. "What brought this on?"

"It was my dream to be Hokage…to be acknowledged but that stupid Suna guy beat me up easy. I don't have a chance in hell of ever being strong enough." The defeat in his voice was clear.

While his life would never know the difficultly, the violence, or the despair of her own, in this silent compound surrounded by the absence of something great long since turned to rust she understood his fear perfectly. Konohamaru was afraid of anonymity and drudgery, of tedium and obscurity. He feared the dust and silence and the forgetfulness of time, he feared not being something great enough to leave the shadows he'd been born into.

It reminded her of Naruto in some ways, not all, but some.

"Do you know what the Hokage does?" She asked softly, and in the pale blue light trailing through the windows her face was washed out and cold.

"The Hokage is the most powerful ninja in the village, he protects everybody and defeats the bad guys and..." He trailed off abruptly when he saw the pity illuminated in her eyes.

"No." She brushed her fingers down the wall, sending a play of spindly shadows across her face. Her eyes were hollow. "To be Hokage is to know death in every facet. To have known your own death, to have seen the death of others, to have _been_ death for others. Politics steeped in blood, tradition marred by rot, power tempered in despair. It's the heaviest burden you can take on, every life, every death, and it's all on your head."

Konohamaru shrunk under the covers. "Is it really that bad?"

The shadows her hands cast grew longer, black slicing through dusky blue. "Worse. What you want and what Naruto wants are two different things. You want acknowledgement and notoriety and frankly you could get that as an elite jonin or ANBU. If you want I could help you with that. As for Hokage…that's for Naruto alone. He understands what it is to carry the burden of others expectations."

Konohamaru's eyes began to drift shut, his despair replaced with a purpose. But that purpose was still touched by lingering bitterness. "Okay. I'd…I'd like that. Teach me a lot nee-chan."

She smiled and reached out, trailing one hand on his forehead and hair. She used a little chakra to lull him to sleep. "Of course. Just promise me one thing."

He yawned and nodded against her hand.

She whispered. "I'll need help with something that will happen many years from now, do you promise?"

"I promise, I'll do anything for you nee-chan." He mumbled groggily and with that he drifted away from her.

Her face was formless in the dark but her voice was touched with wistfulness. "Sweet dreams."

**Training Ground Seven**

Their shadows were long as the sun sunk lower on the horizon, and the center of the sky was already a cobalt blue dusted silver by stars. But enough light remained for both boys looking over her shoulder to read the Bingo book in her hands. The entry for Gaara of the Desert was as short as it was disturbing.

"Damn." Naruto whistled. "That many missions and not a scratch? Either someone's been bullshitting or this Gaara guy is a step up."

Sasuke's tone was pleased. "So he should be the perfect guy to test our progress against, right?"

"Oh hell yeah." Naruto crowed. "You're finally talking my language Sasuke."

She chuckled. "Rein it in boys, we still need to see Kakashi tomorrow to make sure he entered us. After that we can talk about tracking this guy down and getting in a fight."

That satisfied both boys and it seemed, now that'd they'd been almost friendly for close to a day, they couldn't hold onto it. Animosity was Team Seven's natural state of being.

Sasuke smirked. "I'll fight this guy first. It's been awhile since I've gotten a real challenge."

And Naruto wouldn't let that lie. "Since you've gotten a challenge? What the hell are we then?"

"Second best and dead last, respectively." The Uchiha answered callously.

Sakura could already see where this was going. "If you two are going to beat the shit out of each other I'll sit over there and watch." She pointed at a rock she had been eyeing over the past few weeks just for this occasion. Kakashi never let spars get to far but both of her male teammates had been itching to cut loose.

Sasuke's eyes snapped to her. "You're doing it again, trying to slip out. Just what are you hiding?"

"When people underestimate you it's easy to slip a knife between their ribs." She shook her head. "You should know how easily it is to be betrayed by those you _thought _you knew."

Sasuke turned ashen and his fists clenched so tightly his knuckles became bloodless. "Shut up."

"Did I touch a nerve?" She hoped for him to strike out but instead his gaze went inward, seething and brooding and sinking down.

"Go to hell." Sasuke spun on his heel and left.

When he was gone Sakura sighed. "I was hoping that would have gone better."

"Trying to get him to spill his guts?" Naruto asked. She had expected accusation in that but he mostly sounded amiable.

Because of that she answered honestly. "He's pretty screwed up; until he works over some of his issues he's not much use. I was hoping to work it out between us but…"

"Sasuke will come around when he comes around." Naruto replied.

She eyed him suspiciously. "That was oddly mature of you."

"I may be holding out for the punch-him-until-he-sees-reason approach." He admitted glibly.

Sakura rolled her eyes. "I should have known."

**Apartment Complex, Two Days Later**

Today was the day.

Sakura stared at herself in the mirror, naked, pale, with a dark tattoo curling up her arm. She traced the fox tattoo part blood seal, leaning down to brush her lips against a tail that curled onto her shoulder. It was a daily reminder of what she had once been, what she was now, and all that the Kyuubi had given her.

It reminded her of how far she still had to go.

Naruto rapped on the bathroom door. "You ready?"

She started binding up her arm, hiding her history away. "In a minute. Do you have all the supplies?"

His voice was muffled through the door. "Yeah. Since Kakashi gave the all go I've been stocking up. No matter what this test throws at us we'll be ready."

Naruto, despite his mania and viciousness, was always dependable and she was thankful for that. She slipped on a sleeveless shirt, a jacket, and a pair of pants that she had lying across the sink. The clothing was dark, neither cheap nor expensive, neither plain nor showy.

Her head band slid through her hair as she tied it high on her forehead, and what stared back at her in the mirror was a regular kunoichi. For a brief moment her eyes flickered scarlet…flickered bloody and violent. It was all a lie. Everything was.

She stepped out of the bathroom. "I'm ready to go. Let's do this."

Naruto was only too happy to follow her.

They met Sasuke at the academy doors and he didn't acknowledge either of them and just walked in. She and Naruto shrugged at each other and followed, at moments like this they knew it was best just to let Sasuke do what he pleased.

The genjutsu on the second floor was easy to spot and easy to walk past. But at the moment Sasuke was boiling furious and looking for any fight.

"Drop the genjutsu, it's clear to anybody with half a brain we're on the second floor." The Uchiha growled.

Sakura sighed under her breath. "Here we go."

Sasuke went for the guard and at the last moment someone threw themselves into a fray: a boy in a green spandex suit with a ridiculous hair cut. Her heart throbbed painfully. It couldn't be.

The boy looked like a mini Gai. Gai: her old sensei, the one kind man in a village of bastards, a friend of sorts she'd never expected to have…

Someone who'd already left her behind.

As circumstances had demanded, she knew that. Her training had come to an end (her very off the books training) and Gai had a life to live that didn't involve her. She'd known there was no way around that and so she'd let him go and didn't look back once. But…she had missed Gai.

The dark turn of her thoughts made her miss most of the conversation that followed, but somehow the mini-Gai…she shook her head roughly. _Lee. Rock Lee._ Had challenge Sasuke to a fight.

Considering that _that_ was just what Sasuke was looking for, he readily accepted and sent them all to a lower atrium in the building. Naruto and Sakura inexorably had to follow knowing there was nothing they could do without their teammate. And if he self destructed out here before the exam even started…well, that was the price they'd pay.

"I want to fight you." Lee fell into a familiar taijutsu stance that Sakura knew like the back of her hand. "Let's see how I stack up against the genius of the Uchiha clan."

"You're challenging me knowing all that?" Sasuke closed his eyes but Sakura could see his muscles coiling up, betraying his nonchalance. "Then you really are a fool."

Lee just stood with his arm forward and ready to fight.

Sasuke opened his eyes and they gleamed crimson. "Then I'll show you what the name of Uchiha means."

Lee nodded politely. "Please do."

At her side Naruto whined. "Why doesn't anyone challenge me to fights?"

"Because you don't go _looking_ for them anymore." She replied dryly.

He blinked. "Right. Forgot about that."

Their teammate snarled. "Can you two just shut up for five minutes?"

"Sorry Sasuke." She sing-songed. "We wouldn't be your teammates if we didn't heckle you mercilessly."

Naruto interjected. "But that doesn't mean we don't love you. You'll always be our _favorite_ Uchiha."

Sakura nodded cheekily. "That's what good teammates do."

If glares could kill Sasuke would have reduced them to a blood smear on the ground. "I hate you both."

Lee looked rather puzzled by the whole exchange. "Are we fighting or not?"

Sasuke's answer was to try and kick Lee in the stomach. And honestly the fight all went downhill from there. If she'd had any doubts they were gone now, Lee was Gai's student through and through and in a straight taijutsu match Sasuke couldn't compare.

Lee was faster and stronger and freakishly flexible. Sasuke's Sharingan couldn't keep up and both she and Naruto watched on in muted alarm as their teammate got thrown around like a rag doll. While not unsettling it didn't sit easy with her either.

Irrationally she hated Rock Lee for having something she didn't, and what would usually amuse her (Sasuke getting taken down a notch) gave her no joy. All she felt was a strange sickness and growing anxiety in her guts.

Then Sasuke got launched into the air and Lee threw his arm bindings loose. She recognized the technique he was preparing for. The anxiety and anger and disquiet all fueled her leap. She was over Lee and Sasuke in moments and just as her teammate was about to be snared in the deadly attack she rocked back her arm and threw a punch.

She felt two of her knuckles pop when she hit Lee's face and sent the surprised boy plummeting to the ground. She and Sasuke fell in a longer arc and the Uchiha was dazed as he went down.

She shouted at him. "Tuck and roll idiot!"

The insult shocked him out of his stupor and at the last second he curled his body and skidded across the ground. Sakura landed much more gracefully and Naruto was at her side in a flash. "What the hell was that?"

"We should be asking Rock Lee that." She snarled. "Using an attack like that for a spar? He could have _killed_ Sasuke."

While there was no love lost between her two teammates, but the fact that someone else had tried to kill Sasuke infuriated Naruto in a way she'd never seen. Before either she or Naruto could take a strip out of the older genin's hide however, they both turned to see a giant red turtle in the room with them.

Naruto's jaw dropped. "What the hell…?"

Sakura closed her eyes and covered her face, trying to slam her composure together before Gai arrived. She wouldn't let the man see her ragged and angry and dejected. He had been part of her life once but no more, she didn't need him and the stupid ache in her chest would go away. It had to.

The cloud of smoke came and with it jonin Maito Gai. "Lee, you fool!" And then Gai punched Lee and Team Seven watched on in morbid fascination as the older genin skipped bodily across the room and into a wall. Crying and hugging followed between sensei and student and it was insanity that could only belong to the self-proclaimed Green Beast of Konoha.

She still remembered the days Gai would rant on and on about youth for hours while they sparred…

"Huh, so you're Kakashi's kids?" And then Gai was standing in front of them. She had forgotten just how damn _fast _he was.

There was a bitter and thick taste in the back of her throat. "I suppose we are his _kids_. I'm sorry, but we should really be going up to the test."

He just smiled and there was no flash of recognition, no sly wink, no sign he'd ever known her at all. "Too true. Go and make this village proud with your youthfulness children!"

_When we meet again we must be strangers_. That was what he'd said to her. Intellectually she'd made her peace with that, but emotionally…that wound of abandonment still festered. It would have been kinder for him not to look at her at all.

"Let's go upstairs." She said listlessly.

The Kyuubi had been right; she was a wretched creature. Cowardly, weak, wanting, selfish…

Sasuke was still too shaken up to object and Naruto stared at her strangely. "Sakura…"

"No." And for the first time the cold composure and untouchable mystery were gone and something raw and bleak were in their place. "Don't ask, don't dig. Let's just go take this damn test."

He swallowed. "Okay Sakura."

It didn't take long to reach the examination room and when Naruto threw open the doors color and sound roared out in a vivid array. What she saw on the other side of that door untied the knot in her chest.

Hinata, Shino, Chouji, Shikamaru. Together again after months apart. Their faces all brightened into full blown smiles when they saw her and she had no doubt her face was the same. She'd finally come home.

She practically ran to them and her voice was breathless and light. "Hey guys."

Shikamaru rocked back and forth on his heels. "Hey there Sakura."

Shino inclined his head. "It is good to see you; these months have been too long."

Chouji slapped her back. "But we're all here right now, so welcome back."

Hinata's entire being was radiant. "I missed you Sakura."

She realized the old feelings over Gai and her childhood had left her more raw than she had believed herself still capable of, and she found her eyes stinging. "I missed you too. All of you, even the lazy bastard."

They all laughed and the month's apart and stolen hours were washed away. It was like they'd never been separated at all. She then realized she'd been too focused on what she'd lost and not what she had gained. She had training, her genin status, a team, her friends, Naruto…speaking of, she turned and gestured him over.

The blond who'd been standing awkwardly back eyeing Sasuke as he was nearly molested by Ino, immediately moved forward at her beckon.

"Everybody," She began airily. "This is my teammate Uzumaki Naruto and my only anchor of sanity these past few months. Naruto this is Hyuga Hinata, Aburame Shino, Akimichi Chouji, and Nara Shikamaru, my friends from the Academy."

Pleasantries and nods were exchanged and her older friends were visibly wary of the blond. They all remembered what he'd been like in the Academy and it hadn't been pretty. They hadn't even been his targets either. But Naruto was on his new-for-him normal behavior, and the blunt if over all rather collected genin seemed to ease their fears.

Their time together passed far too quickly. In a burst of smoke a jonin and a dozen chunin appeared at the front of the room. The jonin roared. "Listen up maggots!"

All of her emotions, good or bad, were buried deep and left to die. The Chunin Exam had begun and Sakura would be damned if they didn't pass. And old memories, unquenched bitterness, and relentless melancholy weren't going to get in her way.

**Exam Room, Forty-five Minutes Later**

"Pencils down, it's time for the tenth question!"

Sakura lifted her head from where she'd been dosing off at the desk, rubbing at her eyes as she did. This Exam had been a breeze for her. She was a child steeped in lies and treachery and Morino Ibiki's little play had been transparent to her cynical eyes.

She'd answered the questions effortlessly then drifted off, knowing Naruto was cagey enough to cheat without having to know why and Sasuke was smart enough to figure it out.

Really, an Exam _made_ for cheating. She applauded the creativity if nothing else.

Ibiki paced the room slowly and his boots beat out a grating staccato on the floor. "There is another rule that goes with the last question and it's very simple."

Ibiki scowled and the scar slicing through his lip and cheek curled. "If you refuse to take the tenth question you will fail."

The uproar nearly shook the rafters but with one sharp cutting motion of his arm, and a little well placed killing intent, the room drained to silence. Ibiki growled. "If you take the question but answer it wrong you will stay a genin forever."

This time there were no shouts but the gathered genin hissed and spat all manner of curses under their breath. The palpable anxiety in the room only grew and the smell of sweat and fear was hot on the air.

Sakura lazed on her desk, resting her head down and letting her dark hair fan out around her. She stared at Ibiki with half lidded eyes and her gaze was smoky.

She was a child steeped in lies and treachery and his little game was nothing.

Cunning and audacity, subtly and bold bravado. It was an interesting combination and the kind of thing every shinobi needed. This test was a good one for those who didn't yet understand what it was to be shinobi, but for her, who already knew the blood and the fear and the pain…

One by one genin got up and left the room, and with each departure the discontent and anxiety only grew. The minutes ticked by and eventually some invisible threshold was crossed. No one else was getting up.

And just like that it was over.

"Alright, for those of you still here you pass." Ibiki seemed to fully expect the next uproar that followed.

Sakura snorted. _What idiots._

Ibiki opened his mouth to speak but the sound of glass breaking silenced him. A dark form barreled into the room like a shot. A banner unfurled proudly and before it stood a woman with hell on her lips, a tongue as smooth as silver, and eyes that burned sultry.

Mitarashi Anko. Special jonin, only surviving student of Orochimaru of the Sanin, and the craziest bitch in Konoha.

Sakura liked what she saw.

"Hey there brats." Anko's smirk was practically sanguine. "Time to come with me to grounds 44 for the Second Exam if you dare. Now move along children, I don't have all day to stand here while you catch flies staring."

Ibiki put his head around the banner. "Anko…"

The woman blinked innocently. "Too soon?"

**Training Ground 44#, Outer Perimeter**

Sakura handed in the three waivers her team had signed stating they were quite happy not to blame Konoha if they died horrible deaths during the Exam. The chunin sitting at the table took the forms wordlessly and flipped through them. When he got to hers he frowned. "Family name?"

She shrugged. As far as she knew she'd never had one.

The chunin tossed the waivers in a bin and threw her a Heaven Scroll. "Not my problem then."

At least he was upfront about it.

Sakura went back to her team at the gate they'd chosen far away from the other competitors. When Sasuke caught sight of her he inclined his head and she raised the scroll in answer.

"So who holds onto it?" Naruto asked.

"I may have an idea about that." She moved between the two boys. "Cover what I'm doing for a second."

Sasuke frowned, Naruto smiled, and both obliged her request. In one smooth move she activated the seals on the back of her equipment belt and pulled out her katana. While the seal was still active she slipped the Heaven Scroll in, sealing it.

Her teammates turned and were surprised to find her a scroll short and a katana up. Naruto's eyebrows rose as he understood what she'd done, he'd witnessed her do this before.

Sasuke didn't grasp it as quickly. "Where did you put it? And where did you get…that?"

"Don't worry about it." She slung the katana in a harness across the small of her back. "The scroll is safe and sound and that's all that matters."

Sasuke grunted.

"I'll take that as an: okay Sakura, good work." She finished sweetly.

She was certain it was only because Sasuke needed her alive for him to pass the Exam that prevented him from strangling her. The light above their gate buzzed red and with a metallic grind it slammed open. They exchanged glances and then plunged into the waiting darkness.

A half an hour later they found themselves in a clearing where sunlight was still shining into the oppressive shadows. The silence here was eerie and even knowing they were within a mile of the village, here and now they were worlds away.

They kneeled on the dirt with their eyes scanning in every direction. They did not look at each other directly as they spoke, they were too busy assessing threats for a formality like eye contact.

Sasuke's voice pitched low. "We need a way to identify each other if we get separated so we can't be fooled by enemy impersonators. I think we should use a password..."

"No, not a password." Sakura covered her mouth. Both boys understood the movement and covered their mouths too; the better to stop someone from lip reading if they were being watched.

Sakura continued. "We need to use an object or a physical feature, something that only we have. It has to be impossible to know about or too obscure to copy."

Naruto nodded in understanding "I have a kunai scar that looks sort of like an X on my ankle."

Sasuke considered for a moment. "On the cuff of this shirt there's my clan insignia stitched in."

Sakura tapped her back. "This katana is ANBU grade Fire Country steel. Not exactly regular genin fanfare."

Naruto looked impressed. "Damn, where'd you get your hands on something like that?"

Her smile slipped down a notch, reminding her of Itachi usually did that. "Old friends and high places. So what should we do from here?"

The Uchiha's onyx eyes turned stormy. "Maybe we should go look for that Suna team?"

Naruto brightened in interest. "That could be fun."

Sakura had to fight hard not to slap her forehead. "Listen guys, I know we all want to fight Gaara but that kind of fight…we should do it when there's medical attention readily available. We'll get our shot at him later during the tournament, for now let's pick off an easy team and get to the Tower. There's no reason to take risks out here with no support."

For once Sasuke took a contradiction of his opinion gracefully. "That's probably for the best."

Naruto looked entirely put out. "I don't know either of you. Who are you and what have you done with my broody Sasuke and my stab-happy Sakura?"

The other two genin rolled their eyes and the wind picked up, swirling their hair and buffeting their faces.

Sakura smelled something odd in the wind. "Do you guys smell tha—"

The breeze turned into a typhoon. Her scream was torn out of her throat as she was lifted from the ground. Sasuke had his hand on a root and he groped through the air for her to try and bring her back down.

It was too late and the wind had her. Time seemed to slow and her world became nothing more than deep green and spinning shadows and the scream of the wind in her ears. A flicker of yellow and white flashed in the corner of her eye and for one insane moment she saw Naruto suspended in the air next to her, surprised and ashen. Then he was gone, flung away in another direction.

Her back slammed into a tree and both the wood and her body cracked. With a low moan Sakura slumped down, her back broken. "Fucker." She spat, and blood spilled down her chin and onto her chest.

"Kyuubi-sama," She moaned helplessly. "Kyuubi-sama…"

The demon was roused in an instant, rummaging forward through her mind with a brief and murderous intent. Then he felt the broken state of her body and red chakra bloomed along her spine. _Well how'd you fuck up this time?_

Her ribs snapped back into place, no longer piercing her lungs and stopping and the flow of blood she was coughing up all over herself. Luckily the chakra was taking away the pain or the mind-numbing nausea would have had her throwing up as well. "I don't know. The jutsu came too fast, too strong. No genin could have gotten the drop on me like that…"

_Well that leaves two options, doesn't it wretch? Either someone from this village decided now would be an excellent time to assassinate you…_

She finished the horrifying thought. "Or a high-rank foreign ninja decided to crash the party."

A shadow fell over her body and cut the conversation short. She looked up and the Kyuubi looked with her.

"You've got to be fucking with me."

A giant snake that was stories tall hung above her with fangs glistening in poison. The Kyuubi interrupted her before a tirade could begin. _Move or die._

Without warning the snake lunged and she rolled out of the way, her back shredding as she did. She wasn't healed and with her back a mess there was no fighting a snake the size of a building.

Someone would just have to do it for her then. "There is no way in hell I'm becoming snake food! Kuchiyose no Jutsu!"

Smoke kicked up and the clearing was plunged into darkness. From the shadows of her jutsu a guttural snarl emerged along with the shine of milky white teeth.

**Mile East, Training Ground #44**

"My head..." Naruto groaned and pushed himself off the ground. His fingers curled in the dirt as he spat up the bile and spit in the back of his throat. "What the hell hit us? Sakura?"

The answer he expected never came and Naruto started to look around and came to the sinking realization he was alone. He called out anyways. "Sasuke? Sakura? Come on, one of you should be nearby!"

Instead of hearing one of his teammates groaning or hissing curses, someone laughed. He jumped into a defensive position with a kunai out. Three Iwa ninja came out of the woods and each looked menacing in the dim light.

They were genin but the way they moved was wrong. Too fluid, too fast, too predatory…

And their voices were wrong as well, too deep and cold and not belonging to a child of their age.

Naruto raised his head with bravado to cover his unease. "Show me your real faces."

The Iwa team grinned at each other and the air began to ripple like a rock had been cast into water. The three Iwa genin became Iwa jonin.

"Well fuck." Naruto commented idly. "Village security really isn't what it used to be, is it?"

The jonin who'd first laughed did so again and a grin split his face. He looked skeletal."Glad to see you'll be some fun, son of the Yellow Flash. You know why we're here."

The fear and hatred that jolted up Naruto's spine were equal in measure. Fear of the jonin and hatred that he was still in his father's shadow.

Naruto raised a kunai and let his chakra kick up to form a wind jutsu in his off hand. "I know why you're here; it's been awhile since Iwa made a serious attempt on my life. Guess I should have known, huh?"

The first jonin moved and Naruto flicked his wrist, letting the wind jutsu spiral out as sharp as blades. The jonin barley rolled out of the way and one long cut opened on his arm. The ground where he was standing was pulverized.

"Eager are we?" Naruto smirked. "Then bring it."

**Mile South**

The blood was everywhere in the clearing: sticky, hot, and smelling like metal and death. The snake's head was snapped clear around and its spine had burst out of its back in a shower of gore and stringy muscle.

A six tailed fox with fur black as sin, currently coated in a fine misting of blood, spat out a snake rib. From her position on the ground Sakura had been soaked clear through by venom and blood.

"Is that all you require?" The fox asked, looking around the clearing as if eager for another snake to appear. Her summons were as murderous as always.

Sakura made the last few adjustments on her back and stood up; testing to see if all was in working order. It was. "That's all. You may leave demon, thank you for your assistance."

The fox cackled. "So be it, we are at your command Jinchuuriki Sakura."

Both the body of the snake and the fox disappeared in a swirl of smoke.

Sakura did not notice this as her mind was too busy racing. She knew her history, knew her Intel, studied each Bingo book religiously and knew each page by heart. There were only two people in the world currently signed to the snake summons contract. Either Anko was trying to assassinate her…or Orochimaru had come to town.

And after that jutsu had caught her off guard so completely…deep in her bones she already knew it was Orochimaru. A thrill of terror crawled up her spine. She tried to steady herself; she'd already trained and sparred with one S-class ninja in the form of Itachi. How hard could another be?

Then she remembered she had never even scratched the Uchiha, _ever_.

That sent her into high gear. She dashed through trees straining desperately to pick up any trace of her teammates. After running a quarter of a mile she found Naruto's scent mixed in with three unfamiliar others to the east. They smelled of mud, sweat, and rock...Iwa ninja.

She stilled and extended her senses further. The chakra signatures were too high, jonin high. Iwa had sent an assassination team after Naruto slipped under the Exam as its guise.

She turned her head to the other side, west, smelling Sasuke and fear and snakes on the wind.

She had a choice to make. Battle triage. Naruto and three Iwa jonin or Sasuke and one Sanin. She did her calculations and the end result was just as ugly as she had expected.

In the end Sasuke was only a bonus to her, a pretty trinket for her to collect. Naruto was irreplaceable to her plans, a linchpin, a necessary asset. Naruto was also her friend.

And if Orochimaru truly wanted to kill Sasuke…Sakura doubted there was much she could do to stop that.

She turned east.

**Mile East**

Naruto panted, his body covered by shallow scratches and a fine layer of dirt. Blood from a head wound blinded one eye and some of his ribs felt oddly loose. One of the downfalls of fighting Iwa jonin he supposed.

It hurt to move, to breathe even. Hell it hurt just to raise his arms any higher than his waist. The jonin were carving him apart and they were having a fun time in doing so. Naruto was good, maybe the best that this village had ever seen graduating without the advantage of being a jinchuuriki but…he was still a genin.

There was nowhere to hide. The earth was his enemy and the jonin always smacked him down before he could reach the trees. The odds of him dying only kept climbing and Naruto decided as long as he was going down, the world would burn with him.

He laughed bitterly. "Well isn't this fuckin' lovely?"

His hands fell into a familiar seal. Shadow clones appeared in rapid pops and swarmed out as if to escape. The Iwa jonin went through their own hand signs and their jutsu turned earth to quicksand. Naruto watched his clones get dragged down.

It was as close as he'd get. He made a cross shaped seal and the clones ignited.

The world turned to flame and Naruto was thrown to his knees while the jonin screamed. Something soft and wet pelted his face and Naruto touched his cheek. He realized it was burnt shreds of flesh and steaming blood.

His stomach did not even quiver. He'd seen worse.

Then he realized something. He'd won. He had almost pulled himself to his feet to cheer when a foot landed in his ribs, breaking what was already cracked and shattering the rest. He skipped across the ground like a rag doll and hacked up spit and blood.

He looked up to see the last Iwa jonin alive and half of his face was just…gone. Nothing but shriveled muscle and exposed bone and this time Naruto nearly did throw up.

"I'm going to rip you apart slowly kid." The last ninja tried to say, but his teeth were bared and his muscles fried and it came out in a slur.

Naruto snapped his leg up on a slant to break the jonin's knee. The Iwa shinobi jumped and avoided the blow. Even with half his face burnt off his reactions hadn't diminished, or at least, hadn't diminished enough for the genin to tell.

Naruto had always thought he was improving, he could hold his own in spars with Kakashi and Sakura was only ever one step ahead of him. He'd thought he was reaching the peak of power. Today he realized Kakashi and Sakura had only been playing with him. Jonin was a whole other level; the kind where one could fight with half your face burnt off and mop the floor with anybody.

It wasn't so much trading blows as Naruto getting smacked around and trying to run. But the jonin had stopped playing, his teammates had made that mistake and Naruto had killed them when they were careless. The Iwa assassin wouldn't give the blond that second chance.

"Why you runnin' kid?" The jonin howled and his lips peeled up off his skull-faced grin. He threw a punch into Naruto's gut and the genin's already punished rib cage could take no more. The blond collapsed in a gasping heap unable to breathe or move to avoid the killing blow.

"Any last words?" The jonin rasped, raising his foot to shatter Naruto's skull. In his mind's eye the blond could already see the mash of gore his flattened skull would spread across the ground…

Naruto wheezed. "Go to hell."

"I'll be seein' you there kid." The jonin let out a gravelly laugh.

Naruto closed his eyes, in no mood to see the heel that would come down and crush through his nasal cavity and then his skull. And even knowing he was going to die he was _pissed_. He wasn't going to die because he was Uzumaki Naruto; he was going to die because he was Namikaze Minato's son.

Even in death he couldn't escape the shadow he'd been born under. He wasn't sure if that was ironic or just tragic.

The jonin grunted and the ground shuddered with a heavy thud.

And he wasn't dead. Naruto opened his eyes.

The Iwa jonin _screamed_. Two kunai were jutting from his kneecaps in perfect placement to debilitate and cripple. The ninja was on the ground and a small girl with black hair sat astride his chest, her heels pinning his outstretched arms.

In the gloom of the silent forest her eyes shined red. Her delicate hands reached down, her fingers leisurely and expertly spreading out over the jonin's throat, and her thumbs came together to rest over his windpipe.

Sakura's face was flat as her hand pressed down with agonizing slowness. She wasn't strangling the Iwa jonin, she was _crushing_ him. And even though eyes were red they were far colder and more terrible than the blackest night of winter.

There would be no forgetting the sounds the jonin made as his throat collapsed down. Yelping, whining, pleading, screaming, turning quieter and quieter as she pressed on. It was soon a gurgle, then a guttural moan, then less than a hiss.

Then there was nothing, and the only sound in the gaping wound of silence that had descended over the forest was the cracking of cartilage and the popping of bone.

Naruto couldn't turn away and the terrible look on Sakura's face never wavered. The jonin stopped thrashing and he was done. Dead. Just like that.

Sakura rose slowly. It was then that Naruto realized she was covered from head to toe in dried blood.

Her gaze snapped to him, glacially fierce. He flinched. "…Sakura?"

She melted like a piece of ice left in the sun. And her eyes were green as if the redness, as if the crimson wounds that had been her eyes, had been nothing but a dream. "Are you alright?"

He gasped for air and he realized he'd stopped breathing. He stumbled for words. "I'm just fin—"

His ribcage lurched painfully and then he remembered he was anything but fine. "My ribs …"

She was at his side and her hands glowed a comforting green. He felt his ribs mend back together, sliding and moving and fusing. It was a skin crawling sensation. "When did you learn medical jutsu?"

"Self taught." She shifted another rib into place. "Any wound I've endured I can heal. You're rather lucky; I'm practically an _expert_ in broken ribs."

For some reason that didn't comfort him. He knew why. Right now he was faced with the realization that out of all the time he'd known Sakura, the mysteriousness, the coldness, the laughter, the smiles, the bitterness…this was the first time she'd truly frightened him.

It was one thing to kill an opponent in combat, another to be accidentally cruel as he was prone to, but that carefully measured brutality…it was a horror he could have lived his entire life without seeing.

Her hands left his chest. "All done. Now we need to go get Sasuke. Stay behind me and if I say run, _run."_

He blinked. "What?"

She hopped to her feet, flexed her hands, and cracked her neck to loosen up for battle. "These assassins aren't the only ninja crashing the party. If my guess is right…"

She did not elaborate and her face was a mask of grimness. Naruto pressed. "What's the guess?"

"Orochimaru may have come to pay Konoha a visit." Her eyes pinned him in place, the sheer severity of her gaze telling him more than words ever could. "Sasuke is either dead or will be soon. We're either going to save him, die with him, or collect his body. Stay here or come with me, I won't hold either against you."

He swallowed and a cold sweat broke out across his back. A child's memories resurfaced, recollections of Jiraiya of the Sanin when he'd come to visit when Naruto was six. Even playing around the man's skill had been godly, staggering, almost other worldly.

And going up against another Sanin who by all accounts was fully blown insane…

"I'm coming with you." He was losing his damn mind.

Her look of pride was more than worth it. "Well alright then, keep up if you can."

**Two Miles West**

Sasuke fell to the ground writhing in agony. A strange seal burned into his neck: purple, black, white, and with a dark and poisonous glow. He sunk to his knees as the last of his fight drained out him, and Sasuke wondered if this was what death was like.

"You will come to me for power Sasuke-kun." The serpentine face of Orochimaru swam before his eyes. "Rest assured. I will give you power to destroy your brother, power to fulfill your dreams. It will be there as soon as you reach out to take it…"

It was like his mind had sunk somewhere deep and dark and the pressure kept building and the words were static in his ears. Did that mean he would live? A fierce nausea ripped through his guts and Sasuke doubled over and wretched. Unceremoniously vomit burned up the back of his throat and spilled onto the ground.

"Sasuke!" Someone cried his name.

He tried to open his eyes, tried to run, but his neck and shoulder burned like fire and his muscles seized. The seizure was beyond agony and it ripped through him like lightning as it drove all rational thought from his head.

The voice called out again, soft and breathless. "Sasuke!"

Not Orochimaru.

Another voice came in, this one abrasive and afraid. "Hang in there!"

Sakura and Naruto had come for him. Distantly he felt their hands pulling him up, felt Sakura put her arms around him, felt himself cling to her and dig his nails into her back until her blood ran down his hands. Naruto had his head and shoulders and held him still as the seizure went on.

Neither flinched away from him but held him tight.

Orochimaru's voice slipped into the dark like a corrosion. "Little Sasuke's teammates finally arrived. My my, you do look like your father Naruto-kun."

Naruto snarled. "Shut the _hell_ up you snake faced freak!"

Sasuke tried to open his mouth and warn them Orochimaru would rip them apart.

But the Sanin only laughed. "And you even have his short-tempered tongue. Apple doesn't fall far from the tree, does it?"

Naruto almost got to his feet but Sasuke felt Sakura's arms snap farther around himself for Naruto. The three of them huddled together, riding out Sasuke's agony and Orochimaru's cruelty.

Sakura hissed. "Stupid! It's Orochi-freaking-maru we're dealing with here; if he's not going to attack don't antagonize him!"

"You should listen to that kunoichi of yours." Orochimaru purred and his voice sounded far away as if he was fading. Sasuke dearly wished that the Sanin would fade right out of existence. "Take care of Sasuke-kun little girl, I expect great things from him."

Another fit passed over him and Sasuke could hear no more. He descended into the dark with Orochimaru's laughter echoing in his ears.

In the night air with no light to illuminate them, Sakura and Naruto stared at each other over Sasuke's shaking form.

"Is he gone?" Naruto breathed. She knew what he meant. Orochimaru.

Sakura squeezed her eyes shut but nodded. "I think so. Let's get Sasuke somewhere safe."

Between them they hauled their teammate up. Naruto winced, his ribs still tender. Sasuke, even in his sleep, moaned in pain. Sakura felt her back twinge and she sent another wave of red chakra through trying to repair the damage.

Team Seven had just been beat to hell and back but for the moment they were alive. That would have to be enough.

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Edit: What has been fixed re-written for this chapter is: Kakashi's report to the Hokage was much more subdued and the jonin's issues with Naruto were dispalyed much more clearly, this time Sakura didn't listen in on the conversation and the entire plot-line with Ayame was cut, Team Seven's dynamic was once again expanded and Sasuke while still being standoffish isn't the raging jackass he was in the pervious version, also how Sakura moved in with Naruto was filled in along with some more Team Seven interaction leading up to the chunin exam, the meeting with Gaara was revamped to display Sakura's tendencies to act like an idiot before going for the jugular and her viseral reaction to Gaara was more self-contained as Sakura and Gaara speaking for the first time has been shifted back, also Sakura's conversation with Konohamaru was cleaned up to be much more dark, and the leadup to the chunin exam was compeltely changed. In the exam itself Sakura no longer knows Lee, is still bitter over Gai, is far more grateful to see her friends after months apart, and the exams and battles in the forest were made much more brutal and realistic. Last Naruto only killed two of the assassins because he was lucky and Sakura killing the third was rewritten to be far more vicious to illustrate just how _psychotic_ Sakura really is.


	7. Shatter Point

Disclaimer: Ownership is for those who own things and well…I don't own anything. There is no end to the tragedy.

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**Training Ground #44, First Night**

Naruto's arm was warm around her shoulder and Sasuke's face was warmer on her leg. The Uchiha shivered between his two teammates. A hollowed out tree now provided refuge and Sakura and Naruto were leaning against the inside with their Uchiha teammate resting between their outstretched legs.

The two genin watched their teammate like hawks, searching for any sign of him worsening and looking for any hint of him fading. The seal pulsing on the Uchiha's neck bewildered them.

"What do you think?" Naruto whispered.

Her eyes, honed by years of examining the very seal on her stomach, knew all too well. "It's a binding seal, chakra and essence and the ensnaring of the soul…"

Naruto stared at her strangely.

"I have a thing for seals." She elaborated.

That seemed to satisfy him. "I've worked some with seals but…there's no way of removing this one. Not with our skills and supplies at any rate."

Her face fell. "I know. And we probably won't have enough time to make a difference before it stabilizes anyways."

The heat on her leg increased. She touched Sasuke's forehead with the tips of her fingers. "His fever is spiking."

They both stared down at their teammate in silence.

"You know." Naruto commented. "I really hate the guy, but going out like this…"

She wasn't sure she had a response for that. She had never had any particular affection for Sasuke, seeing him had always reminded her of the echoes of Itachi, of the lingering purpose that had somehow bound them together that long ago night in the blood and moonlight of the Uchiha massacre. And yet here and now with Sasuke a shivering wreck between them her animosity seemed distant and rather pathetic memory. Sasuke was a bastard but if she had their way he would be _her_ bastard. And little things like an insane Sanin or a cursed seal weren't getting in her way.

They lapsed into silence. Sakura tended to Sasuke as best as she could and Naruto just watched on. It was in the pre dawn hours when the sky was at its darkest that Sasuke's fever broke.

She rubbed at her tired eyes. A knot somewhere deep in her chest unclenched. "I think we rode out the worst of it."

"And Sasuke lives." Naruto gave a croaky and relieved laugh. "Lovely. I'm going to sleep." And with that he slid down, kicked back, and nodded off.

That seemed like a good idea and with a lazy wave a few shadow clones were sent to guard them while they slept. Sakura laid down in the hollow of the tree and felt her weary mind drifting off.

Just before she was completely gone she heard Naruto's voice rasp in the silence. "Sakura?"

She gave a sleepy hum.

"Just how strong am I? Compared to you and Sasuke?"

She sighed and pulled herself back up. "Why…?"

He whispered plaintively. "Please."

She couldn't say no. "Compared to Sasuke I think you'd win if you could get the drop on his Sharingan. As for me…you're still a long way off. I'm at the high end of jonin right now, but I'm not going to be taking on S-class ninja or even A-class jonin and ANBU single handedly. I could do some heavy damage before I'd go down, maybe even make it a suicide kill, but that's it. You're inching past mid-chunin right about now."

"I killed two jonin today." He supplied flatly.

"And let me guess, they underestimated you and you got the drop on them?"

His silence was answer enough.

She massaged her forehead and tried to fight off sleep. "A genin could take down an S-class ninja in the right circumstance, one mistake or one opening and even the best will go down. Just because you have to rely on tricks and people underestimating you now doesn't mean it'll always have to be that way. Look, if you're really knotted up over this we'll train even harder after the Exam, alright?"

"Okay." He rolled over and said no more. She guessed he was sleeping.

Yesterday had affected all of them more deeply than she had thought. Naruto was shaken up, Sasuke had been reduced to lying on death's door, and she had…she had stared in the eyes of a Sanin and been dismissed.

Orochimaru hadn't even _known who she was._

She supposed that was one advantage to her childhood of running like hell, training, and basically avoiding the village, had made it so people had slowly but eventually forgotten what she looked like. She was the worst kept secret of the village but in the end she was still a secret. Those outside of the village had no idea of her existence, even Orochimaru.

And she wasn't ready to step out into that world just yet. Yesterday had proved that she was still too weak. Itachi had once spoken of circles of power far outside of her imagination.

She'd caught a glimpse of one of those circles and Itachi had been right. She wasn't ready for that level of combat, mentally or physically.

She laid down to sleep but her mind wouldn't let her rest.

This Chunin Exam would be a long one.

**Training Ground #44, Five Hours Later**

She was dreaming of blades and moonlight when the memories hit her. A forest long in shadows and sunlight, the curve of steel, young genin faces, a headband carved with a single musical note…

Someone had broken the perimeter and she came awake like a shot. She grabbed for the nearest shoulder she could reach. "We've got company."

And to her surprise it was Sasuke who answered. "What kind?"

Her eyes snapped down and Sasuke's bright Sharingan gaze looked back at her. His face was covered with strange black markings that almost resembled tattoos. His chakra flickered at the edge of her senses, thick and congealed like poisoned blood and almost as sinister as her own.

If she didn't know better she would have called his chakra demonic.

There was definitely something wrong with Uchiha Sasuke.

She picked her words carefully. "A genin team originating from Oto is moving this direction. Estimated arrival…I'd say a minute."

A slash of a grin split his face. "Then I'll go say _hello._"

"Well alright then." She answered with forced casualness.

Sasuke leapt down to the forest floor and she heard Naruto groan behind her. "What'sa matter?"

"We have a genin team sniffing around and Sasuke might have just lost it."

"Oh." He answered dully. He crawled up next to her. "What else is new?"

"His seal has a high compression factor."

That seemed to perk his interest. "So it unfolds on activation, what can you see?"

She was encouraged by this. Until now she hadn't ever gotten a full grasp on Naruto's sealing knowledge and where it stacked up compared to her own. She supposed now was as good a time to find out as any.

"Nothing yet. Like most blood seals it has an overlay to hide the seals underneath, living components mixing blood and souls need to be protected from tampering." She had to stop from itching at her own blood seal when saying this. No use giving him hints he didn't need.

"Huh." Naruto rubbed his chin, eyeing their teammate whose seals were glowing and shifting as the Oto team appeared in the clearing. "Whatever's under there must have a high density factor. Because boosting his chakra this much…"

"It's not a boost." She tasted the air as Sasuke started things off by setting nearly half the trees and the Oto Kunoichi on fire. "His chakra is the same, just…augmented. Amplified. Whatever that seal is doing its taking his chakra, threshing it through something, and pouring out double what he gave."

"Foreign essence array?" Naruto asked.

She nearly jolted in surprise. That kind of question was something high level, something she herself had only learned recently as the subject was horrendously complicated. It had taken the Kyuubi two solid weeks of berating and cajoling to get that particular theory driven into her head.

"Maybe." She allowed and fell quiet to observe as Sasuke got one Oto genin in a lock and broke both his arms. "We can't know for sure until we figure out how to peel off the overlay and unfold the compression."

The Oto genin with the broken arms was cast aside and the Kunoichi was still screaming, half her torso charred to the bone. The last Oto tried to run away and Sasuke rewarded that by laughing and breaking his legs.

"He's not playing around is he?" Naruto murmured.

She had to fight down the giddy euphoria the screams from the forest floor were setting off in her. "No he's not. Whatever that seal is it's also has a mental factor, this isn't like him."

"Broody and bitchy yes." Naruto chuckled but it was decidedly hard. "But unnecessarily cruel? That was never his style."

And just as he said this they watched Sasuke slump down.

"Shit. Looks like a short duration too." Naruto snapped before leaping down. Sakura followed hurriedly, her sharp eyes tracking the seal as the compression locked back in and the seal drew back.

Whatever this seal was it was complicated as hell. They would have their work cut out for them. Sakura went to make sure Sasuke was still breathing and Naruto wandered in the direction of the mangled but still fully alive Oto squad.

"Well hey there." He began cheerfully. "Today's your lucky day kids, I'm in a sporting mood. If you hand over your scroll right now everybody gets to live. If not…" He left it trailing but they got the drift.

Naruto had no compunctions towards killing and it showed in the devil-may-care gleam in his eyes. For him the act of violence was as simple and uninteresting as buying groceries. The Oto team all realized their lives meant less than nothing in his eyes.

A boy with bandages over his face and sporting two broken legs rummaged through his clothing. He pulled out an Earth scroll. "Take it." He spat and threw it at the other genin's chest.

Naruto caught it with a nasty smile. "Thanks. Now drag your sorry carcasses out of my sight."

Even with broken legs, broken arms, or severe third degree burns, the speed at which they retreated impressed him. Naruto whistled to himself cheerfully and turned back to his team. Sasuke was sitting on the ground breathing heavily but was fully conscious now.

Sakura was flicking her hand in front of his face to gauge his alertness. Sasuke's eyes tracked her fingers. "I don't have a concussion Sakura."

Sakura kept moving her hand, alternating the pattern to something more complicated. "That's not what I'm worried about."

She was more concerned with a little thing called brain damage. Seals with mental components that caused spiking fevers usually didn't bode well for one's brain staying in one piece. Seals were notoriously tricky and prone to failure if not applied just right. Sasuke sat still for another minute of her prodding before slapping her hand away. "I'm fine."

She snapped back. "You have a seal on you that just made you flip out and try to kill three people. You are very, _very_ far from fine."

He crossed his arms, she sighed, and Naruto decided to intervene. "We have a matching scroll set now. I vote we go to the tower and let someone there sort Sasuke out."

"I'm fine." The Uchiha spat between gritted teeth.

Naruto gave a patronizing nod. "Of course you are. Now can you walk or do we have to carry your ass again?"

Sasuke grunted and got to his feet. Naruto gave him sunny smile in return. Sakura just closed her eyes and shook her head. The more things changed the more they stayed the same.

**Four Days Later, Training Ground #44, Tower**

As it turned out a medical team and Kakashi were waiting for them when they completed the test. Sasuke had been whisked away without a word and Sakura had found herself once again alone with Naruto. Kakashi had not even spoken to them and instead it was the ANBU who'd quietly taken them aside to be debriefed and file reports about their encounter with Orochimaru.

All things considering they didn't have much to say. They had arrived just after Sasuke had been branded by the seal and with a few parting verbal shots Orochimaru had gone on his way without a fuss, leaving Sasuke seizing and them shivering in cold sweats.

Overall it was not a tale of heroics. When the briefing was over and Sasuke was still nowhere to be seen, she and Naruto had set about to training. They skirted the edges of the Tower and carefully examined their competition as they trickled in between spars.

The stayed clear of the Suna team and Gaara as Sakura wasn't sure if she could keep Naruto out of a fight(or herself for that matter). Luckily Hinata and Shino's team had already arrived and neatly distracted her and between them and training the four days to the end of the second exam passed quickly.

Sasuke returned to them just as the Preliminary Matches were announced. Apparently too many people had passed and politics dictated they cull the field. No one but the late arrival of Team Ten, and more specifically Shikamaru, really objected to the announcement.

Sakura barely listened the Hokage's speech and filed up into the gallery. She sat on the railing and Naruto immediately shoved in to sit next to her while Shikamaru, Hinata, and Chouji had a three way staring match to see who'd get to sit on her other side.

Hinata won, the byakugan was useful like that.

The electronic board high on the wall flickered to life, scrolling through names too quickly for her to read. With an electronic beep it settled on two names: Uchiha Sasuke and Akado Yoroi.

The match was short, brutal, and may have involved a fire jutsu hitting Akado Yoroi in the face. Sasuke won within a minute. She and Naruto may or may not have heckled him during the match. _May_.

Kakashi was not pleased.

The next matchup was just as short and just as lopsided. Shino was put up against Zaku, one of the Oto ninja Sasuke had mauled in the forest. The Aburame heir was extremely talented on his own, but against an opponent who couldn't use either arm it was a blessing the fight ended when it did.

In trying to use his weaponized arm, even broken, Zaku hadn't realized it had been rendered unusable by Shino's bugs until it was too late. The sight of his right arm blowing clear off had made Sakura giggle and clap.

From the arena floor Shino looked up with one of his bugs crawling up his face, leaving tiny dark markings behind. She realized it was leaving prints in blood as Shino threw her a salute. Sakura grinned and mock saluted back. She hadn't known Shino had it in him but the sight of blood was making her positively giddy.

Kankuro was in the next match against a Konoha genin Sakura didn't know. After seeing the puppet user cowering in the street away from Gaara, Sakura was surprised to see Kankuro win viciously by using a bait and switch with his puppet that nearly broke his opponent's back. But she supposed hanging around Gaara long enough would lend oneself towards brutality.

Her fight was after that.

Sakura versus Yamanaka Ino.

"Looks like you're up." Naruto clapped her on the back. "Knock 'em dead."

She snorted. "I guess so."

She leapt off the railing and landed on the floor silently. Up above she heard Chouji shout. "Take it easy Sakura!"

She got the message clearly enough: _don't fuck up our teammate too badly._

She waved absently to show she'd heard.

Ino landed on the floor next to her. "Ready to go down, dead last?"

Sakura just made a humming noise in the back of her throat, choosing not to respond. Kakashi and the Hokage and a lot of higher ups were watching. There would be no getting wild in this fight so she'd have to make it short and sweet.

And she would be _sweet_.

She pulled out a kunai that glinted strangely in the light and appeared slick. She flicked it between her hands but Ino did not see it for what it was: poisoned.

Ino may have been the top Kunoichi but considering her competition at the Academy that wasn't saying much.

The proctor made the starting signal and Ino flew straight into a taijutsu combo. It was depressing how easily Sakura evaded the strikes, going just fast enough so it seemed Ino was barely missing each time.

Sakura only had to be just a little bit better to win. The opportunity came within two minutes and she brought the kunai down, opening a long and thin cut from Ino's elbow to her wrist. The girls leapt apart and Ino checked the wound.

A few drops of blood trickled out. The blonde shook her arm to alleviate the sting. "Is that all you've got?"

Sakura spun the kunai on her fingers. "Not entirely."

Ino shook her arm harder as the sting turned to a burn.

The jinchuuriki just smiled benignly and stowed the kunai away. The fight was over.

The blonde girl stopped moving when the burn turned to a searing hot lance down her arm. She went down to her knees. "What did you do!"

"Poison." Sakura answered promptly. "Forfeit and I'll give you the antidote. Don't drag this out."

Her forehead was beaded with sweat and Ino struggled to her feet. "I can still fight."

Sakura shrugged. "Your funeral."

"Sakura!" This time it was Shikamaru who shouted.

The jinchuuriki glanced up in irritation but nodded. "Look, your teammates want you in one piece. If you don't get that antidote you'll be dead in ten minutes."

Ino bit her lip and the first hints of fear flickered in her eyes. "You're lying."

"Am I? I guess we can wait until the poison makes you lose all muscular control, and trust me that means your bowels too." She answered dryly.

The Yamanaka paled. "I forfeit."

Sakura practically purred. "Good girl." She tossed a vial of bluish liquid to Ino and the girl downed it like a shot.

It figured that losing her dignity would be what finally made Ino back down.

With the antidote in her the shaking immediately stopped, and with her face flaming in embarrassment Ino went back up into the gallery without a word. Sakura did her best not to laugh.

She rejoined her friends quickly and both Shikamaru and Chouji thanked her in low voices. She did not directly acknowledge them but the message was received on both sides.

_Thank you for not killing her._

_Only because you asked me too._

Naruto punched her shoulder and she punched his shoulder back.

Sasuke rolled his eyes. "Way to underperform."

Kakashi had an odd look in his eye and offered a bland compliment. "Very good Sakura."

She just nodded as the awkward tension was palpable in the air and nothing good would come from a sarcastic response. They'd never gotten along and she doubted they ever would.

The next match was sent up while they were busy speaking, and Tenten of Team Gai and Temari of Suna lined up to fight. What followed was no less short and brutal than Sasuke's earlier fight with the Akado.

Tenten was batted around like a rag doll. Long range fighting with weapons was by no means conducive to battling a wind user and Tenten got to learn that the hard way. The match ended with Tenten landing back first on Temari's outstretched fan, her bones giving out a sickening crack.

Back broken or not, Tenten had still lost the fight.

Temari smirked and threw the other genin away. If Lee hadn't caught her before she'd hit the wall Sakura had no doubt the girl would have spent the next month in the hospital.

She'd been right; being around Gaara truly did make others cruel. Sakura was really starting to like her fellow jinchuuriki.

The board slid through more names indifferent to the violence below. Shikamaru's name appeared in a bright buzz.

He swore.

Sakura prodded him down to the floor promising her lazy friend the fight would be quick. She had seen Sasuke burn off half of Shikamaru's opponent's torso in the forest after all.

With her injuries Kin, Oto ninja and only kunoichi on her team, couldn't really fight. She tried to fall back on genjutsu centered around needles and bells but with her lack of mobility Shikamaru easily outmaneuvered her.

The fight ended with a dull crack when Kin's head hit the wall and Shikamaru was in the finals. He came back up to the gallery grumbling. She expected no different from him.

The board clicked again and settled on a new pair of names.

Naruto cheered. His name was up and he was delighted to find himself fighting Inuzuka Kiba.

The blond didn't wait before jumping to the floor. Kiba followed just as eagerly.

Sakura turned to Hinata and Shino. "Bet you my teammate will beat yours."

Hinata frowned. "Should we even be betting on this? It isn't nice."

Shino raised his hand. "I'm in."

"Dinner or lunch?" Sakura replied. They always bet who paid for the next meal.

Hinata sighed and turned her back on them, but Sakura saw the smile tugging at the heiress's lips. Hinata loved them even when they were jerks.

Shino considered both. "Dinner for everybody. We need to get the old group together again outside of shinobi business."

And that didn't sound like a bad idea at all.

Sakura cupped her hands around her mouth and shouted to the arena floor. "I have money riding on you Naruto! You better not lose!"

Naruto made a 'will do' motion with his hand at her. She considered her bet already won.

Ten minutes later Shino was massaging his forehead. Kiba was on the ground knocked out cold from a combination of taijutsu, more shadow clones than Sakura wanted to count, and an overpowered wind jutsu.

Lest said Kiba did not come back in one piece but Sakura was cheerful to observe that his limbs were _mostly_ intact.

Naruto came back up chuckling. "That good enough for you?"

"Good enough and exceptional." She replied. His face practically lit up as retook his place sitting next to her on the rail.

She didn't even notice the board cycling again until she heard Hinata take in a sharp breath. For a confused moment Sakura thought the board had malfunctioned until she realized that, yes, the two fighters had the same family name.

Hyuga. Hyuga Neji and Hyuga Hinata.

"Hinata you don't have to…" Sakura trailed off because for once she didn't know what to say. She knew the intricacy and atrocity of Hyuga politics, the social tangles, and the desolate strata banding between Main and Branch house. Hinata crying into her shoulder on more than one dark day during their childhood had given Sakura those ugly secrets.

And she knew how Neji looked at Hinata: hate and resentment and scorn mixing together into one hideous deluge that was always one step away from fratricide.

Hinata gulped. "I'll do it."

There was a tense pause. Shikamaru glared hard at Sakura over the Hyuga girl's shoulder but the jinchuuriki shook her head. They couldn't protect Hinata from everything.

Shino gripped the heiresses' shoulder tightly. "Be careful."

Hinata's eyes were suspiciously watery. "I will."

Slowly, grudgingly, the four of them reached out to touch Hinata. Her shoulders, her face, her arms. Silent gestures of acceptance and friendship and the intimacy they showed was far deeper than any words could express.

Naruto looked away uncomfortably realizing this act was between friends and not meant for outside eyes. Some part of him ached for what they had. He had thought himself Sakura's best friends but now seeing how she acted with her oldest friends, he realized just how far off he was.

Sakura didn't notice her teammate's dismay. She was a shell of a person and a barley functioning psychopath, but every tear Hinata had cried on the Jinchuuriki's shoulder over the years had left an invisible scar behind. And considering how many of those kinds of scars Sakura had hidden on what was left of her heart, that she even felt them anymore was a testament to how precious Hinata was to her.

"Kick some ass Hinata." Sakura tried to lighten the mood.

They all just laughed nervously and none of the weight in the air left them.

"I'll try." Hinata replied and walked to the arena floor with her shoulders back and her head high. Sakura could not remember ever being prouder of her.

Neji strutted to take his place. "I never thought I'd get the chance to face you Hinata-_sama_." The honorific was spat out at the end, all of its respect lost in the corrosive venom of Neji's voice.

Hinata practically flinched. "Neji…brother."

And up in the balcony Sakura and her friends flinched as well. Neji was not her brother but the guilt of Hyuga family bonds ran so deeply…

"Forfeit." Neji continued grimly. "As a shinobi you truly are a failure. You are too kind Hinata-sama, you wish for harmony and peace and you bend to other's will so easily. I'm offering you kindness here, surrender now."

Sakura bit on the inside of her mouth until she bled. It was all that kept her from screaming. What Neji offered was not kindness but humiliation by making a Main House Hyuga back out of a fight before it even began. Neji would hold that over her for the rest of her life and knew very well how much more cruelty that failing would pile on Hinata by the rest of their family.

His words were barbed and coated in honey, but the sweet lies would not lessen the blood they spilled.

Hinata bit her lip and looked away, eyes swimming with unshed tears.

"Why do you torture yourself?" Neji face was impassive but Sakura heard the repressed glee in his voice. He was _relishing_ in his cousin's suffering.

"I want to change." Hinata whispered.

The older Hyuga snorted derisively. "You really are a spoiled Main House brat. People cannot change themselves. Losers will be losers: you, your little friends you hid from Hiashi, your genin team. None of you will change and rise above what you are now. Just acknowledge that now and forfeit."

With every verbal slap Hinata seemed to shrink in on herself, all of her earlier confidence gone and ground into dust. A single tear slipped out.

All of the scars Hinata's tears had carved into Sakura's psyche throbbed and burned. And the smoldering that came with it Sakura recognized as the first boiling of blind fury.

And she was fucking _sick of it._

"Nothing can change. So just—" Whatever insult Neji wanted to say was forever lost.

"Bullshit!"

All eyes turned to Sakura but the fury running through her veins made her no longer care. "You know _nothing_ of change! Nothing of who people are at their core. You pretend those eyes of yours let you see the world when really you're just a blind and emotionally crippled little boy throwing a tantrum. Well guess what Neji? Fuck you and the horse you rode in on. If Hinata wants to change she can and she will and a piece of shit like you isn't going to stand in her way. Kick his ass!"

The tears in her Hyuga eyes vanished and a tremulous smile spread across Hinata's face. She fell into a gentle fist stance and her limbs were as steady as stone. "Get ready cousin. I'm not going to back down when my friends have faith in me."

"The faith of losers means nothing." Neji snarled, his eyes still flickering up to Sakura murderously.

Sakura gave him a nasty smile in return daring him to try and argue back with her. For once his common sense saved him from folly and Neji fell into his own stance.

There were no more words. The fight was on.

And the gap between Hinata and Neji's skills was still too great. Neji's blows were too fast and Hinata's blocks were too slow. Her tenkutsu were sealed away with brutal efficiency and each new blow sent a grimace of pain flickering on her face.

Sakura gripped the railing until she felt like either it or her hands would break, and she found Shino was in the same position. She supposed him being Hinata's teammate had made them even closer since the Academy, and his agony of not being able to help was palpable.

It all ended with a palm strike into Hinata's chest that blew her off her feet and sent her skidding across the floor. Neji stood above her, breathing heavily but unscathed. Hinata however was a mishmash of blood and bruises, and her limbs were twitching strangely.

Neji's lips curled back in disgust. "No amount of belief will ever change talent. This is the reality that separates elites like me from the losers like you. Forfeit. This was over before it began."

And despite all this Hinata struggled to her feet and her face was a mask of determination. "No."

And that seemed to bring Neji short. "What did you say?"

"I said no." Her byakugan blazed through delicate bruises blooming across her face. "I never go back on my word. I said I'd fight and I will to the bitter end. That's my way."

"So be it." Neji stepped forward and the next blow rattled Hinata's rib cage.

She went down on one knee vomiting up blood. Neji stepped back expecting victory but Hinata rose again, swaying dangerously but her eyes still smoldering. "Not yet."

"If you keep going you'll die." And in his impassive voice Sakura heard a strange, high note of bewilderment.

Hinata smiled a bloody smile. It was an oddly serene thing. "This is nothing."

"Are you masochist Hinata? Do you really enjoy suffering that much?" Neji mocked her.

Hinata kept on smiling. "I may be hurting but I'm not the one lost and suffering because of destiny. Am I brother?"

The veins around Neji's eyes throbbed and his jaw set tight. Suddenly he was charging across the space between them with a look of rage so dark in his eyes it made Sakura breathless. His hand angled high, this time for a killing blow.

Sakura leapt to the arena floor but moved at normal speed because the second Neji had raised his hand she'd felt three separate jonin angle in to stop him. Yet even knowing this she couldn't stand still.

Just inches from ending Hinata's life Gai, Kurenai, and Kakashi stopped Neji cold.

Seeing all three of her teachers past and present in one place gave her a feeling of vertigo. But the thud of Hinata hitting the floor made it meaningless. Sakura rushed to her friend's side and placed a chakra laden hand over her friend's chest.

She felt Hinata's heart tremble dangerously. This kind of damage…while Sakura had been stabbed in the heart a few times she'd never seen anything like this. All Sakura could do was throw a patch over the muscles to keep them pumping. As she did this she heard the heavy footfalls of medics rushing in.

They dragged her off but not before Hinata rolled and vomited up blood across Sakura's lap. The dark haired girl stared at the mess numbly, feeling more hands pulling her off and away from the frantic melee trying to save her friend.

The stain of Hinata's failing life was hot on her thighs and it felt like a burn. With a start Sakura realized Shikamaru was holding her and she was having difficulty breathing. She was glad that right at this moment the Kyuubi was too dead asleep to see. He would never stop mocking her for her weakness for this.

"Hey loser." It was Neji's voice that snapped her back to reality. "Your little speech changed nothing. In the end neither Hinata nor you can change. Give it up."

Hinata was her's. She'd nurtured their friendship, spun her lies, shaped Hinata's life in the best way she knew how. Neji wasn't going to take one of her collection away from her without a fight.

Sakura slid her hands down to the slick blood on her thighs. She put out her palms wide for all too see the blood. Sakura burned with hell and the sheer _need _to rip and tear and grind Neji into a pulp. "Every drop of her blood you spilled today…" Her lips peeled off her teeth. "You'll pay it back a hundred fold."

In the corner of her eyes she saw Gai staring at her and she could not read his eyes. She didn't even care. He was the past and nothing to her now.

Suddenly Naruto was at her side grabbing her hand gently. The blood smeared between them.

"What are you doing?" She asked.

He smiled tightly. "We are teammates aren't we? What's yours is mine and what's mine is yours. That includes your grudges." And he held out his crimson hand to Neji like a battle standard.

And just as Naruto had done she felt her friends grab her outstretched hands. Shino, Shikamaru, Chouji. Hinata's blood passed between them and slowly, with their faces far harder than stone, all three boys raised their bloodied hands. Knuckles, fingers, and palms all blemished with their friend's life.

The accusation of their stained hands rang far louder than her words.

And in those white eyes of his Sakura saw the first stirrings of fear. Neji may have been haughty with a god complex but the desolation and fury in their eyes spoke of people who would tear down even the gods themselves for vengeance.

And Neji was no God.

He lifted his chin into the air and said nothing, leaving with an arrogant toss of his head. Yet she noticed that he walked away just a bit too quickly.

None of them cleaned the blood from their hands. Sakura stared at her palms. "I'm tired."

Naruto slid an arm around her shoulders. "Come on, we can sit the rest of these out."

She did not even notice the next match had already been announced: Rock Lee versus Sabaku no Gaara. She knew she should have stayed behind and watched, knew she should have been observing her fellow jinchuuriki like a hawk, knew she shouldn't let the injury of what the Kyuubi would call 'one of her precious puppets' to distract her. But seeing Hinata go down had filled her with something she hadn't known for some time: fear.

And the gnawing ache seemed to take everything out of her. She knew the Kyuubi would never forgive slacking and as they left the hall she sent a shadow clone back to watch unobtrusively.

In the end she could not forget her life's purpose, not even for a moment. One slip up would be the death of her.

**Two Hours Later**

She missed watching Lee get his arm and leg crippled live, but the memories sufficed to tell her of Gaara's impressive skills and off balance psyche.

She also missed Chouji going into his battle with his hands covered in dried blood and demolishing his opponent who already had two broken legs from tangling with Sasuke in the forest. The Oto ninja had left the fight with the Akimichi jabbering and crying; having Chouji come after him with unrelenting mania backed by the force of a juggernaut had left its impression.

She'd spent that time with Naruto by the windows. The long bars of sunlight had been warm and she'd luxuriated in them. She had laid in the light as if she was boneless and had sprawled herself across a bench. Naruto had sat by her head and said little but his hand never left her shoulder.

When her clone had dismissed itself they returned in haste to line up and pick their ballots to determine the tournament matchups. When the numbers were tallied and lined up both she and Naruto swore.

"No fucking fair." The blond groused. "Sasuke gets Gaara?"

"Shut up." She snapped. "You get to beat the shit out of Neji. Let's trade."

"I'm not trading you to fight Chouji." He replied sharply.

It took all of her impressive willpower not to strangle him. The fight list was posted and boiled down to this:

_Uzumaki Naruto vs. Hyuga Neji_

_Uchiha Sasuke vs. Sabaku no Gaara_

_Aburame Shino vs. Sabaku no Kankuro_

_Nara Shikamaru vs. Sabaku no Temari_

_Sakura vs. Akimichi Chouji_

And in one month the chunin exam would be on. In the meantime they were sent off by the Hokage to train and without a backwards glance she turned to leave. Naruto hooked a finger through her belt loop and tagged after her without a word.

Some days they really were on the same page.

**Konoha, Hospital, Observation Room 121**

The faint smells of antiseptic, rubbing alcohol, and the lingering odor of sickness bothered her sensitive nose. Naruto wasn't taking it much better as he seemed to have an innate fear of needles, and yet he stood by her side at the observation window not saying a world as she pressed a hand to the glass.

Hinata laid on the other side pale, sleeping, but now fully stable. Hyuga Hinata would not die.

The possessive side of Sakura breathed a silent sigh of relief. She had never coped well with losing possessions, especially one as valuable and loved as Hinata.

She turned her back on the window to the ICU. With her friend safe they had no more time to waste. "Let's get to work."

Naruto appeared pensive. "I don't mind if you want to stay here a little longer. She's your friend isn't she?"

Compassion from Naruto of all people was off-putting. She felt off kilter as she answered. "She's fine now; her team will take care of her. We need to train."

"Alright." He answered glibly and dropped the subject entirely. She had no idea if Naruto was playing for something, being genuinely concerned, or had suddenly grown a conscience when she wasn't looking.

"I thought I'd find you two here." A voice spoke up behind them.

Both genin spun to find their sensei standing behind them. Kakashi had his hands in his pockets and a relaxed expression on his visible features. Sakura wasn't fooled for a second.

"Yes sensei?" She replied politely.

The jonin answered smoothly."I've arranged a teacher for you two. Sasuke's going to need full time training if he's going to take on Gaara."

She frowned. She had not expected Kakashi to take an interest in them and him arranging a teacher for them came as a complete surprise. And the surprise was quite unpleasant; she couldn't train Naruto with another pair of eyes watching their every move.

Naruto cut in. "Who?"

Kakashi tilted his head, hearing the challenge in Naruto's voice. "And old friend of mine named Ebisu."

The blond snarled. "Oh hell no. I know Ebisu and we aren't Academy students who need another run through on the basics. Thanks but no thanks for nothing _sensei._ We'll manage on our own."

The jonin crossed his arms. "I'm not letting you run around for a month unsupervised considering your record Naruto, and I know you'll rope Sakura into whatever you end up doing. If not Ebisu you need to find an instructor I approve of to keep an eye on you. You have six hours."

Naruto spat. "Right." And grabbed her by the elbow and marched her out of the hospital.

Only when they got outside did she speak. "Do you have an idea?"

"Yeah." Naruto took an irritated breath and let it out slowly. "My old instructors may have been leeches but I'm sure one of them will vouch for me to Kakashi while we go off and do our own thing. Come on, I've got some people to talk too if we're gonna set this up in six hours."

While she did not blindly trust Naruto (she trusted no one for that matter) she was quite willing to see where this went. She followed after him for the next three hours as he made rounds through the village, meeting, talking, and basically schmoozing with the shinobi and bureaucrats of the village.

It had not even occurred to her until now but Naruto was _good _with people. He had an easy way of smiling, a quick laugh, and a natural charisma that drew people to him. While Sakura was good at creating deep and sometimes unhealthily dependant relationships, Naruto specialized in being liked by all. She went for quality, he went for quantity, and they offset each other quite nicely in that regard.

While he talked she stood back and adopted the expression of an obedient and adoring pet. Every person Naruto talked to glared at her, and she could tell her teammate had noticed her dull-witted persona had returned full force.

But her acting like a dumb and love sick puppy made people immediately dismiss her, and Naruto soon got the drift and took the lead, ignoring her entirely except to make vague 'she's with me' gestures in her direction.

When they were moving through a restaurant (the lunch break spot for paper pushers in the Hokage's office) a chunin came over and whispered something in Naruto's ear. A wide smile stretched across the blonds' face. "Thanks. You've been a big help."

She recognized the mischievous tone in his voice usually reserved for vicious pranks. She asked warily. "What do you have?"

Naruto chuckled manically. "An old friend Kakashi can't possibly say no to. Come on."

And she could just _tell _this was going to be interesting.

The bathhouse district of Konoha was as crowded as ever when they entered and Naruto confidently led her though to a particular house. He pointed at a fence. "This was always his favorite place and…there he is."

Sakura blinked hard. Then she rubbed her eyes just to make sure.

In front of them, giggling like a lecher and spying on the female side of the bath house, was the most famous and powerful active ninja in Konoha: Jiraiya of the Sanin.

And he certainly knew how to make an impression.

Naruto prodded the man in the back with his foot. "Hey old man? What kind of godfather comes into town and doesn't even say hello?"

Jiraiya did not even pause in his spying. "The kind that has two lesbians currently making out in the bath. Come back in an hour."

"Not gonna happen." Naruto answered dryly. "You owe me and I'm calling it in."

Jiraiya grumbled but did not move. Naruto got a downright vicious look on his face. "Remember that incident when I was eight? Keep ignoring me and I may be inclined for a repeat performance."

The Sanin flinched. "You drive a hard bargain. I told you I wouldn't train you until you were a chunin."

"This is to help me become chunin so it's close enough. Now don't make me follow through on my threat." Naruto chimed back.

The older man finally turned and there was a long and drawn out staring match. It ended with Jiraiya sighing. "Fine, you win. But for making me miss _this_ you owe me."

Naruto rocked back and forth on his feet. "Yeah. Whatever."

For the first time Jiraiya's looked to her and she saw a flicker of recognition in his eyes. It took every ounce of her willpower to keep her face blank. She had never met Jiraiya but he recognized her for what she was.

And she had no idea whether that was a good or bad thing.

Jiraiya smiled but there was something about it that was forced. "Go pick up the sealing scroll I left with you. Me and your little friend here will be waiting for you at the usual training ground."

Naruto mock saluted and ran off and Sakura was let alone with the Sanin. She had no doubt this was entirely intentional and the feeling of foreboding creeping up her spine wasn't her imagination.

A large and heavy hand dropped onto her head. Jiraiya's palm alone engulfed the entire crown of her head. She looked up in silent question and his eyes were distant and staring somewhere far beyond her. "You've certainly gotten tall since I've last seen you."

She withdrew deeper in her mind and in the process nudged the Kyuubi awake. His awareness unfolded in her taking stock of the situation in quick bursts, rifling back through her memories as he did. In response she shoved some memories forward and hid the rest deep down. Anything having to do with Hinata in the past day was veiled in the most obscure edges of her subconscious that even the Kyuubi wouldn't touch.

Her scurrying to hide things, as happened from time to time, amused him enough that the Kyuubi didn't rip into her to see what she hid. In her childhood every single one of her thoughts and memories was his to do with as he pleased, but as she grew older some things were too intimate or to embarrassing and the learning curve to hide them had been steep.

His growl was low and oddly soothing. _This bastard again huh? Be a good little girl and play along with whatever games he wants, a man like him could crush you in a heartbeat._

She licked her lips. "Have we met Jiraiya-sama?"

He snapped back to reality at the sound of her voice. "Sure, for a few minutes. You were born on the same day as Naruto and I caught a glimpse of you here and there."

That wasn't really an answer but Sakura nodded anyways. He didn't want to elaborate to her why someone like him would take an interest in a nobody like her. Her jinchuuriki status was still _supposedly _a mystery to her after all.

Jiraiya ruffled her hair and beckoned for her to follow him, and they made their way silently to a training ground on the other side of the village. Naruto joined them a few minutes later panting and carrying a large scroll.

Jiraiya took it and thumbed through. "How's your Toad summoning?"

Naruto shrugged as he was still catching his breath.

"So no Gamabunta?"

Naruto scowled and crossed his arms. It amused Sakura to no end to realize he was pouting. She patted his shoulder. "It's all right. Summoning a boss creature always takes an obscene amount of chakra."

Her teammate snorted. "You've never even summoned your boss creature." And for the first time she regretted having shared the scope of her arsenal with Naruto, which unfortunately included her still-yet-secret contract with the foxes.

Jiraiya zeroed in on that slip like a hawk on a mouse. "You have a contract, with whom?"

It was no secret that summons were carefully regulated and few in number. Each village possessed roughly a dozen contracts of varying strength and the odds of any of the users allowing the hated jinchuuriki to sign theirs were slim to none. And unless she'd gone out and done the miracle of signing another Village's contract, a new contract had appeared. And that alone could increase Konoha's militaristic and political power and shift the scales in their favor.

She reached backwards for the Kyuubi and their minds, if there was a word for it, bumped together.

_It had to come out sometime. _The calculation in his voice was cold and impersonal. _Ease it in now and by the end of the day every official in the village will know and you can use it whenever you please. Just make him think you're ignorant to why you signed it._

"My contract is with the demon foxes." And then she started her lie, wrapping a lock of hair around her finger innocently as she did. "Sometime when I was seven I was approached by this gorgeous silver fox. He said the scroll was something for me, that no one had signed it in generations. So I put my blood and name on it and the fox left and said I could call on them anytime in the name of Glory for our King, whatever that meant. I was never able to summon the boss though no matter how much chakra I tried to use."

Jiraiya grabbed her by the shoulder and his grip was so strong he could have broken her. "Show me." He ordered.

She nodded and shrugged, still playing with her hair. She bit her thumb and ran through the familiar hand signs. She slapped her hand down with her chakra and mind casting out for a specific fox.

One who hadn't yet learned human speech. She didn't need certain secrets being spilled in the human tongue with her audience.

The smoke cleared and a three tailed fox, brown like earth and the size of a large dog, was under her hand. Its teeth snapped at her and she leapt away.

The fox looked around and growled. She made a sharp chattering sound at it and it came after her.

Jiraiya tried to grab her out of the way but she leapt too quickly and tackled the fox around the middle and wrestled with it to the ground.

Naruto who'd seen this happen before was unsurprised by the violent display. Jiraiya, on the other hand, seemed close to a heart attack. "Why is it trying to kill you?"

Sakura pushed the fox's jaws back from ripping out her throat. She grunted with the exertion. "The foxes are rather…bitchy. If I don't have someone for them to fight they'll take their pound of flesh out of me."

Her fingers began to bleed and with a shout she threw the fox off. It hit the ground with a pained yelp and vanished in a swirl of smoke. She got to her feet and rubbed the blood off on her pants. "I try not to call them often. The bigger ones have slapped me around when I brought them here for a reason they deemed beneath them."

"I see." Jiraiya answered flatly. She could not read his expression and then it morphed to a bright smile. "Well good show then. Listen Naruto, it's time you started on a certain technique and your little friend here will oversee you while I go talk with Kakashi."

Naruto vibrated in excitement. "What technique? Come on man don't hold out on me now."

"Rasengan." Jiraiya grinned.

Naruto whooped in delight and pumped his fist in the air as he did. "You're the best!"

Jiraiya puffed up smugly. "That I am."

Sakura rolled her eyes. It looked like they'd found their sensei for the Chunin Exams: crazy, powerful and lecherous as hell. This next month would be _fun_.

**One Month Later, Stadium**

The spectators in the stands roared, stomping their feet and screaming their lungs out until it felt like the ground itself was shaking.

A line of genin stood on the arena floor and bright sunlight beat down mercilessly on their heads. They were the best the five villages had to offer and it was a testament to the current climate that only Konoha and Suna genin stood there that day.

Gemma, Konoha chunin and proctor of the exam, stepped up and shaded his eyes. A senbon hung loosely from his mouth as he took a head count. Sakura felt his eyes linger on her longer than most and revulsion was in his gaze. When he finished the count he came up short.

He called out. "Where is Uchiha Sasuke?" The genin in front of him shared confused looks and shrugs.

Gemma rounded on her and Naruto. "You're his teammates, where'd he go?"

"We had separate teachers for this month." Naruto answered wryly. "Where he ended up isn't our problem."

Gemma scowled harder but with the crowd roaring and cheering he couldn't delay anymore. He raised his voice so the built in acoustics would amplify his speech to all. "We'll now open this tournament of the Chunin Exam with the first match! Uzumaki Naruto and Hyuga Neji will face each other in one on one no holds barred combat. When the match is obviously lost with one incapacitated I will call this to a close. All other participants should head to the waiting area to wait for their matches."

One by one they trailed away to a nearby staircase. Chouji, Shino, and Shikamaru all shared glances with Naruto telling him with their eyes they wanted the Hyuga do go down hard and violently. As Sakura left she tugged on her teammate's sleeve. "My grudge is your grudge. Make him wish he was dead."

Naruto grinned and whispered back. "You got it. I'll bring you his blood."

She believed him.

Neji started off the usual pre-match smack talk. "Let me guess, you're here to avenge Hinata for your loser friend?"

Naruto flexed his hands and seemed disinterested. "You're lucky it's me and not her. I'll beat you down but I won't drag it out, her on the other hand…"

"A loser can't beat me. Destiny has separated us already." Neji scoffed.

"Seriously where do you get this bullshit?" The blond asked sarcastically. "Do you go out and read depressing fortune cookies? Get over yourself man, a genin can kill a jonin, poison can kill a Hokage, and ninja without bloodlines can beat those with them. Birth means nothing, it's what you do that determines how you live and die."

"Strong words." Neji fell into his fighting stance and the smack talk was done. "Let's see you back them up."

"You're a feckless moron Neji." Naruto cracked his neck and chakra swirled across his body. "And I'm going to prove it to you. Get ready to see your own blood; you have a debt to pay."

It took exactly twenty minutes, thirty-three seconds, twenty-nine clones, five wind jutsu, three earth jutsu, one lone water jutsu, and two Rasengans for Naruto to reduce Neji Hyuga to a smear of blood across the ground.

The crowd screamed its adulation and Naruto was the only thing left standing, his face, hands, and chest coated with blood. Long and dark smears ran across the ground in every direction in a swirling array. Neji laid with a broken arm, five busted ribs, and his face pulped beyond recognition.

When she'd first met Naruto he could have stood on even ground with Neji with a fifty-fifty shot at winning. After she'd started training him Naruto could have beat Neji with some but not too much difficulty. But after a month with Jiraiya and running them both through the wringer…Naruto could play Neji and come out without a scratch.

Neji may have been a genius but Naruto was a legend in the making. And legend beat genius every time.

Naruto let the Rasengan spinning in his hands slowly disperse, a curl of electric blue chakra turning to wispy nothingness in the wind. He looked around slowly playing to the crowd. But in the end he searched for one face alone. Cerulean eyes met jade and for that moment he and Sakura were the only ones in the world.

Her eyes glimmered with pride, amusement, and bloodlust. She gave him a hint of a smile like she always had, showing him shadows and glimmers of her true face but never enough to satisfy him. And yet his heart soared because every time he saw a little more than before.

He glanced to Neji one last time and watched as medics frantically attended to him. He wouldn't die, Naruto had been careful of that, but whether he ever recovered was a different matter. Naruto didn't care and walked up the inner stairs to the gallery.

Sakura was waiting for him and she wiped some blood off his face. "You never break a promise do you?"

"I said I'd bring you his blood." He held out his arms to show his spattered state. "And I fully intended to deliver."

She laughed and it was warm and full, boundless and unrestrained. It was a sound he'd never heard in the months he'd known her. All her laughter before now had been mocking, sharp, or bitter, but not this.

He liked the sound.

On the arena floor another uproar was beginning to build. Uchiha Sasuke had still not arrived and his fight was up. Deliberation and political machinations were swift and Sasuke's fight with was postponed to the end of the first round.

The next match was called to give the Uchiha more time to arrive. Kankuro immediately forfeited and just for disrupting the political concessions to Sasuke that would have never been extended to her, Sakura began to like Kankuro.

Shino's bugs buzzed in a low and grating sound that was entirely unnerving. He'd wanted to fight and Kankuro had backed out. Sakura doubted Shino would ever forgive the Suna ninja for that.

The forfeit pushed Shikamaru's match next and she was surprised when he said nothing as he went to the arena floor. No grumbling, no bitching, no need to prod him along. Sakura realized what had happened to Hinata had matured her oldest friend. There was a grimness to him she'd never seen before.

She settled in to watch the match.

**Fifteen Minutes Later, Stadium**

"You're good Temari but not good enough." Shikamaru murmured, walking up to her as he spoke. She mimicked every movement as their shadows were linked and Nara jutsu wouldn't be broken by a mere genin.

She scowled. "Go to hell."

His face was harsh. "We're already in hell Temari, there's not any farther to go than this."

He raised his arm and Temari had no response for that. Forcing her to forfeit went swiftly.

Up in the gallery Sakura saw Shikamaru's hands shaking, his shoulders pulling tight, and his face furrowed by exhaustion. He'd won this fight but she doubted he'd get much farther in the tournament. Even a month of hard training was not enough to offset a lifetime of barely scraping by in the stamina department. Shikamaru rejoined them along with Temari and the girl was silent in shame.

She joined her brother in the corner while Shikamaru stepped between her and Chouji.

"I sort of expected you to give up with the state you're in." She eyed his tired form. "What changed?"

Shikamaru answered quietly. "Hinata said she'd fight to the bitter end no matter what the odds. I won't insult her by not doing the same."

Her heart softened. She truly did have the most wonderful collection of friends in the world. She turned to Chouji. "Looks like our fight is about to star—"

A gust of wind ripped through the stadium scattering leaves everywhere and leaving Sasuke and Kakashi in their wake.

She swore. "Or not."

Chouji patted her back. "It's okay, we'll get to show our stuff next."

On the other side of the gallery Gaara vanished and repapered in the arena in a hiss of sand. Her fellow jinchuuriki looked positively murderous and while she didn't want Sasuke die, she desperately wanted to see this fight.

It was never meant to be, the match was barely started when thousands of white feathers began to fall down around them. Sakura looked up and blinked rapidly as her brain processed what she saw. "Genjutsu." She finished dumbly.

Naruto threw out a dispelling technique and Chouji, Shikamaru, and Shino followed suit.

Then the explosions started.

Chouji hung onto the rail and he was the only one to stay on his feet. "What's going on!"

Shikamaru shouted back. "Invasion!"

She got up and leapt on the railing. In every direction chaos was breaking out, ninja were fighting ninja and civilians were being slaughtered in their genjutsu-induced-sleep. For a long moment she couldn't even identify which side was which until she spied a few headbands.

"We've got Oto and Suna ninja against Konoha." Her eyes tracked and found the two Suna genin in the gallery were long gone. "Looks like things are going to get messy."

Chouji's voice was panicky. "What do we do?"

"Since we're all here…" Then her blood went cold. "Do we know anybody in the stands right now?"

All three of her old friends paled. Shino breathed. "Hinata."

Chouji gulped. "Ino."

Sakura nodded sharply. "Alright, you three go and retrieve them and find a chokepoint where you can put your back to the wall and not have anyone sneaking up on you."

"And you?" Shikamaru asked knowingly.

"We have our own teammate to take care of. See you guys when this is over and everybody better be in one piece." And she grabbed Naruto's hand and they leapt in to the fray.

In moments shadow clones had filled the air. They squeezed hands and separated and the original Sakura got to the highest vantage she could find while her clones ripped into the enemy line.

When she saw the village her breath went away. This was supposed to be _hers_. The village was supposed to bend and break under her hand, not from an enemy invasion. So she'd protect this village with her life and put it all on the line so someday she could destroy it. The irony tasted bitter and sweet as she watched Konoha get pushed to the shattering point.

She pulled her katana out of the sealing array on the belt. Jiraiya had been kind enough to hone her skills with it along with her taijutsu. Just as Naruto had grown to a new level under Jiraiya's tutelage so had she. Sakura of the Kyuubi no Kitsune was about to step out into the world.

She took stock of the greatest threats: the Hokage was trapped in a barrier with Orochimaru, her fellow jinchuuriki was moving off in another direction with his siblings, and lastly about ten miles out she could smell the overwhelming stench snake.

She made three clones and gave her orders. "On the right I want you to grab Naruto and track Gaara, we need to push him out and away from the village if we're going to have a knock down drag out fight with him. Middle Sakura, go and see if there's some way we can break through that barrier and get up to the Hokage. Bring as many ANBU as you can when you do. Left me go take out that snake. Any questions?"

There were none, her shadows were pieces of her and they understood the stakes. The clones gave her salutes before vanishing. Once her first clone found Gaara he'd be her target but for now she'd be where the action was.

Four Oto jonin landed on the roof she was crouched on. "Well look what we have here—"

Her katana went through his chin, tongue, and all the way up into his brain. The movement had been so fast the Oto jonin had not even seen her move and he paid for that with his life.

She let the dead body fall, stuck her foot on his neck, and dislodged her blade. "Who's next?" She asked sweetly.

The first of what would be a river of blood had been spilled.

**Forest, Outskirts of Konoha**

"How much farther ahead are they?" Naruto shouted as he tried to keep up with the clone's frantic speed. The clone looked back and abruptly changed direction.

"Not much farther! They're trying to shake us off and take the long way! A few miles and we'll have them in a nice open area to fight without collateral damage." The clone relayed back, smelling the wind and once again altering her trajectory.

Naruto sped up and tired to ignore the burning pain ripping up the muscles of his legs. Normally he was able to keep up with her but today she was pulling out all the stops and showing her inhuman speed. Sakura was in another league and no matter how well he knew this each new instance was like a slap in the face.

He gritted his teeth. He wasn't going to fall behind.

**Downtown Konoha, Commercial District**

The three headed snake towered in the sky for one surreal moment. It blocked out the sun and the sky and every Konoha ninja on the ground silently prayed. Then it fell like a meteor and plowed through a wall, not even noticing ninja throwing ninjutsu against its sides. It was far too big for that.

Opening its maw and showing venom slicked fangs; one head of the monstrous snake ate a Konoha shinobi in a single bite. The terror of the defending ninja only grew and the wall collapsed and Suna forces poured in the breech. They were like sand in the wind; wherever there was a gap they slipped in and grated away all that they touched.

The clone watched all this and made its choice. With a snake that size she'd have to do a repeat performance from the second phase of the Chunin Exam and damn the consequences. Konoha was once again going to be reminded that there was a jinchuuriki in their midst.

Pulling out all of the chakra in its temporary body the clone took the blood the original Sakura had placed on its hands and performed the necessary seals.

**"**Kuchiyose no Jutsu!" Her voice was lost in the towering roar of smoke and chakra.

All battle everywhere stopped as the massive wave of chakra resonated to every corner of the village. It was a nightmare repeating all over again. An eight tailed fox with white fur rose up, its tails smashing the ground as it howled to the sky.

Every Konoha ninja their recognized that sound and for the second time in twelve years a demon fox was inside the village walls.

"What do you require little mistress?" The fox asked in a rumbling voice that sounded like thunder.

This would be a moment that would decide whether she came out a hero or was executed on the spot. The clone let her voice carry to every street."It's time to kill some snake. That thing isn't getting one slimy scale farther into this Village!"

The Konoha lines recovered first, another demon was in their village but for the moment it remained on their side. They had nothing to spare to fight it anyways and the enemy of their enemy…

The tide of the battle was about to turn and the pendulum of war swung back with a vengeance.

The fox gave a bellow that shook Konoha to its very foundations and charged. The clone clung to the fur on its head, now only along for the ride. In one thundering blow the fox wrapped its tails around the juncture where the three heads met at the snake's neck. Without pause or mercy the fox squeezed and dug teeth and claws in, and the streets of Konoha ran hip deep in blood.

**Barrier, Stadium**

The third clone ran from room to room searching for support beams and structural weaknesses with frantic eyes. Fights raged everywhere but an unnatural silence had filled the building below where the greatest fight went on above. Hokage versus Sanin, the kind of thing legends were made of.

Finding everything that it had been looking for the clone began chewing over the computations. It would be tricky but with the right explosives and a joint chakra disruption array…

**Forest, Outskirts of Konoha**

"I think we're being followed." Naruto hissed.

The clone stopped to smell the air. "I guess so. Ten ninja, jonin probably. I'll handle it. The real Sakura should be meeting up with you about half a mile ahead. Be careful."

With that the clone went back the way they had just come. He shook his head in bewilderment and continued on. Those clones of hers always referred to Sakura as a separate person and honestly there was just something disconcerting about it. All of his clones referred to themselves as Naruto and all their counterparts were also Naruto. No one was the original and no one was a spare until only one was left standing. That was the way it had always been

But hers all dispassionately acted as if they were disposable copies, living as shades of Sakura with the full acceptance they were not the real thing. He wondered if that quirk was just a Sakura thing or if _his_ clones were the weird ones.

Shivering at this line of thought he almost didn't notice the shunshin zeroing in up ahead. Sakura arrived in a torrent of wind, black hair fanning out in a wild storm. She picked up his pace silently, only giving him a glance to acknowledge him.

Then someone started shouting ahead and they jumped the final gap of trees to land in a clearing. What they saw sent Naruto's stomach rolling. A deformed Gaara was attacking Sasuke while giving an unearthly wail, his skin half sand and pulsing strangely and one of his eyes a sickly shade of gold.

Naruto made a weak comment. "How did Sasuke get ahead of us?"

Sakura didn't answer and instead shoved the chakra depleted Uchiha to safety before moving her hands in front of her. The air shimmered and blades of wind streaked out and sliced through Gaara's arms and legs.

The limbs fell with wet thumps. Naruto thought the fight was over until her eyes narrowed. He followed her gaze and saw the dismembered limbs had turned to sand and new ones were already replacing those Gaara had lost.

"Well this isn't good." She declared mildly.

Naruto decided that was the understatement of the century.

Sakura snapped her katana from it's sheathe and the blade glowed with chakra. Naruto readied himself, a Rasengan spinning to life in his palm with a howl of wind.

She gave him one last fleeting look, one last wordless goodbye.

_This is probably the end. _

She did not say it but he heard her all the same.

His veins sang with a new wash of chakra and suddenly his fear was all gone. His eyes answered her back.

_I don't mind._

She smiled and it was sunshine and shadows, power and tenderness, kindness and cruelty. It was everything of her and for one heart wrenching moment there was nothing between them. It could have been eternity but in the end he knew it was only seconds.

In a sigh of wind she was gone, only the faint glimmer of her blade lingering behind. And he followed her as he always did, because if they'd shatter they'd shatter together.

* * *

Edit: What got changed this chapter was Sasuke received better characterization, his curse seal was better explained, the fight with the Oto team in the forest was more drawn out with more injuries all around, the preliminary rounds was fleshed more out with Sakura's battle receiving more detail and subtly as she's still hiding her skills, Hinata's battle was also entirely changed to reflect how her getting beaten up by Neji would have affected her friends and this time around Sakura nearly lost it, also to reflect how Hinata's loss changed every one of her friends Chouji won his match instead of losing, the meeting with Jiraiya was cleaned up with his past relationship with Naruto being made much more clear, Jiraiya also acknowledged having known Sakura as a child, also Sakura revealing her fox summons became an accident and this time Jiraiya took it much more seriously, Naruto's fight with Neji was extended to give Naruto more characterization, his interactions with Sakura were also tweaked, lastly the beginning of the invasion was cleaned up and the fight with Gaara and Sakura's clones running around was made much more concise.


	8. For the Wicked

Disclaimer: Because ownership is _so_ overrated.

* * *

**Forest, Outskirts of Konoha**

A colossal monster (titan, abomination, nightmare, she had a lot of words to pick from) towered over the trees. It would be safe to say their fight with the Jinchuuriki of Suna had very rapidly deteriorated.

She had gone all out and had nearly pushed Gaara even in his half-transformed state into a corner with Naruto fully prepared to trap him in a makeshift sealing array. Their teamwork had been flawless and Gaara had been off balance the entire time, Sakura had come to realize he depended on his jinchuuriki powers so much he had never honed his fully human and ninja skills, and by all accounts it should have ended there. Then Gaara had decided to fall asleep.

Fall asleep.

For one insane second she was sure she'd just found Shikamaru's long lost brother when Gaara went down. Then his demonic chakra flooded the forest along with sand and suddenly they were facing a few stories tall creature that was screaming and cackling with glee. The real demon had arrived.

And of course at moments like this the Kyuubi wrapped his awareness around her like a shroud and started whispering in her ear.

_That bitch certainly likes to make an entrance._

She scoffed. Out of all the things he could have said he chose heckling, not warning her about the whole: don't let the go to jinchuuriki sleep, thing.

He heard the thought. _Considering that bitch can only eat souls when they're dreaming, which I did tell you wretch, you should have known._

She scowled but then her eyes went wide as the sand demon sucked in a gulping breath and shot it back at them. She and Naruto flipped in opposite directions, scrambling further back into the already dwindling trees for cover.

The wind hit and nearly tore her off her feet, and sand grated long and painful scratches across her arms and face as it did.

"Yeah, well sorry for not making the connection Kyuubi-sama." She hissed, noticing a glob of sand on a tree suddenly coming alive to attack her. She flipped out her katana already flaming with chakra and cut the heaving thing in half. It vanished to the forest floor with a low hiss and she wiped the sweat from her forehead.

She and Naruto had been scurrying around playing hide and seek and don't die for the last half an hour and she was getting sick and tired of it, so she put a dutiful note in her voice when she asked. "What do I do?"

The Kyuubi wove the plan together right before her mind's eye. _Wake the Jinchuuriki up or just kill him. With that this little transformation will all come crashing down. But you can't just climb up, either come in from above or the sand will crush you into a bloody paste._

She bit her lip, already moving to another tree hoping not to draw attention. "But my biggest summons is already in the village taking care of that snake. There's no one else large enough besides an eight-tails to fight that thing head on."

_Then why don't you put that blond bastard of yours to good use? _The demon purred.

She knew what he meant: Naruto.

It was do or die and she plunged back into the forest following Naruto's trail as another typhoon of wind roared through. She spotted the blond clinging to a tree trunk kicking at a glob of sand trying to swallow his legs.

"Go to hell!" And he raised an arm and shot off his own wind jutsu to scatter the sand away.

Sakura smiled as she landed next to him. "I've got a plan, are you with me?"

"Always." He answered instantly. "What do you need?"

She explained the plan in short bursts between them leaping and fighting off sand and dodging wind jutsu that would shred them into a bloody mist.

There was none of the usual playfulness in his face and Naruto was alert and sharp. "I don't have enough chakra to summon Gamabunta. Hell, after all of this I don't have enough to get a toad the size of a cat over here."

"The good news is I know a bastardized medical jutsu that might fix that." Her voice was severe. "It's going to hurt like hell but you'll be able to summon Gamabunta."

Naruto paused and stood sideways on a tree trunk. Their faces were so close they could have kissed. "How?"

She didn't move an inch from him. "I'll inject you with my own chakra. It's going to be pretty extreme and push you to your limit but you need to be the gateway for this, my biggest summon is back in the village killing one of Orochimaru's snakes. It's this or we'll never get to Gaara."

He gave her a clipped nod. "Do it."

She nodded back, relieved. "Turn around then. I need to get at the tenketsu on your spine."

He dropped down so they were both on the same plane and she slipped her hand under his jacket, resting her palm on the hot skin of his back. Her hand ignited with chakra and Naruto rose up and his entire body shuddered and went stiff.

His voice was choked. "This doesn't…hurt…it fucking _burns._"

"Sorry." And she ramped up the chakra, flooding him with what he'd need to call a boss summons. "Just concentrate on pulling the meanest son of a bitch down here and let the chakra take care of the rest."

With a shaking hand Naruto took some blood from an arm wound and started moving through the seals. Even though she could feel his every muscle in his back going haywire each seal was performed flawlessly. Even in pain he didn't falter.

Then everything went dark as they were smothered by smoke and haze and the world went sideways and they were flying up through the air. When everything seemed to stabilize back on kilter the ground beneath her feet was spongy. She broke the link immediately and let Naruto fall to his knees.

As the smoke cleared into the wind Naruto groaned. "We are never, ever, _ever_ doing that again."

"Duly noted." She replied absently and looked down at the giant, mean, and angry toad they were standing on top of.

It was a toad she remembered from her dreams, the Kyuubi's memories of the night that sentenced her to be a living cage. Gamabunta had arrived.

"Why did you summon me brat?" The Toad boomed. "I told Jiraiya you weren't calling us out until you were old enough to drink for the initiation ceremony!"

Naruto shouted back. "Well if you take a second to look around you'd notice the _giant fucking demon trying to kill us._"

Gamabunta raised his head and pulled the smoldering pipe from his mouth. "Well I'll be damned. Looking to repeat your father's performance kid?"

Sakura flinched but Naruto was too busy arguing with the toad to notice. "I am. Except I'm not going to die like he did. Now let's go kick that demon's ass!"

"Why not?" The Toad gave a great shrug that nearly sent them falling off, and he unsheathed the sword from his belt. Where a toad got a belt or a sword that size she didn't want to know. "Hold on tight!"

She suddenly wished she had a Fox out here. Foxes never _jumped_ a few stories into the sky.

She and Naruto only had a split second to fall on fours and stick themselves to the toad's skin with their chakra before the boss leapt. Once again the world turned sideways and this time all she could see was the sky blurring past.

**Downtown Konoha, Commercial District**

The snake summon's blood was everywhere smeared and spattered, pooled and dried. The clone had never realized how many different hues there were in blood: sickly pink, ruby red, congealed purple, thick black.

And each had a slightly different smell: metallic, salty, coppery, sweet.

And the taste of snake blood was as bitter as she expected. The snow white fox was coated in it and sitting in the fur on its head had left her soaked to the bone. She licked at her fingers memorizing the taste.

This was something special after all.

"It's done." The fox growled. He then loosened his jaw and dropped the stringy length of muscle and bone that had once been the snake's spine. In all directions snake skin laid in tattered shreds along the street. The battle had been long and violent but in the end there was no doubt who'd come out the victor.

The clone stood up and she was feeling so tired…

"Go, your work here is done."

The fox nodded and vanished in a haze of gray.

The mission was done; the clone had lived her short life to its rightful end. Now was as good a time to die as any. She plunged down head first without bothering to catch herself, and the sky stretched on so blue above her as she fell. She hit the pavement with a crack and became nothing but smoke and chakra.

But the pendulum had fully swung back and morale soared along the Konoha lines. The enemy was being pushed back through the blood and snake skin and the advantage was once again theirs.

Slowly but surely victory was coming into sight.

**Forest, Outskirts of Konoha**

It all ended in a clap of thunder when air met water and toad battled demon, and the toad was just too slow. One bullet of air got past and struck the boss summon in the gut.

Sakura's only warning was his croak of surprise and a great heave and suddenly she and Naruto were standing on air. Then gravity kicked in and they were falling.

If either of them screamed it was lost in the wind. Naruto slammed into her back and sent them tumbling down together in a dizzying free fall. She felt the wind jutsu he was forming and she added her own chakra, and with their arms tangled they clasped their hands and formed the seals together. They unleashed the joint attack and the force of it going downwards held them motionless for one moment.

The sand demon was too busy laughing and dancing for having dispelled Gamabunta and its head was bent low from laughter. She saw Gaara hanging nearly lifeless from the sand and his hair was a spot of bloody red in a sea of undulating tan.

They angled their fall straight for him, Naruto still holding onto her and using more chakra to swing their trajectory. If they were going to die they'd die together. And in that one shining, crystalline moment she knew exactly what they needed to do.

In the few seconds before they'd make contact she started weaving a seal array into the air, her fingers a glow of icy blue chakra. Naruto saw her array and his fingers, coated in electric blue, began weaving as well into her design.

It was artistry what they made, a tapestry of soul and flesh and mind. When they were twenty feet above Gaara she brought the evanescent array crashing into her arm, letting it brand into her in a hiss of burning skin and drawn blood.

They were so in sync Naruto wordlessly disentangled from her and threw another wind jutsu to buffet their fall and let her land on the sandy head of the demon softly. She brought her bloody hand crashing down onto Gaara's shoulder and the boy woke with a scream as the seal crawled off her hand and onto his skin.

Gaara and his demon's howls of pain were equal in the air, and once again the surface beneath her feet crumbled and the sand fell apart. Now all three genin were in a new freefall.

This fall was far shorter and she knew it wasn't likely to kill her. That was as far as she thought when all three of them smashed into the ground. The snapping of bone rang in the silent air. Every wisp of air escaped her lungs and as she laid there choking sand fell gently down on them like rain.

The Kyuubi's chakra snapped to life in seconds, reaching for every broken thing and knitting it back together. _Messy as always. _

She spluttered for air. "I…do…try."

Then she heard Naruto gasping and she rolled to her knees, ignoring the way her body screamed at her for it. Her hands glowed brightly and she began mending her teammate's body, shifting ribs frantically so they were no longer piercing his lungs.

Naruto coughed some blood across her hands and gave her an even bloodier grin. "How was that?"

"We took on a jinchuuriki and _won _Naruto." And her voice sounded suspiciously high and her eyes felt suspiciously wet. "You did perfectly."

"Thas' good." His words began to slur and she could see him sinking down into unconsciousness.

She brushed his forehead fondly. "Go to sleep. I've got it all from here."

He smiled, nodded once, and with that he was out like a switch in his brain had been flipped down.

Farther away she heard a groan and she was mildly surprised to realize that Gaara was still conscious after the seal she'd slammed on him. Without a thought she pushed herself up and began to walk. Red chakra bloomed across her like a caress and she let its restless nature seep into the air. Desiring for blood, boiling with malice, eating at everything like a rotting disease, and how much it wanted to tear and rip and grind everything down…

Gaara's eyes widened and he scrambled away from her advance like a frightened animal. She kept on walking knowing he'd get tired eventually. A few yards farther and Gaara was back down in a tangle of broken limbs, ripped muscles, and heaving panicky breaths.

She tilted her head sideways and her grin was a slash on her face. "Why are you running? Don't tell me big bad Gaara is scared of me."

He screamed and insanity glittered in his eyes like broken glass. "I won't let you end my existence!"

She stopped walking. "You think I'm that merciful?" Her laughter was low and raspy and it cut off abruptly and her head snapped back down. "Death is only an escape Gaara, to live is to suffer. And you will suffer."

This did not calm Gaara in the slightest, and his blood shot eyes rolled wildly. "You know _nothing_ about suffering!"

In response she grabbed the bindings covering her arm and ripped. Slowly the blood seal that had been branded into her came to view, the twisting of the fox clear and dark. Gaara's eyes showed no recognition and she laughed again. "Are you that blind? Can you not see when one of your own stands before you? Maybe this will help."

She lifted her shirt with her branded arm and the seal on her stomach, the bane of her existence, stood out starkly. It pulsed a sickly and noxious red.

"Like me?" The comprehension came slowly but when it did his entire body shook. "Just like me…jinchuuriki."

"Yes." She murmured. "There is no one in the world who knows your suffering better than I do Gaara."

"They hated you?" He rasped.

"Tried to kill me, cursed my name and my existence, tried to grind me into nothing to assuage their hate." Her crimson eyes were like wounds and they showed the depth to which she had been torn. "Death was a long off mercy; it always will be for our kind. So rest easy, you will not die today."

That seemed to take some of the tension out of his shoulders and he sagged down. Still though, his eyes followed her like a cornered animal. "Why didn't you kill them?"

"Is that how you found peace, killing all who crossed your path?" She gave a dismissive shake of her head. "That is nothing but a base instinct. No one thinks of what the animal does, it eats and fucks and sleeps and kills and _no one cares. _If I went and just killed them what would that give me? To live is to suffer Gaara, remember that."

He contemplated that like he would a child who had seen the sky for the first time. Bright and vast and terrifying and so painfully beautiful. "Then why do you choose to live? What defines your existence?"

"After what we sacrificed for our villages we deserved everything Gaara. And what did they give in return?" She asked wistfully but the bitterness ran deep. "Hate. Desperation. Vengeance. Pain, suffering, and cruelty. They should have given us the moon and stars; they should have given us the riches of heaven. We deserved so much more."

His world was crumbling down around him and she watched him scream and thrash to hold onto it. "We're monsters born and bred, our existence was always meant to be this way!"

"No. It was their choice." And her voice was flat with the weariness of a thousand lifetimes of suffering all compressed into one. "It was only ever a stupid human choice that made us this way."

"A choice…" He gripped at his branded shoulder and winced. "What did you do to me?"

"My choice. My seal. One that will push the demon's soul so far down into you will never hear it again. It will no longer eat at you in your sleep. All that's left is the power for you alone. It's my gift." She finished.

He clawed at his skin. "No, no, no! That can't be right! No one was every able to make it better no matter what they tried and—"

"No one in this world knows more about Jinchuuriki seals than I do." She cut him off before he could completely lose it. "And while he does not match me in knowledge, Uzumaki Naruto is peerless in his talent. That seal is our gift, our curse, and our punishment."

And in front of her he broke, his mask slipping and his eyes wild with grief and desperation. "I don't understand!"

"You must live." And the tenderness in her voice hurt him more than any insult ever had. "This is my punishment to you Gaara: go and be happy."

"How…" He strained and she could not tell if he wanted to run or fall to his knees and beg.

"It will hurt." Her crimson eyes shone with the glitter of tears. "It will be like there's a kunai in your chest every single day because you will _know_ what is and what was meant to be. You'll know you deserve all of it and nothing and you'll hate yourself so much. The contradiction of that will eat away at you. You'll have friends and loved ones and you will want to pamper them and spoil and love them any way you know how. And everyday you'll want to kill them because you're so afraid they'll finally see _who you are _and understand_._ Be cruel Gaara, be kind, fight and protect and kill and love. Be happy."

The understanding struck through him as quick as lightning and as complete as being immersed in the sea. He stared at her in wonder. "To live is to suffer."

"It is." And she arched her neck back to stare into the vast sky. "And maybe someday we can change, but not now, not yet."

She smiled once more before standing up. "Goodbye Sabaku no Gaara."

He did not call her back but sat alone on the ground, absorbing her words with a distant look in his eyes.

She cracked her joints and gathered Naruto up. A half a mile away she recovered Sasuke sleeping off his chakra exhaustion. She was just about to create a clone to pick him up when somewhere in the Village another clone dismissed itself.

The memories were garbled but one thing was clear: all clones and the ANBU they'd gathered were converging on the barrier that held Orochimaru and the Hokage. And they were ready to crash the party.

With a grimace she set Naruto down and threw a genjutsu over the two boys. They were in the middle of nowhere and they'd be safe to sleep it off. She left some clones to keep an eye on them all the same, knowing their luck some enemy ninja would probably stumble over them.

She rubbed at her neck, sighed, and pulled out a new set of bindings to re-cover her branded arm before she went into battle. "No rest for the wicked, is there?"

**Stadium, Beneath the Barrier**

"You're sure this will work?" The ANBU asked the clone skeptically, examining the intricate seals and explosives arrayed over the walls and ceiling.

The clone bristled at the remark. "We could just stand around and _let_ Orochimaru keep attacking our leader if you doubt this so much ANBU-sama." The clone answered sweetly and sarcasm dripped off her voice.

"…just this once I'll let it slide brat. Okay everyone, listen up! Gather what's left of our forces and call them into position, this barrier is coming down!" All the other ANBU exploded into motion, filling their positions as the original Sakura strode in.

No one really noticed her as there were over two dozen of her clones already swarming the room. Her clone in charge stepped into the array and nodded at the original. Having disposable chakra containers was oh-so useful at times like this.

"Set and ready!" The clone shouted.

A thin veil of purple energy glowed twenty feet above her and it was the bottom of the barrier. Exactly where they wanted to hit.

The original pulled out two heavy kunai glinting with poison. A few ANBU eyed her up and she just smiled back blandly. She wasn't going into a fight with a Sanin eamty-handed after what she'd seen Jiraiya do. She was pulling out all the stops. For a moment she vaguely wondered where the Toad Sage was, but a memory from another clone slipped up to inform her he was across the city commanding the front line.

There would be no help from that quarter then.

Without warning the array ignited. The explosion of chakra and C4 shook the building to its very foundations and she found herself leaping up along with a horde of ANBU throwing cloaks aside and brandishing steel. One earth jutsu blew through the roof and suddenly they were up in a forest.

And two dead men were standing there.

The first and second Hokage's long dead were standing before them in the flesh. Behind them stood Orochimaru and the ANBU, clones, and Sakura immediately fell back into a defensive position around the Sandaime.

One particularly eloquent ANBU summed up everyone's feelings on the situation. "What the fuck?"

Orochimaru looked murderous. "So the ANBU finally got their act together? I guess your ninja are not as incompetent as I feared Sarutobi-sensei."

Sakura raised her hand cheerfully. "Actually I'm calling dibs on that."

Everyone stared at her. If this was a legendary moment she felt safe in ruining it.

Orochimaru let out a disbelieving hiss and it shivered in the air between them. "You? Little Sasuke's teammate?" His neck swayed unnaturally and suddenly his head was much closer. "Just what are you little girl?"

She felt the Hokage grab her shoulder and draw her back into the thickest of protection surrounding him. "Just a very exuberant genin who has done her best to help her village."

Sakura decided not to contradict that. In a swarm of ANBU and in front of the Hokage was probably not the time to provoke Orochimaru into realizing what she was.

Orochimaru's eyes were a sickly and poisonous gold, and they glimmered with amusement as he snapped his fingers. The dead Kage's attacked and ripped into the ANBU line. The fight was back on.

More trees sprouted up and tangled everyone in the roots and started crushing down. With her poisoned and chakra enhanced blades she cut through the wood like butter. This meant she was moving faster and higher into the trees than anyone there, and unfortunately that meant her momentary protection among the ANBU was long gone.

"Well girl." A tongue snagged around her foot and Orochimaru hoisted her into the air like a ragdoll. "Little thorns like you need to be removed with pesticide, don't you think?"

Flickers of silver shot through the dark air and a sword split her abdomen. She had not seen it coming, not been able to move out of the way, not even been able to blink. Orochimaru let her fall without a backwards glance. He was monster of a ninja and she was nothing compared to that.

Poison seeped into her wound left by the steel and she felt it creeping in as it started to eat at her. She broke out into a cold sweat and suddenly the world was just a blur of tile and sky and blood.

_You're not dying here. _And the Kyuubi was there just as he had been all her life, her one stone island in a sea of agony. _You're not dying on your knees like a piece of trash. GET UP._

She did as ordered, shaking, sweating, and her stomach rolling. But she was on her feet and his chakra lanced into her stomach, eating the poison away and mending her back together.

The Kyuubi's fury was a terrible thing to witness as he raged behind the seal. _That bastard wants pesticide? Give it to him. Show him we will not die to the likes of him!_

She picked up the poisoned kunai she'd brought and let the Kyuubi's chakra slip into the blades. Both ignited into an unholy violet light as demonic chakra and poison solidified into a toxic combination. She stood with her legs spread and a kunai hanging at each side.

Orochimaru's back was straight in her sights and he was fighting ANBU and going after Sarutobi in one last mad dash. She only had one goal, one purpose, one end in sight. He wasn't the only monster out here. And she would show everyone the truth of the world: even a genin could take down a Sanin when underestimated.

In flutter of fabric and a glint of steel she was running into the melee fearlessly. She snapped open the gravity seals tattooed on her limbs and for the first time in seven years her full speed was at her disposal. She was neither justice nor revenge; she was just speed and purpose and the hand of death reaching down.

Before Orochimaru could even register her presence she flung the blades so hard they split the air. Each projectile pierced a shoulder and before the Sanin could register the pain Sakura jumped and grinded her heels into the hilts. She drove them all the way through his body and jammed them tightly between the joints of his shoulders. Steel scraped bone and that sickly sound was all that filled that macabre forest that should have never existed.

Orochimaru's howl of pain rent the air and she felt a pair of arms dragging her backwards as the Sanin snapped his tongue, swinging his sword wildly. The pair of arms twisted to throw her out of the way and she watched in mute horror as the Sandaime Hokage was impaled by Orochimaru's sword right through his abdomen and into his spine.

He had saved her at the heaviest price.

An ANBU caught her, cradling her when she was certain he'd snap her neck. The Hokage had paid the price for her. Nothing made sense. He had never sacrificed _anything _for her.

Orochimaru was on his knees and surrounded by ANBU. Four Oto ninja appeared in a swirl of smoke and grabbed their leader. As they spirited him to safety the ANBU gave chase and Orochimaru's shout echoed through the air. "You fool Sarutobi! She was a genin! A genin!"

The ANBU holding the jinchuuriki set her back on her feet. She slid down to her knees in front of the Hokage and her mind was nothing but emptiness and shadows, bleakness and desolation, a dark horizon where the sun would never rise.

Two ANBU were already applying medical jutsu to his sprawled and dying body, and the rest of the ANBU gathered around her kneeling form as silent as the grave.

There would be no words from them so she voiced their disbelief, her disbelief. "You shouldn't have done that."

Sarutobi smiled and blood spilled down his chin. "You are a part of Konoha as much as anyone. You did so well today Sakura, I saw what you did…Jiraiya spoke highly of your dedication. You have proven yourself and I'm so proud."

"But I'm a genin, I'm—"She could not voice the word jinchuuriki and she settled for something less. "…a pariah."

"It does not matter." He reached a shaking hand to rest on her knee and his skin was so cold. "You are the protector of the next generation and I am an old man, Sakura. You must live…"

His voice trailed away and the ANBU performing medical jutsu became more frantic. She was drawn away by gloved hands and she felt as hollow and brittle as glass. She had always hated and loved Sarutobi in equal measure: for his kindness and for his negligence, for being both her protector and the man who condoned her abuse.

She did not cry.

She did not scream.

She did not rejoice.

She did not shake.

She sat on her knees and the ANBU rushed Sarutobi away. All that was left behind was a dark smear of poison and blood. The last ANBU, a man with a mask white and sharp like a knife, sat next to her. His gloved hand felt so heavy as it landed on her head.

He said nothing and she expected nothing.

She had not lied to Gaara: to live truly was to suffer.

"I'm so tired." She murmured at last.

"Sleep here." The ANBU answered. "No one will touch you."

She wondered if Naruto had woken yet, she wondered if her friends had lived through the invasion, she wondered if Gaara had picked himself off the ground yet. Mostly she wondered if Sarutobi's blood would be on her hands.

She laid her head down. The ANBU stayed with her and her world became nothing but darkness.

**Konoha Hospital, Maximum Security, Three Days Later**

Various machines clicked and beeped and went about their way of keeping the occupant of the bed alive. The Sandaime Hokage was in a coma and was paralyzed from the waist down. His days as a ninja were over.

Jiraiya watched quietly from behind a window and at his side a sullen jinchuuriki held his hand with her more slender one. She had not spoken a word since the invasion and the sage knew exactly why.

Sakura was undeniably talented, maybe more so than anyone he had ever met. And until the invasion he hadn't even realized that. She smiled and rambled, played with her hair, danced around him when they practiced taijutsu, and laughed when she drew her katana and let the flickers of sunlight play out across the ground.

Her mask was one so perfect it was not until she let it down that he noticed it was there. She had quite literally been holding her cards so close to her chest he hadn't known she'd been playing the game.

And what those cards showed shook him to the core. What he thought was a mildly talented if not entirely bright genin was a frighteningly powerful jinchuuriki with a taste for violence. She was a creature who ripped jonin limb from limb and threw herself after a Sanin with suicidal abandon.

And every ANBU that had been at Orochimaru's and the Hokage's fight had quietly come to him and spoken of how her eyes had shown crimson and her chakra had flickered red. The Kyuubi's chakra was moving in her freely and no one had even realized.

And once that was considered along with her summoning demons in the middle of the Village, she was staying within arm's length of him until further notice. It was partly to watch her for instability but mostly it was to keep her alive from the backlash that would no doubt come. The only person hated more than her in Konoha was Orochimaru and that was saying something.

That was why it was a secret that Sarutobi had been irrevocably injured just to save her. All who'd witnessed that would take it to their grave. If the Village knew...even a Sanin couldn't protect her forever. She'd be lynched in the streets if that secret got out.

He heard footfalls approach them and it was something he'd expected. He knew exactly what this would be about.

"Ah Jiraiya-sama, I'm pleased that you're here..." Councilman Homura stopped short when he caught sight of Sakura. He sneered. "Send her away. We must speak with you in private without the ears of…lesser things listening in."

The sage felt Sakura cling to his side, projecting onto him what he'd seen her do with Naruto many times. To deflect suspicion she'd act like a stupid and adoring pet, affection and mute and unconcerned with anything but her chosen 'idol'. But he knew her eyes and ears missed nothing and the affection was just one long and sweet lie.

Jiraiya let her cling and play her games; he needed to see just how well she lied anyways. "Sorry but she's with me until further notice. What can I do for the esteemed senior members of the Council?"

Koharu, old and worn and her grayed hair up in a graceful bun, wrinkled her nose. "We all know Sarutobi-sama can never be what he once was. You must take his place as the Godaime Hokage."

"Thanks." Jiraiya did not try to hide his distaste. "But no thanks. I'm not the kind of guy cut out for that."

Homura was livid. "The village is in ruins! Will you abandon us again when we need you most? Will it be just like twelve years ago when—" He fell mute when he remembered just who was listening.

Jiraiya reflected that Sakura might just possibly be the most perfect human shield _ever. _Jiraiya responded coldly. "Don't bring up the past like you understand it. As for the present I've got this covered, I know the perfect person to take the old man's place. Just give me a few weeks to find her and everything will go back to the way it was."

"You mean…?" Homura murmured hopefully.

He grinned. "Exactly. Tsunade-Hime is going to return to Konoha whether she likes it or not."

Koharu's brow furrowed. "But we need a leader now Jiraiya, not you traipsing around the countryside looking for a woman who doesn't want to be found."

Jiraiya cast his eyes through the glass to the man on the other side and an awkward silence followed as they all remembered their lost leader. He looked back with grim eyes. "We need medical help either way, the village is in shambles and our forces have been cut by a quarter. Either she's coming back as Hokage or she's coming back as a medic, but either way _we need her_."

The two Council members exchanged glances and realized that if Jiraiya was going to leave nothing on heaven or earth would stop him. It was time to bow to the inevitable and Homura spoke. "So be it, we'll send an ANBU squad to accompany you and assist in the search."

"Not a chance. The village needs all the protection it can get and I'm not having an ANBU squad tagging along to draw attention to how dire things are. I'm only bringing two others with and don't try to suggest anyone, I've already chosen." He drawled.

"Who is it then?" Koharu sighed, massaging the bridge of her nose as she did.

He raised his arm and the girl clinging to it. "This pretty little thing right here and my apprentice Uzumaki Naruto."

Koharu bristled. "How can you even consider taking that thing—" She paused and quickly backpedaled seeing the thunderous expression on the Sanin's face. "I mean to say, it would be best if you focused all your attention on Tsunade and your apprentice. This child's grades and intelligence have never been above subpar and she'll waste your valuable time with her ineptitude."

The sage felt Sakura arms tighten around his, her free hand hooking sharply through the crook of his elbow. It was the most reaction she'd shown in days. He squeezed her hand to soothe her and his voice snapped out like a whip. "Do you question my abilities, you who haven't lifted a kunai in battle for decades?"

Both council members flinched at his dangerous tone. They were proud people but they both knew they were past their prime and facing the most powerful ninja in the village. Homura scrambled. "We do not doubt you for a moment; we just want to make sure you know what it means to go out into the open with such...circumstances."

Jiraiya knew exactly what they were implying. Sakura was the best kept secret in the village but with her little display during the invasion he had no doubt every Hidden Village would know that the Kyuubi no Kitsune had a jinchuuriki within a month.

She was on the cusp of the world stage and he needed every spare second of time to make sure she was up for the challenge. But at the moment he was angry and wanted to twist the knife with the bigoted idiots in front of him. "Right now the threats come from the outside the Village as much as they do from within. It doesn't matter what _circumstances_ I take with me, the danger is the same."

The two older ninja flinched. It was no secret that Sakura was in danger more than ever of being lynched by her own village. Passions were running high and he needed to get her and Naruto to a lesser extent out of the Village and hidden from view. As he was in charge of Konoha for all intents and purposes now, Jiraiya also needed time to take stock of just how bad things were going to get.

The two council members bowed and made a hasty exit, and as soon as they left Sakura moved away. She returned to her original position; holding his hand and staring sullenly at the window. Sarutobi did not stir and the machine next to him clicked and whirred to breathe for him.

Jiraiya really hoped Naruto or Sarutobi or _somebody _woke up soon, having her not talk was grating on his nerves.

He tugged her away from the window. "Come on Sakura, it's time to go."

He pretended not to notice how long her eyes lingered beyond the glass.

**Konoha, Residential District, One Day Later**

Naruto had not woken up and Sakura knew exactly why. Her bastardized method of giving him enough chakra to summon Gamabunta had taken its toll, and since he'd fallen unconscious he hadn't woken again.

Jiraiya refused to let her return to her and Naruto's shared apartment alone. It was a safety thing certainly, she was no idiot, she knew how inflamed the village was right now and her being in public alone could set off a riot. To keep Jiraiya appeased she did what he asked, and she'd slept in a spare bedroom in one of his houses in the Village since the invasion. Truthfully she'd rather enjoyed the experience.

Jiraiya lived like a king. The mattresses on the beds were made of feather, the food was world class, and the training area and equipment installed in the backyard was better than anything she'd ever used.

And every day he'd put her through the wringer on it getting her to fight at full strength. He had come after her with the unstoppable force of a hurricane and wore her down until she revealed her every ninjutsu, ever strike with her katana, and every move of her taijutsu.

And she'd been thrown on her back into the dirt bloody and beaten more times than she cared to count.

She hadn't been smacked around like this since Itachi had showed her the ropes and it was a humbling experience. The only reason she'd injured Orochimaru so badly was because she'd gotten the drop on him, and Jiraiya had told her as much while he worked her over.

When the session was over and the sun low in the sky she'd luxuriate in the showers with every expensive soap imaginable. When she came out clean the sage would pull out expensive crystal decanters and teach her how to mix drinks. It was a silly and fancy thing; a high class skill for infiltrators and seductresses. She was a monster and these opulent gestures and perfect manners had been something no one had ever bothered to teach her.

It was something she was certain was wasted on her.

And yet no matter what he did, spars in the morning or high class training at night, she didn't speak. She couldn't forget what the Hokage had done and no matter what Jiraiya tried she wouldn't say a word.

"Come here Sakura, I need to see how this fits on you." Hearing the sanin's voice echo from another room, she obediently followed.

He held up a lavish kimono when she entered, the kind of thing that would take a year's pay to buy. She wanted to ask why or what for but for some reason she couldn't find the energy.

She stood mutely in front of a mirror and let him drape it around her. While he worked she stared at her reflection, pale and empty eyed. In the shadows of the mirror she saw flickers of crimson not in the lines of the kimono and time grinded to a halt.

Crimson eyes were in the mirror and she was sinking, rushing, falling…and then she was standing standing in front of the seal. The Kyuubi had called her down and there was no refusing.

"Are you that weak wretch?" The Kyuubi asked and his voice was venom. "Are you that stupid, that forgetful?"

She stood mutely and his tail whistled past her face, smashing the ground apart just inches from reducing her to paste. He let out a guttural snarl. "That hairless ape out there might allow you disrespect him in your silence but I won't. Stop wallowing and speak."

Her voice was soft and raspy. "I don't understand. Why did the Hokage save me?"

"We always knew he was a fool." His tails dragged along the bars and the hollow echoes resonated into her. "And fools do foolish things. That miserable mortal saw his death and so he tried to preserve himself by making a legacy out of you. It is only guilt little wretch, only his own selfishness. It was _never_ about you because he cared."

"But he could have died, just for that—" She blurted but he silenced her with a snap of his teeth.

"What did he call you?" The question drilled into her, tearing through memories and dragging her back to that moment the Hokage's cold and dying hand had rested on her knee.

Her eyes went wide and frosted over. "You are the protector of the next generation."

"Yes protector. Not part, _protector." _He spat. "Even to the end he made you stand alone from them. You are his tool to maintain his legacy and no more. Do not mourn, do not let his actions silence your voice. Speak my little wretch and make his legacy obey your word."

She bowed low and the fire in her eyes burned coldly. Her smirk was razors. "Of course Kyuubi-sama, forgive me for falling into such a deplorable emotional display."

"Good girl." His tails withdrew into the dark, brushing her face and arms as they went. "Now get out."

She straightened and her mind was clear. "Thank you."

He snorted and with a snap she was standing back in reality with Jiraiya was adjusting an ornate and jeweled clip in her hair. "There, you never know when you'll have to go undercover in a royal court. It'll be my gift to you, Naruto already has enough formal wear floating around to clothe a small country."

She smiled. "You're too kind Jiraiya-sama."

His grin lit his entire face and he slapped her back. "Good to hear that voice of yours. Now let's see how well you can serve a drink in that fancy getup, huh?"

She fluttered her eyelashes. "Of course my Lord. Please sit and make yourself comfortable." And she drew up a new mask and her smile was demureness and sweetness. "What would my Lord like to drink this fine night?"

"Well…"

**Konoha Hospital, Room 523, One Day Later**

He felt like he was made of lead. Skull, legs, arms…hell, his whole body could be summed up in that four letter word. He let out a groan and tried to shift himself to a more comfortable position. Then he remembered the last thing he'd done was fall a few stories and hit the ground after battling a jinchuuriki.

Naruto's eyes snapped open.

Jiraiya was above him and grinning. "Well hey there kid, welcome back to the land of the living."

"You are not who I wanted to see." Naruto deadpanned.

The sage adopted a mock look of hurt. "You wound me terribly Naruto. _Wound_."

The blond grumbled while he sat up and realized the person he really did want to see was sitting at the bottom of his bed. Sakura smiled softly and tucked a dark strand of hair behind her ear.

"Hey Sakura." She was his only friend in the world and honestly, some days he was certain she was his whole world too.

She answered him and her voice was raspy as if she had not used it for some time. "Hello Naruto."

Jiraiya beamed at them and the genin immediately knew he'd missed something. Sakura looked different, more tired, more melancholy, more worn. Something had happened. He voiced the question. "What's going on?"

Jiraiya gripped Sakura's shoulder. "Why don't you tell him?"

She frowned, almost imperceptibly, but then nodded. "Of course Jiraiya-sama. After you and I took out Gaara I helped the ANBU breech the barrier Orochimaru's lackeys put up. By the time the battle was over Orochimaru had escaped with severe injuries, three ANBU were dead, and…"

Her head dipped and Jiraiya squeezed her shoulder harder. Her eyes came back up cold and clear. "Sarutobi-sama was grievously wounded and is currently in a coma. As of now it is doubtful he will ever recover and carry out his duties as a shinobi."

Just by her tone Naruto could tell there was more, knew by how she covered it up with dry facts and meaningless figures there was something sinister underneath. But Jiraiya's eyes warned him not to press and Naruto didn't say anything at all. He was certain he could corner Sakura on his own time for the full story anyways.

"Well then." Jiraiya clapped his hands. "Sakura will fill you in on the rest later, in the meantime you kiddies are in for a treat. We're going for an S-classed mission. Are you ready?"

Well today was just getting better and better. Naruto smirked. "Name the time and place and we're out of here."

And like a sun coming through the clouds after a dark winter day, Sakura's bravado and impishness returned. "So where to first boss?"

Jiraiya felt like things were finally starting to turn for the better. "Gear up in your apartment and bring the best you have. And if you got any masks or face coverings now's the time to use them. Welcome to your first undercover mission kids: from here on out it's only going to get harder."

And that declaration widened their smiles. There was no rest for the wicked and they wouldn't have it any other way.

* * *

Edit: What's new after the rewrite: the fight with Gaara was cleaned up, how Naruto summoned Gamabunta was made clearer, Sakura's entire conversation with Gaara was revamped to be more painful and haunting as it should have been, the entire invasion storyline was boiled down to a more concise narrative, this time when Sakura broke the barrier she logically brought some ANBU with her, the entire fight with Orochimaru was rewritten and Sakura's skill was reduced to below Orochimaru's level, Sarutobi going down to protect her this time serisouly freaked Sakura out, her spending time with Jiraiya was added in to further flesh out that relationship, Jiraiya also highlighted and acknowledged why Sakura can't stay in the village, and a new conversation was added in with the Kyuubi to illustrate that Sakura is three kinds of psychotic.


	9. The Twisted Path

AN: A chapter with some Uchiha face time. Yay.

Disclaimer: Because I have to put this in, obviously. No ownership, no manga, no anime.

* * *

**Konoha, Main Gate**

"We're looking for an old teammate of mine. She's a gambler, a legendary kunoichi, and she doesn't want to be found. Her debts could bankrupt small countries and she could out drink god if she wanted."

It began like most mission briefings did: pertinent information, mission parameters, time estimation, equipment check, and then the little personal details. The usual

Of course it being_ Jiraiya_ giving the briefing, the usual didn't last long. "And most importantly she's got incredible…assets. The kind that kings would become paupers for and the best of men would die to see." That this was said with an extremely lecherous grin and a few crude hand gestures was also not a surprise.

The two genin stared back at him entirely unimpressed.

The sage coughed and continued on in a normal tone. "Keep alert but don't attract any attention strutting around like ninja. Masks on at all times except when eating or locked in a room. Don't give your names, mission, or one damn detail about yourselves to anybody. We're currently the most interesting little group traveling through the world and everybody who's somebody is going to try to track us. Move out."

They both saluted and with coordinated precision drew out nearly identical masks that they fasted over their heads. Jiraiya tried not to show his surprise at porcelain fox faces with eyes of red and blue staring up at him.

"Cute." He muttered dryly.

His two genin just grinned.

**Seven Hours Later**

The sun was hot on their backs and the trees swayed gently in the breeze around them. The only sound was their breathing and the crunch of gravel underfoot. Sakura had realized early on that wearing masks (and Kabuki clothing, they were undercover after all) for long periods of time _sucked_.

Jiraiya halted in the center of the path and turned to face them. She and Naruto halted as well, fighting down the reflex to stand at attention in front of a superior obviously about to speak.

"What do you hear?" The sage asked.

Naruto cocked his head to the side. "Nothing but wind."

"What do you smell?" Jiraiya continued.

She breathed in deeply. "Nothing but the earth."

"What do you see?"

Their heads swiveled and Naruto was the one to answer. "Nothing but trees."

He kept pushing them to the point. "What do you _feel_?" And it all clicked into place.

Sakura scattered her senses in every direction, tasting, smelling, seeing, and feeling for chakra. Her awareness spread outwards, spanning further and further and wider and wider. And she knew the answer. "There's not one human being around us. Anywhere."

"Very good." Jiraiya nodded. "How far can you extended your chakra sensing?"

"Ten miles on a good day, a little more if I…" She trailed off and decided now wasn't the time to mention conscious use of the Kyuubi's chakra.

Naruto squawked indignantly. "The hell? I can only get two miles out, three tops."

She clucked her tongue at him. "Practice Naruto, practice."

He scowled. "Whatever you say Sakura. How about you old man, how far can you sense out?"

Jiraiya buffed his nails on his shirt. "Twenty-five miles, give or take."

It was Sakura's turn to choke. Naruto oh-so helpfully patted her on the back. "I'm sure you just need some practice Sakura-chan."

The two teammates exchanged glares and Jiraiya coughed into his fist to interrupt. "The moral of that story is unless I give the all clear neither of you is allowed to perform ninjutsu or use chakra. I doubt we're going to run into any high level chakra sensors with a larger range than mine, but all the same, unless I give the word _no chakra_."

The blond scratched his head. "But I thought this mission was undercover anyways, why would we be using any?"

The sage heaved a sigh and all of the cheer was sucked from the air with his next words. "We can't waste any time even in the middle of an undercover mission. Naruto you've been in the orbit of the big leagues since you were born so you should understand this better than most, but after Sakura's little display during the invasion she just stepped front and center into the spotlight and a lot of people are going to want a piece of her."

Naruto swallowed. "That bad?"

The older man answered grimly. "Worse."

Sakura said nothing because she'd known this day was coming. Ever since Itachi had spoken of circles of power beyond her imagination she'd been training and waiting for just the right moment to step onto the world stage. But the invasion had brought that event on far too quickly and while she was entering the upper echelons of jonin in terms of skill, there was still an exponential gap between that and the S-class monsters like Itachi.

She had been forced out onto the stage before she was ready and now all she could do was ad-lib her lines.

Their numbers were few but S-class ninja could flatten cities and topple countries. They could wipe out armies single handedly and stand against even creatures like the Demon Kings. Their numbers were few but on them rested the balance of power between villages.

There were the Five Kage's, the top ninja of each of the lesser villages, the nine jinchuuriki who were already monsters or would be with a little training, around a dozen missing ninja scattered in the darkness, and last the big five villages usually had four additional ninja who could wear the title of S-class.

And lately with how Jiraiya trained her and looked at her when he thought she didn't notice, she could tell he was molding her for one purpose: to become an S-class killer. To tangle with the strongest in the world in the name of her village and come out on top.

It was something she'd always dreamed of, and if Jiraiya was willing to help her she would be loyal to him until her dying breath. So when the sage spoke again she hung on his every word. "Between investigating cities and Intel drops you two are going to train like you never have in your life. Sakura! How's your taijutsu?"

"Strong and getting better." She answered promptly.

"Chakra?"

She smiled. "Bottomless."

His gaze sharpened in interest. "Speed?"

She considered. "With or without gravity seals?"

"I'll take that as exceptional then. Any extra skills?"

She hesitated but then answered sharply. "ANBU trained in kenjutsu, extensive study of poisons, and a wide if not surgical grasp of medical jutsu."

A muscle worked in his jaw. "Interesting, very interesting. And your ninjutsu?"

"Name it and I can perform it." Was her crisp reply.

He arched an eyebrow. "I probably don't want to know just what you did to get that. Okay, if you have the ninjutsu and the physical speed we need to make your hand seals as fast as possible, work your taijutsu to the limit, and start a stretching regimen to get your body flexible. What you need is maneuverability and control to get in tight and unleash hell before they can even blink. Start off running through the seal chain fifty times, efficiency first and then build on your speed. No chakra until I say so."

She nodded and eagerly did as asked, starting out slow to make sure each finger was placed right before ramping up the speed.

While she worked she kept an ear to the conversation as Jiraiya turned his attentions to Naruto. "The same. Give me the list."

Naruto's head snapped up and his jaw set confidently. "Taijutsu: solid chunin level. Chakra: extremely high. Speed: fast but not fast enough. Ninjutsu: not varied but powerful nonetheless in the areas of wind jutsu. Extra skills: a specialty in all areas of sealing."

The sage nodded and Sakura could see the calculations running through his head. "You're definitely not at Sakura's level which means we need to bring you up to speed. You need taijutsu training, speed, and something to make you a heavy hitter than can put all of that chakra you have floating around to good use. I think there's a ninjutsu that can work on all three of those things."

Naruto perked up considerably. "And that would be?"

Jiraiya's next words shattered the calm like a meteor. "Hirashin."

Naruto's jaw dropped. Sakura nearly broke her fingers in suprise.

The two genin breathed in wonder. "Hirashin?"

The sage nodded smugly. "You got it. Your father's technique was what made him the most dangerous son of a bitch on the battle field. Learn that and the skill gap between you and the big leagues won't even matter."

The blond vibrated in excitement. "Then what are we waiting for? Let's get to work!"

"I thought you might say that." And the older man drew out a three pronged kunai from the folds of his shirt. "Welcome to the Hirashin training from hell kid. This is going to get messy."

**Three Months Later, Border of Fire Country**

The crowd cheered and stamped their feet, kicking up dust and resting fireflies into the warm air. The summer night hung heavy and sultry on the little town without a name, sweet with honeysuckle and grass and the smell of smoke on the breeze. It was known only for its gambling dens, roaring night life, and it's red hot red light district.

It was a place of debauchery and hedonism and the law here was nothing but an obsolete curiosity.

A small stage sat in the Main Square and paper lamps hung from the trees and illuminated the polished boards with a warm orange glow. Even in this den of iniquity the people did love their entertainment and they kept the stage pristine.

A man stood on the stage with arms crossed and his legs set aggressively. The kabuki paint on his face was so thick it obscured the man's features completely. And just like an expert musician coaxing a song out of his instrument, this man played the crowd telling of a magnificent adventure of samurai and princesses, of nobility and heroics, of villainy and treason with just the right tone of solemnity and with the grandest of gestures. And more importantly to a town like this, the story had plenty laughter and sex and violence to go with it.

The man's two helpers were children in fox masks, giggling tricksters that slid in and out of costumes like snakes changing skins as they played all the parts. They scurried to and fro and sometimes the boy was the samurai winning the lovely princesses' heart, and sometimes the girl was the evil Lord and the boy her trusty retainer.

The boy did great leaps and acrobatics, entertaining and awing the crowd with his daring. The girl performed acts of contortion, twisting her body at near impossible angles with a sensual ease and lilting laughter.

He was bravado and she was beauty, he the strike that ensnared and she the ambrosia that seduced, and he was the burning sun and she the mesmerizing moon. They were perfect counterparts and with gestures and motions they told a spellbinding story even with their faces were covered in masks. It was acting at its finest.

And the older man in Kabuki paint was the center of the show, telling their story and keeping the crowd riveted, managing the timing just right to get the loudest gasp and the greatest cheer.

It was a performance with only three actors in a city known for its hedonistic nightlife, and to anyone who knew the place the popularity and the crowds the play drew was mindboggling. Men and women who dealt in sin and sleaze rarely found joy in the entrancement of fairytales.

The play ended with the evil Lord girl slain by the valiant samurai. While the boy samurai raised his hands in victory the girl gave a dramatic flip of her head and threw off the crown and took back up a kimono, becoming the princess seamlessly for the samurai who had just 'killed' her seconds ago. The ending was met with a great cheer and the children bowed and giggled and their porcelain faces bobbed out of view behind the stage.

The man who had narrated stepped down into the adoring crowd, seamlessly integrating himself as he gathered local gossip and praise. The children came back out with a donation basket and within minutes of doing more tricks and acrobatics they had collected a sizeable sum.

They never removed their masks nor gave their names. The girl was merely Akai for her red eyed mask and the boy was Aoi for his painted blue eyes. By the next morning the superb Kabuki show and those nicknames would be all the people of this little town would remember fondly.

The older man found what he was looking for and with great flourish he returned to the stage and the children scampered after him. The crowd applauded one last time and the small troupe stepped off and vanished into the night.

They were in a small hotel in moments and locked away in a room. Jiraiya went to the sink to wash the Kabuki paint from his face. "So what's the haul tonight?"

Sakura removed her mask and sat on the end of the bed, thumbing through money as she did. "Enough to keep us fed for the next two weeks."

Naruto tossed aside his own mask and flopped down beside her. "Why do we even do this? It's not like we need the money."

Jiraiya answered him resignedly from the sink. "For the last time it gives us a reason to be traveling. People are much more loose lipped after we put on a great show and if we didn't ask for money or have a cover people would be wondering what the hell we're really up to."

The blond just groaned and rolled over. "It hurt like hell doing all those stunts; my muscles still haven't recovered from that last batch of Hirashin training."

"I would think not." The sage scoffed. "It took Minato five years to develop that technique, you're not picking it up in only a few months."

Sakura decided to interrupt the old argument before it could pick up more steam. "Any news on Tsunade-hime?"

He scrubbed his face harder. "Not anything that'd help. Some locals remember a beautiful blonde running up some debts but it was a long time ago, more than a year from what I gathered."

"Strike out." Naruto muttered.

Sakura merely sighed, gathered up the money, banded it, and slipped in it Jiraiya's pack. "So what's next?"

He dried his face with a towel and his voice was muffled. "Another training session in the wild and then we'll angle in to some of the bigger cities. If she's not hitting the local dens of sin she must be going for the luxury spots."

"Logical." She decided. "Well I'm going to sleep, move over Naruto."

Her teammate didn't even blink as he moved sideways, letting her slip under the covers of the bed where he'd been sitting. Whenever they were in a city she and Naruto had shared one of the beds. It was either that or worry about being crushed and or molested by Jiraiya's wandering sleep arms.

Another day and another failure and another session of grueling of training about to begin. She couldn't remember a time when she'd been happier.

"Good night Sakura." Jiraiya called.

She felt Naruto's hand touch hers through the blankets. His voice was much softer. "Goodnight Sakura."

This was what her life should have always been: sleeping in a city where no one knew her name and surrounded by people who cared for her. But the world knew differently and it would all come crashing down. Her past could never be forgotten for long.

**One Month Later**

She woke up in a city she couldn't remember the name of. It was another failed Intel run, another no show of Tsunade, another night spent performing in the streets, and another night of sleeping in a cheap bed after eating takeout food.

Her awareness pooled out slowly and she found herself with her head tucked under Naruto's chin. Their arms were wrapped around each other loosely and it was a familiar comfort that was one of the few they had on this mission. Her teammate slept on and did not stir. She laid there in the warmth and the dark luxuriating in the moment.

Someone tapped her head. "Time to go. Pack it up."

"You're back." She groaned and closed her eyes tightly. "Five more minutes?"

Jiraiya tossed her clothing at her and wore a decidedly lecherous grin. "Get up or my camera is coming out. I need some new inspiration or blackmail anyways."

Without a word she kicked Naruto awake and pulled a camisole on. She looked over to Jiraiya's side of the room and found the bed untouched. Well he'd need someone to brag to anyways, so she asked the inevitable question. "So how was she?"

"A stunning, red haired local nurse who has a kink for playing doctor. And the things she could do with her hips…" Jiraiya scratched at his neck as he recollected his encounter, and she could see a line of hickies disappearing under his collar. The man reveled in his outright perversion but that didn't stop him from finding a woman in every city who'd love to show him a good time. And frankly she preferred it when Jiraiya had a woman as that left the hotel room to her and Naruto to share secrets and practice techniques without the sanin's watchful eyes on them.

And mostly so they could cuddle without the perverted sage needling them over it. It had started a month ago one particularly cold night spent sleeping on a forest floor and though neither really talked about why they did it, neither could deny that they _really_ liked it.

She nearly got smacked by Naruto's arm when he shot out of bed shirtless and bleary. "What?"

"Jiraiya got laid, it's now morning, and we're heading to another city." She shifted his clothing apart from her pile and dropped it on him.

Instead of getting dressed he threw himself on her lap and wrapped his arms around her stomach. He whined. "Five more minutes."

A flash of light nearly blinded her and she looked up to see Jiraiya holding a camera smugly.

She threw a shoe at him. "Damnnit Jiraiya!"

**Konoha**

Uchiha Sasuke was puzzled but more than that he was irritated.

His teammates had dropped off the face of the earth. That was not to imply he held and particular affection for them, Sakura was a ditz on her best days and Naruto a hell raiser on his worst. But there was something different about them, something that had been off, something entirely wrong that he could practically smell. Sasuke could remember the exact point when he realized this: when Sakura had confronted the team from Suna before the Chunin Exams.

In that moment he had seen something predatory in her eyes, something bloodthirsty and violent that didn't mesh at all with the vapid girl he'd known.

Then he'd started piecing things together and he remembered how Naruto's mania had vanished after Sakura and he had become close in Wave. Kakashi hadn't notice this subtlety. He was not one of them and even if Sasuke didn't get along with his teammates there was an instinctive sense between the three of them that told him of those shifts. There was a tension between all three of them that had faded that day in Wave, and though Naruto would still harassed Sasuke and Sasuke harassed him back, the outright revulsion between the two boys had dropped a few dozen notches.

He then remembered even further back to how Sakura played the fool to help them win their bell test against Kakashi. How she lied was something he had never noticed and each layer deeper he dug the more impressed he became.

Then she had mentioned Itachi straight to his face and in his anger he'd forgotten entirely what he'd been trying to find. By the time he got back on track they'd been in the middle of the second Exam and Orochimaru had shown up.

He learned nothing more about Sakura after that, but Sasuke would never forget how she and Naruto had held onto him and cared for him while in the throes of the curse seal.

They had finished the Second Exam and Kakashi had whisked him away to the hospital to undergo a sealing procedure on the little gift Orochimaru had left him. After that he had only caught three glimpses of his teammates: during the preliminary exams, a few minutes during the finals, and then a flash of Sakura pushing him out of the way of Gaara's attack before he passed out.

By the time he'd woken Sakura and Naruto were gone and the village was crawling with rumors of demon foxes being summoned, Sakura throwing herself at Orochimaru and _actually_ injuring him, and Naruto taking out a jinchuuriki on the back of Gamabunta himself.

If even half those rumors were true it was both sobering and humbling. Naruto had taken out Gaara where Sasuke himself had fallen exhausted, and Sakura may have injured a Sanin that had played Sasuke like a puppet.

This had spurned him to trade even harder, going out a sunrise and not getting home until long after the sun had set. Every week he went to the mission office to ask for his teammates and every week he'd get the same answer: no one knew where they were.

Kakashi knew even less and was no help in the matter, in fact the jonin didn't really seem to care that two of his team were just _missing_.

His teammates weren't dead, Sasuke could deduce that much, but beyond the fact that they were breathing he knew nothing else. That was why Uchiha Sasuke was currently and quite royally pissed at the world.

So Sasuke shoved his hands in his pockets and walked down the street faster, ignoring all the waves and smiles from civilians who caught sight of him. If he had to be put on a new team because of this he'd throw a fit. Right now he just couldn't let go of whatever was up with his teammates, and honestly the odds of him getting stuck with a fangirl…

He stopped at the restaurant where Kakashi usually liked to meet him on weekdays and kicked back against the side of the building. And he waited. And waited_. And waited._

Four hours later Kakashi had not arrived. The Uchiha snarled. If he got to the jonin's apartment and found him sleeping through _another_ training session he was going to set fire to his sensei's building and damn the consequences.

The genin quickly cut his way to the other side of the village and vaulted up three outsides staircases to his sensei's door. He found the handle unlocked and stepped inside intent on either finding Kakashi or taking a page out of Naruto's book and vandalizing the place.

Three jonin tensed up as he opened the door and Sasuke nearly jumped back in alarm. He recognized all of them: Yuki Kurenai, Maito Gai, and Sarutobi Asuma. All three were gathered around Kakashi's sleeping form and they all looked terribly guilty about something.

"If he isn't sleeping because he's severely injured I am setting that bed on fire." Sasuke warned them.

Ausma and Kurenai exchanged meaningful glances and Sasuke realized he'd been more on the mark than he'd thought.

"What happened? Who beat Kakashi?" The Uchiha pressed.

At that moment the door slammed open again and another ninja came charging in. "Is it true about Itachi? That he came here after Sakura?"

Everything went gray and his blood turned to ice. Sasuke mechanically turned to the newcomer and hissed in a voice bordering on sub-zero. "What did you say?"

The ninja instantly realized who he had just blurted out classified Intel in front of and he paled. "I…uh…"

Sasuke didn't wait a second longer and bolted.

The ninja gulped. "…well shit."

**Fire Country, Thirty Miles from Konoha, 3:45 PM**

"If Tsunade was this close to Konoha the whole time I am going to _strangle_ someone." Naruto groused under his breath.

Sakura prodded him in the stomach. "Shush you. Jiraiya's about to open the play so get your costume on and get ready."

The genin rolled his eyes behind his mask but nodded as the two of them dug through a large trunk of costumes Jiraiya always left tucked behind stage for just this purpose. Where he'd gotten it all neither of them cared to know.

Naruto pulled out a shroud of iridescent gray. "Why do I have to be the ghost?"

Sakura busily donned a flowing robe of red and white silk. She adopted a high and trembling soprano and swooned. "Because I must be the priestess who's family was killed. Alas, the tragedy is too much for your meager skills."

Naruto's response was to grab her fox mask, pull it out, and let it snap back onto her face.

She yelped. "Jackass."

"Yeah. Completely." Naruto stuck his head up and over the stage and saw the sanin's feet just yards away. "Ooh, look like my part's up. See you when this is over."

The earlier irritation bled out of them and they bumped their masked foreheads together. Her voice went soft. "You too. Now go be a kickass ghost."

Naruto's laughter was high and loud and he flipped onto the stage, landing in a swirling of shroud and a burst of thrown powder meant to replicate the unearthliness of the departed. The crowd gasped and applauded wildly at the display.

Sakura heard her part coming and her entrance was much more subdued in a flourish of cloth and ribbon as she sang a lilting chant. She had to fight hard to be morose as the play demanded instead of smiling widely like she wanted to.

It was the first time in her life that the smiles far outweighed the bitterness.

From the crowd watching them in the biggest city they'd performed in yet, a pair of crimson eyes surveyed her carefully. Sakura would not realize it, but having her and Naruto wear the fox masks would be their one mistake that would draw the enemy who knew her well enough to follow the rumors.

And in the crowd with dark a robe splashed in red designs and a low hat obscuring his face, Uchiha Itachi smirked. After four months of sitting on the sidelines Sakura of the Kyuubi no Kitsune was about to be thrust into the world violently.

**Hokage Tower, Konoha 4:00 PM**

A darkened room, thick with dust that obscured the windows and covered the floor, was empty. File cabinets lined the walls and a giant safe was carved into the far wall. It was one of many such rooms in the tower where mission's documents were filed away like clockwork to keep the village running smoothly. Unlike most however, this room was where the obscure and more importantly secret things were hidden away under the guise of disuse and dust.

One of the overhead windows slid open silently and a dark shape dropped into the room. When hiding things in plain sight or as seemingly unimportant, the downside would always be the lack of security.

The shadowy figure moved over to one of the cabinets and began to shuffle through the drawers. The shadow did not find what it was looking for and rethought what it was trying to do. It looked to the safe and knew cracking it would be impossible, and from all signs here the mission folder he was looking for was A-class or higher…

The file was in the safe. The shadow couldn't get in the safe.

Plan B then: what if they needed to be recalled before the missions finished?

The shadow returned to the cabinets with a vengeance and paged through quickly and threw a map onto the table and eagerly pulled it apart. It was jumbled letters, numbers, and shapes, barely recognizable for what it really was.

Tracing a bright red line that marked the intended path of the ninja troop, the shadow frowned.

The map itself was erratic. No clear indication of what the mission was about or what they were trying to accomplish. Patrolling was unlikely judging by the wild turns, and nothing else could possibly need that much distance covered. The entire thing was a mystery even to the shadows trained eyes.

It had been four months and...the shadow was lucky, the squad was scheduled to be swinging through a city barley thirty miles from Konoha doing whatever it was they were doing.

Making sure to place everything where he'd found it, the figure slipped back out the window and left. Sunlight flickered briefly with the opened window and the shadow was revealed to be Uchiha Sasuke climbing out.

The window fell shut, the dust kept churning, and the pale blue light vanished.

Sasuke knew where Sakura was and that meant Itachi would be there soon. He didn't know why Itachi was chasing his teammate and in his haze of fury the Uchiha didn't even particularly care. All he knew was his hated brother was about to reappear, and all else ceased to matter.

**Fire Country, Thirty Miles from Konoha, 7:46 PM**

Neon colors streamed through the night and bright buildings obscured the sky. In the streets between a loud crowd burst into a roaring cheer and on stage three actors took their bows after a job well done.

Sakura and Naruto did as they always did and grabbed the donations basket to place on the edge of the stage. While they performed silly tricks Jiraiya melded into the crowd looking for the piece of Intel that might lead him to Tsunade.

That piece of Intel was not meant to be found, and just when he was about to give up for the night a particularly beautiful woman in a tight purple dress slid up to him. She brushed a finger down his painted face and then drew her fingertip to her lips. "You were amazing Narrator-san. How many more plays are you putting on here?"

Jiraiya immediately forgot his irritation. It looked like he'd have a gorgeous woman to forget all his worries with for a night. "I don't know, it all depends if this is a good place to stay."

The woman giggled and stared up at him adoringly through her eyelashes. "Your kids seem to be getting enough money."

Jiraiya cast an absent eye to Sakura and Naruto. The dark haired girl was twisted in a nearly painful position while Naruto held her high in the air. With a twirl she flipped up, resting all of her weight on one of Naruto's palms and arching backwards to put her arms on his shoulders. Her body formed a beautiful arc that two weeks ago she couldn't have dreamed of making. The crowd went wild and the basket brimmed with coins and cash.

Sakura never faltered in anything, either training or her shows.

Jiraiya chuckled. "They're just a couple of students looking to learn my art. They're very good."

The woman touched his arm. "Of course. I guess if the money isn't enough maybe I could offer you something else to stick around…" And she arched her back, pushed her chest forward, and adopted the most adorable pout.

Jiraiya had been convinced the moment she walked up, but he didn't need to look too eager. "What do you have in mind?"

She grabbed his arm and drew him away. "I was thinking maybe we could go back to my place and…"

Sakura and Naruto watched Jiraiya go from afar. Naruto gave an appreciative whistle. "Damn. That was even faster than usual and she's a freakin' babe."

Sakura gathered the money and threw it in the costume trunk backstage. "He deserves to unwind considering how bad our luck's been. And his type _is_ gorgeous." She replied and picked up one end of the trunk while Naruto hurried to pick up the other end.

The crowd sighed unhappily as they realized the show was over and started to disperse.

"Once we get back to the hotel and get out of these ridiculous outfits, maybe we can go on the couch and…" Naruto trailed off and under his mask his neck was flushed.

She smiled. "Cuddle?"

Before this mission that suggestion would have had him spluttering and set off a long series of bantering and name calling between them. But these months had changed them and he nodded eagerly. "Yeah. _That_."

They picked up their pace, each smiling under their mask and eager to get back and unwind in the best way they knew how. Sakura was so blissful and she'd spent so long being an anonymous face in the crowd her guard was at an all time low. She never noticed the two deadly figures following them straight back to the hotel.

**One Mile Away, 8:01 PM**

Sasuke panted. His muscles were _screaming_ for how far he had run but that didn't matter anymore because a hazy light filled the horizon and promised civilization. He leapt from the tree branch he was on and landed on the hill's crest heavily. An entire city laid sprawled out before him in a sea of neon lights, shining steel, and milling crowds.

How the hell was he supposed to find Sakura in all this?

He shook his head and berated himself. He needed to focus or else Sakura would be dead and Itachi would be long gone by the time he finished panicking. He needed to start with the hotels and more than that…he needed to pray he'd get there before it was too late.

**Hotel Room, Thirty Miles from Konoha, 8:19 PM**

The two fox masks sat together on the end table grinning blankly up at the ceiling, their matte black finish giving off a muted glow.

Sakura's unmasked face was flushed and smiling and Naruto was in a similar state. Even alone they pitched their voices low and quietly snickered and talked, filling the silence with their inane chatter.

She sat sideways on his lap, her bare feet hanging off the arm of the couch and she swayed them gently from side to side. Naruto had an arm around her waist and another on her thigh, and their faces were so close together that to anyone not looking closely, it would have seemed they were kissing.

The knock that came on the door to interrupt them had Sakura scowling. "He couldn't have finished _that_ fast."

Naruto shrugged. "Maybe he got kicked out of bed?"

The girl sighed and hopped off her teammate's lap. "Typical."

"Hey." Naruto called and she turned to find him tossing her mask at her. "Remember how pissed he got that one time I answered the door without mine on?"

She shuddered and slipped the foxy porcelain visage over her own. "Right. No reason to piss off the boss being careless."

Another knock rapped on the door and she grumbled and hurried to answer. "Coming! Just a second."

She undid the chain, flipped the lock, and pulled the door open. Black and red filled her vision.

A raspy voice murmured. "Hello little devil."

The hair on her neck stood on end and her breath caught. Only one person in the world called her that and the familiarity of it ached.

His voice was the blade that had slashed her, the moonlight that had illuminated her, the shadows that curled between them even in the day, the overwhelmed flutters in her chest, the blood thrumming through her veins, and the washed out sunlight of a bleak dawn…

She didn't need to look to see who had spoken, but her eyes went inexorably up. An older, paler, but undeniably familiar face gazed down. The chill his scarlet eyes gave her was like acid and razors down her back.

"Uchiha Itachi." She breathed.

A pale and long fingered hand reached for her. "It's time. Come with us."

His Sharingan was as she remembered; strange and foreign and reflecting a gnawing madness that she didn't know who belonged to. Her or Itachi, maybe both.

"How did you find m—" She cut off the question before she let it slip and covered it with something else. "I don't think so."

Her words didn't seem to affect him, but Sakura knew Uchiha Itachi. His jaw tightened subtly, a muscle curled under his cheek, and the alien tomoes in his eyes began to shift. His voice went flatter. "Look at me with your real face when you say that. After your stunt with Orochimaru you no longer have the luxury of hiding behind that mask nameless and faceless. You have fully stepped into the world and there is no going back little devil."

Another man chuckled and Sakura realized she'd been so overwhelmed by Itachi she hadn't even noticed his companion. And considering his companion was towering, blue skinned, razor smiled, and rather shark like in appearance, that was a definite error on her part.

"My my." The shark man grinned and unhooked the sword from his back. "Itachi didn't say this jinchuuriki would be a pretty one."

The shark man tapped the bandaged blade against her bare legs. She couldn't tell if he wanted to fuck her or just kill her as he spoke. "It'll be a shame to cut off such a sweet pair of legs, but you did say she ran fast Itachi-san."

"I did." Itachi murmured back, his Sharingan eyes pinning her in place.

A lance of crimson chakra erupted in her stomach. The Kyuubi was awake and apocalyptic. _Are you just going to stand there and die? What happened to the little wretch so eager to bleed and kill and maim?_

With the Kyuubi egging her on and his chakra boiling in her veins there was no freezing. She knew exactly what she had to do. She let the chakra ignite and every ninja in the city could feel it. Jiraiya would know exactly what that meant and be here in minutes.

She just had to survive that long.

Itachi's voice was sharp as if it was a blade was pressed to her throat. "If you fight us little devil, that dear toy of yours is going to get dragged in."

_Naruto_. Her stomach clenched and in that moment of clarity she sensed Naruto rushing the door, already drawn by her feral chakra.

Kisame swung his sword and the bandages were unraveling, flickers of steel glittering underneath like scales. Itachi's arm angled for her throat to hold her in place while his partner tried to hamstring her.

One voice stopped that all short. "ITACHI!"

Her stomach jolted. How the hell did Uchiha Sasuke get here?

Itachi didn't look even mildly surprised. "Sasuke."

Kisame let his sword drop and left her legs untouched. "First a pretty monster and now a family reunion? Today really is special."

Sasuke ignored the shark man and he was sweating, his eyes were wild, and his face was an ugly visage of fury and revulsion. The younger Uchiha growled. "I've been waiting my whole life for this. I'm going to kill you."

The S-class ninja in front of her turned and regarded his brother dispassionately.

That seemed to infuriate Sasuke even further and the Uchiha grabbed his own wrist with a shout. "Chidori!" And his palm ignited with chakra so intense the crackling tendrils were visible as they raced across his skin.

Sasuke did not wait. He leapt down the empty hallway and his chakra carved a track in his unerring path straight towards Itachi's chest.

The world exploded into motion and suddenly the shark man was swinging for her again. "Stop watching them. You're playing with me!"

A hand grabbed her by the back of her shirt and wrenched. She tumbled backwards and Naruto was pulling her out of the strike letting the giant sword impact the doorframe just inches shy of taking her head.

They scrambled back and she shouted. "Run!"

Naruto didn't need to be told twice and he had a kunai in one hand and his mask in the other. They sprinted for the window to escape. In the reflection of the glass she saw the looming figure of their pursuer coming on too fast, too big, and far too close.

The sealing array stitched in her shirt activated and she swung her katana loose, blocking the strike before it eviscerated Naruto and carved out a piece of her right thigh. Blocking Kisame's sword was like getting his by a meteor and she felt the bones in her arm splinter.

With a shout Naruto was under her faltering block with a Rasengan roaring in his palm. The missing ninja's eyes went wide and Naruto made contact. Flesh was shredded and they were sprayed with blood and with a grunt the blue skinned man launched backwards, dodging the full brunt of Naruto's jutsu.

She slipped the katana through her belt, got one hand under Naruto's collar, and her hand seals were already done as she leapt. Fire poured from her mouth to incinerate the room behind them and the last thing she saw was the shark man's surprised face before he was consumed in a burst of scorching air and flame.

They hit the window in a shower of glass, exploding outside and falling through black and blessedly cold air. Or at least cold compared to the inferno they'd just left behind.

They skidded down the side of the building and came to a halt, chakra engaged to stop them from a nasty fall. The world was sideways and they saw only fire above pouring out the broken window.

Down below in the street the people dusted by glass and embers screamed. More than one pointed up at the two children standing sideways and the massive fire burning out of control.

Naruto's chest heaved as he asked. "Do you think we—"

A dragon of water roared out the broken window, eliciting another host of scream from below. It splattered the two genin with ash slicked water and smoldering embers. Both the shark man and Itachi emerged from the smoke already too close to escape from.

She reached for Naruto and shoved him off the building.

Itachi was upon her. The taijutsu blows they traded were fast and furious and each one left a stab of agony through her body and a heavy bruise behind. She reached down deep ready to grab as much of the Kyuubi's chakra as she could handle when Itachi's elbow impacted her face, shattering her mask and breaking the bridge of her nose.

Dark shards of porcelain scattered through the air and while most fell away some dug gouges into her face. In that moment a fond link to her dark childhood frayed and snapped.

The marking in his Sharingan spun like blades and he stared at her as if she could see her soul in her eyes. "Tsukuyomi."

And her world became nothing at all.

Not touch, not smell, not sight.

It felt…

Black and red and white, as visceral as a knife's edge. And it was so deep and cold she could taste the wrongness of it. She tried to breathe but what she took in was not air but toxins and red hot slivers of despair.

Reality solidified and the hues were as white as chalky bone, black as malignant sin, and up above the moon was bloody and red. She looked to herself and her skin was pitch black as if she'd been dunked in ink.

Her voice was not vocal cords, air, and tongue but a lingering echo. "What did you do?"

Itachi appeared as smoke and shadow, intangible yet everywhere and his Sharingan eyes peeled her apart. "Do you not recognize genjutsu of the mind? I taught you better than that."

"Liar." This echo was filled with fury and scorn. "Do you think I can't tell that this has the stench of your precious Sharingan all over it? The twist of your genetics? Whatever this is it's no mere genjutsu."

Even though her senses told her there was ground beneath her feet and a sky above her something else elusive whispered to her there was no gravity and no substance to his place. It was genjutsu and yet it was not.

It was something far more terrible.

"Clever." Itachi became more substantial and a sword gleamed in his hands a matte black. "You're exceptional even now. I was worried when we trailed you so easily that you'd gotten soft because of that boy. But your cruelty and mind have not diminished. I suppose it will make their destruction even more enjoyable."

The insult stung like a slap. She had grown lax and so used to this freedom where no one knew her name, she'd let her guard down and made everyone pay the price. She would never make that mistake again.

Something warm and soft and _solid _curled around her neck and shoulders. Color bled into her and she did not see it as much as she felt it seeping in. A new kind of red filled her vision and Itachi, in the first time since she'd known him, reeled back in shock.

The Kyuubi chuckled behind her and she felt the grate of the seal on her back. She grinned like a cadaver and gripped the bars, letting his tails extend further around her.

"Do not play mortal jutsu games in a body that has two souls, Uchiha Itachi." The Kyuubi purred and then his hackles rose. "You'll find it most…_unpleasant."_

Tails shot out like lighting and with them color and reality roared back into place. With a gut wrenching snap she was back standing on the edge of the skyscraper and the fires were still burning and her body soaked and covered in ash.

Above Itachi covered his eyes and grimaced. Between his fingers rivulets of blood dripped out. His voice went tight and for the first time she heard something she'd never expected from him: _pain._ "I will never make that mistake again on you little devil. Take her out Kisame."

Shark man, Kisame she corrected herself, raised his sword. "I don't know what you did to Itachi little girl but thanks, that means you and I get to dance."

"Lovely." She answered, unsheathing the katana hanging on her belt and brandishing it in a defensive stance.

Kisame released his chakra and let his weight and gravity do the work for him. This time when their swords clashed the sheer force was so staggering her arms snapped with wet pops. She did not remember screaming as much as falling.

Kisame reached for her with shunshin activating to pull them both away to gods know where. His sword hilt was angling for her temple at the same instant and she knew he was more than willing to knock her out to make the trip easier.

"Goodnight." He chuckled.

At that moment she felt a hand on her back stopping her freefall.

A welcome voice spoke "We're done here."

Her heart soared and she didn't look up as much as she looked down. "Naruto—"

"You can't run fast enough to get away from us kid!" Kisame shouted down, still coming on like a meteor.

Naruto calmly pulled a three pronged kunai from under his jacket and sent them plummeting off the building. He threw the kunai out into the city and hooked an arm around her waist.

Her teammate smirked and held her tight. "The way I run freak, you'll be light years behind us."

The world turned yellow and the next thing she knew they were in a dank alley surrounded by trash that smelled like vomit and piss.

She smiled. "That was amazing! I can't believe you finally learned—"

And Naruto _screamed_.

He hit the ground and blood bubbled up from his joints, his skin turning a muddled mix of angry red and deep purple and sharp blue.

Her heart that was momentarily soaring at their escape, Naruto using Hirashin, and fighting off the S-class ninja, plummeted at the sound of his scream. Red chakra burst into her limbs to heal the breaks Kisame had given her in one clean snap.

Arms still aching she held Naruto down; trying to heal him while not knowing what was happening to him. "What's wrong? What did they hit you with?"

He groaned and thrashed. "H-Hirashin…chakra damage in my ligaments…pulled too fast…"

She did not understand most of that but it gave her a direction to work in. Whatever Naruto had done it'd been because his first successful use of Hirashin had back-lashed severely.

Footsteps echoed down the alley and a thrill of fear went up her spine. She bent over Naruto's body like a cornered animal. She'd protect him from whatever would come at them next. If Kisame and Itachi had followed them…

The orange light from a nearby lamp flickered and a familiar face and white hair swam into view.

Relief flooded her chest. "Jiraiya-sama! Naruto is…"

"Shit." The sage cursed. "Hirashin overexertion. Move over and let me get in there."

She moved sideways and Jiraiya got to work. The words spilled from her mouth. "Will he be all right?"

"Fine." He grunted. "This was never lethal no matter how many times Minato did it, hurts like hell though and it will put him in a bad way if not treated."

The knot in her chest loosened. She felt so very tired right then. "What about Itachi and Kisame?"

Jiraiya's face became stony. "I got there as soon as I could, you and Naruto had just gone down in Hirashin and I managed to scare them off."

Naruto croaked. "And Sasuke? I'm sure I caught a glimpse of him there for a second."

"Someone from Konoha was coming in as I left, so if Sasuke's still alive he's taken care of. I had to avoid them so I don't know much. We need to get out of here and undercover as soon as possible. This mission just got a hell of a lot more dangerous."

**Fire Country, Unknown Location, 2:35 AM**

Naruto was limping a little but was otherwise back to normal unless one counted the ear to ear grin on his face, of course. A successful Hirashin no matter how painful, was an astonishing feat and Naruto was utterly pleased with himself.

He held her hand tightly, cheerfully relaying every last detail of what had just happened hours ago. Just this once she was willing to indulge his bragging considering how he'd pulled through for her. Sticking by her side even during an S-class ninja attack was not something she'd easily forget.

The two genin scurried after their squad leader through the trees with only a sliver of the moon to guide them. Ever since the incident at the hotel they had not stopped running.

Sometimes it felt like they never would.

"By the way." Jiraiya threw back. "How did you guys neutralize Itachi's eyes?"

They paused on a tree and beneath them in the moonlight the forest floor laid out. It was a maze of shadows and twisting paths and each one lead into darkness. Sakura felt the crossroads she stood on and knew now was an opportunity she wouldn't get again.

With Itachi appearing and shocking her back on track she realized the Kyuubi's plan had been ignored too long. She needed to kick it forward at any cost. She was on the world stage now because of her jinchuuriki status, but by all official Konoha accounts she didn't even know it.

That had to change; she needed to be able to use the Kyuubi's chakra freely and fully or next time she'd be dead. Her supposed ignorance had to be fixed, which meant Jiraiya need to be forced into admitting the truth. Once the truth was out she could start throwing around what the Kyuubi gave her without worrying about awkward questions.

She breathed in. "I didn't neutralize him."

Jiraiya looked impressed. "Naruto?"

The boy shrugged. "I didn't either. He just looked at Sakura with his eyes spinning and next thing I saw he was bleeding everywhere."

The sage frowned. "Then what…"

She was ice at that moment, flawless crystal, perfect glass, and every possiblity was clear and angular and laid out so precisely. She knew what needed to be done. "Itachi tried to use a mind genjutsu on me."

Both males snapped around to look at her.

Jiraiya looked horrified and she guessed he knew Itachi's jutsu was much more than just that.

"What happened?" He asked cautiously.

Her arms crossed tightly as she hugged herself and she let the fear seep out. "I didn't know how to break it. I was trapped there and Itachi was coming at me and…_something else was in there with us._"

All color left Jiraiya's face. "What kind of something?"

Naruto held her tighter.

Fear turned to fury. "You tell me! There was something in there…something in me! Scarlet, chakra, hatred, and it was there but it wasn't me and it ripped Itachi out of there like nothing. Why the hell is a guy like Uchiha Itachi after me saying I'm something special? I've always known there was something off about me, something that made people hate me. What's wrong with me that you aren't telling!"

It seemed as if in those few seconds she vented things she'd been waiting years to say, Jiraiya aged decades. "I don't know. We should get mov—"

To her surprise Naruto exploded. "Bullshit! Sakura deserves to know why S-class ninja are trying to snatch her and our own village hates her guts. You always looked at her differently old man; you know _exactly _what this is about!"

She squeezed his hand completely heartened by his support. She savored it while it lasted because once Jiraiya was forced to spill…how Naruto would react was anyone's guess.

"We shouldn't do it here. You're both tired and we're in some godforsaken forest the middle of nowhere..." The man hedged, obviously trying to buy some time to see if he could wiggle his way out.

Sakura wouldn't let him. "No one's around for miles. I'm not moving from this spot until you tell me."

"Me too." Naruto added.

The sage sighed despairingly and looked between them as if hoping at the last moment they would give up. They stood in stony silence and Jiraiya realized this reckoning was inevitable. His voice came out grim and steely. "Fine. Let me explain all of this before you ask questions. This all started thirteen years ago when the Kyuubi no Kitsune attacked our village…"

**One Hour Later**

When Naruto ripped his hand out of hers it hurt. It hurt more than having her arms snapped by Kisame, hurt more than Itachi breaking her nose, hurt more than getting her guts ripped out or having half her skin burnt off.

In the time Jiraiya had spoken the moon had risen higher in the sky, shifting the silvery paths between the trees like twisted skeletal fingers.

The paths of moonlight and shadow separated them, fractured them as if they were suddenly standing in two entirely separate words. It hurt even more when Naruto didn't say a word or look at her, but turned on his heel and vanished.

It hadn't been like she'd expected better, or as if she'd held secret hopes that her true nature wouldn't infuriate and scare him. It wasn't like she'd expected him to be different.

Her breath hitched.

Jiraiya landed on the branch next to her with his arms at his sides, and for the first time truly hesitant. He feared she'd lash out. He'd known from the beginning what she was and she'd thought…she'd thought Jiraiya had even come to like her despite that.

How was she supposed to act after the big reveal? Furious she supposed, frightened, like her whole world had fallen apart. That was easy enough to do.

She reached for Jiraiya and he accepted her grasping hug. She buried her face against his chest. If a few tears leaked out they were entirely fake.

They had nothing to do with Naruto. Nothing.

He smoothed down her hair. "I'm so sorry Sakura."

She didn't know how to answer that. Being a jinchuuriki wasn't something she was particularly bothered by anymore. If she hadn't been chosen she would have never met the Kyuubi and that loss was simply too horrifying to contemplate.

Losing the Kyuubi was magnitudes worse than Naruto's departure, even thinking of it was like she had a gaping wound right in her chest that was cold and empty and so vast she felt like dying. If she'd been different, she supposed, she and Naruto would still be holding hands and cuddling on cheap hotel couches and laughing.

If she'd been different she and Naruto might not have ever met at all.

But if she'd have to give up every comforting acidic laced word in her darkest moments, every complement wrapped in an insult, every time a crimson tail had given her warmth in the darkest pits of despair, every time the Kyuubi's chakra had touched her like a caress…if she had to give up that for Naruto…

Naruto was an acceptable loss.

Jiraiya was still waiting on her. She fisted her hands in the back of his jacket and all the tears were gone. Her face hidden from his view was surprising calm, that train of thought had shifted everything back into perspective.

Naruto had been part of the plan, he'd become a friend in all that but in the end he was a pawn. And errant pawns were nothing to cry over.

She pretended she was in shock and said the most wayward thought that would come to mind. "So that's how you knew me. You'd said I'd gotten tall."

"Yeah." Jiraiya answered awkwardly, still smoothing down her hair. That he was still trying to comfort her, even if she didn't need it, endeared the man to her heart. "I only saw you for a few minutes back then; you were so small you fit in the palm of my hand."

She giggled sadly. "Well it's nice to see you again Jiraiya-sama."

He hugged her tighter. "I'm so sorry. You gave up so much and got back so little for what you did."

"It's not fair." She told him simply.

He agreed with her morosely. "No, it isn't."

They stood in silence and the wind shifted through the trees. Shadows and moonlight danced across them and shifted the paths once more. There were so many options to choose from, so many things she could have done.

"Naruto will come around; it's just…a lot to swallow at once." The sage offered awkwardly.

She moved around in the sage's arms, not lifting her face because it was too calm and numb for the situation. The unease and listless pain in her voice though was easy to fake. "Naruto always resented his father. I know he said that plenty of times but no matter what he says…he wants to surpass his dad. That means Naruto must have respected him, if only a little. I took that father from him. Right now he's thinking if not for me he wouldn't have had to live in a martyred father's shadow…"

Jiraiya grabbed her by the shoulders, pulled her back so she was looking at him, and then with absolutely no ceremony to his actions shook her. His admonishment was as solid as if written in stone. "Minato dying was not and will never be your fault. The demon and you are two totally separate things. The atrocities that monster committed on the village were _never_ your fault no matter what any stupid ignorant son of a bitch says."

That he'd just called roughly eighty percent of the village ignorant sons of bitches, amused her to no end.

"Okay." She answered outwardly, but inwardly she'd already accepted the blood of that night on her hands when she'd become the Kyuubi's willing little pet. Considering the way he'd ripped ninjutsu into her head from the memories of that night, each kill had been impressed down onto her nerve endings as if she'd committed them herself.

That she could no longer disentangle the bloody threads of the Kyuubi from herself was not a surprise.

That she didn't want to either wasn't a surprise, she was a creature of spite after all.

Jiraiya patted her head with his heavy hand. "Listen, I know you'll have more questions but we'll talk later. I'm going to go get Naruto and then we'll find a city to hole up in."

She nodded and sat down on a branch, already patiently waiting for his return. He smiled at her so fondly as he vanished that her heart ached.

She had a feeling the sage would need some time to talk Naruto down and she settled into wait for what might be hours.

She'd led Naruto as far down the path of her plans as she could, now it would be entirely up to him if he would continue down that twisted path with her. She held no expectations of which he'd choose; that way only let to bitter disappointment. Instead she waited to see what he'd choose and she was already planning his replacement should he falter.

As she sank down into the darkness her right hand flexed, unconsciously trying to alleviate an invisible pain. Where Naruto had ripped his hand away from hers the skin burned with loss.

Her hand kept flexing.

The ache wouldn't leave her.

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Edit: This chapter's alterations included Jiraiya actaully giving them both a training regimen, the entire plotline with them going undercover as Kabuki actors was added in to make the mission more believable, Sakura is a lot more relaxed and happy, Sasuke was given better characterization, Itachi's re-entrance was revamped to be more violent and frightening for Sakura and this time she is suitably freaked-out by seeing him. Also the failed Tsukyomi attack was written out, and this time Naruto was the one to save the day and then get injured. Last, Sakura confronting Jiraiya about her being a jinchuuriki was much more grim, Naruto's freak out more fully expalined, and her interaction with Jiraiya afterwards added in.


	10. Eternal Darkness

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto which is, as always, maybe/sorta/probably for the best.

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**Unknown Location, Fire Country, Two Weeks Later**

Ever since he'd first laid eyes on her Jiraiya had feared he'd be the one to break it to Sakura why half the village wanted her dead. And when Naruto had shown up demanding training during the Chunin Exam with Sakura at his side, the fear turned into a sinking suspicion. And in the darkness of that forest with Sakura's eyes accusing him, that fear had come true.

It had never even crossed his mind he'd also have to be the one to break it to Naruto too.

Jiraiya had told them the truth and surprisingly out of the two of them it was Naruto, the boy who _wasn't_ the jinchuuriki, who took it the worst. The blond had stopped speaking since and had refused to be drawn into conversation by either himself or Sakura.

The jinchuuriki had only tried that once and Naruto's cold shoulder was more than enough to dissuade her from another attempt. Now she hung at Jiraiya's side and though she would speak to the sage in quiet whispers when he asked her anything she didn't do much else. When she was in a mood, the sage realized, Sakura had a tendency to regress and once her confidence was gone it became plain she was just a socially stunted child.

And while the childlike obedience was easier on him than Naruto's moody refusal to speak, it still grated because he'd long gotten used to the driven and mature kunoichi she'd shown herself to be.

Where Sakura had quieted and become childlike and pensive, Naruto was another story. He had trained even harder in the aftermath of the Kyuubi revelation and pushed himself to the brink every time he performed Hirashin, seemingly unconcerned with the damage he did to himself. When they were forced to enter a city and hide their ninja abilities the boy would turn sullen and nonresponsive, wandering away for long periods of time just wandering the streets.

The Kabuki plays they'd been using as cover came to a grinding halt. Naruto was in no mood to work with Sakura and the girl's porcelain mask used for the plays had been shattered by Itachi anyways.

She now wore a half face mask and Jiraiya, knowing they still needed cover, bough her flowing and garish scarves to wear. Dressed in the lurid outfit and half mask her solo contortion act blended in easily. He acted as her ring master to the one person show and for the moment it sufficed.

It was not nearly as popular as the kabuki but Sakura dutifully performed and she drew modest crowds and sums of cash that kept them fed and under the radar.

And as Jiraiya stood on a stage in a city he couldn't remember the name of watching Sakura balance on her hands and slowly bend her legs to the floor, he reflected on their loss. Before all of this the sage had been certain their group would return to Konoha with the two genin a romantic couple. Having seen that shatter Jiraiya now knew differently.

He supposed some things were always meant to crash and burn. He and Tsunade had collapsed the same way; romantically inclined and sending signals only for real life to come crashing in to destroy any chance of things ever being normal again.

It was a small regret. Jiraiya had his share of women and loves over the years and wasn't particularly bitter over his loss. Yet he couldn't help but sometimes yearn for what might have been and now that they were chasing after Tsunade again, what might have been was a melancholy reminder.

Teammate romance rarely worked out, for jinchuuriki related reasons or otherwise.

It'd been during this regret and melancholy he'd held on to one last secret, one fact he had been meaning to tell his genin but now realized differently. Telling them this secret would be a horrendous mistake.

Sakura was the Kyuubi no Kitsune's jinchuuriki but neither genin knew that it should have been Naruto. If not for the Uzumaki's protracted birth Minato would have sealed the demon in his son and been done with it. But that had not come to pass and a random child had been picked to carry the burden in Naruto's place.

If they knew Sakura's bitter acceptance of the situation would turn to resentment, and every day she'd look at Naruto and wonder why she'd been forced to suffer while he became Konoha's prince. What she already thought a random fate would become even more arbitrary and cruel, and she'd be reduced to a cheap replacement jinchuuriki. The resentment would turn to hate and while Jiraiya did not know how exactly that hate would manifest, the damage done would be irreparable.

And Naruto would shatter. The guilt of what he should have been would be irrevocable. The blond already had an idea of just how terrible Sakura's life had been, and the knowledge that she had taken it in his place would no doubt destroy him.

What was done was done. Worrying about that what-ifs of that terrible night thirteen years ago would devastate them more than the actual revelation itself. Jiraiya would never tell them, even under the threat of death.

That secret would become one of many ugly truths Jiraiya would take to his grave, and Sakura would never know just how close she'd been to being spared of her jinchuuriki status.

The sound of applause broke him from his revere and he watched as Sakura leapt to her feet and bowed to the crowd. Even with her face half masked and her mouth covered he could tell she wasn't smiling.

"Come on, you've done enough for today." He put an arm around her shoulder and snagged the donation basket from the stage. "Let's go get some dinner. Hey kid!"

Naruto's head came up from behind the stage. This was one of the few days he hadn't wandered off right after they entered a town. It wasn't ideal but at least he was staying in place now.

Jiraiya waved him over. The group made their way to a small bar known for its food and drink and the fact that nobody there asked questions. It was a bad place to go looking for Intel but right now he really didn't care. He just wanted some food and the chance to hopefully ditch the kids for awhile and find a woman to spend the night with. Their morose silence was driving him up the wall.

They stepped into a room with a low ceiling and the rafters laid dark and bare. Hot currents of air swirled through the room and trails of blue smoke lingered between the tables. Voices dropped as they entered but the sight of an older man with two kids was as dull as dirt and everyone quickly lost interest.

Jiraiya was thankful for once for the young ages of his charges. Everyone just thought him an old man traveling with his kids or grandkids, and the best cover was the one easily overlooked.

They slid into a booth with Naruto on one bench and himself and Sakura on the other. The jinchuuriki settled against his side and stared at the condensation rings on the table. Naruto leaned back and stared at the ceiling unblinkingly.

Jiraiya sighed wearily. They hadn't made eye contact in days and it looked like that wouldn't change anytime soon. Sakura seemed unwilling to approach Naruto and while Jiraiya knew the Kyuubi troubled her, beyond that she'd taken the whole situation rather well. He wasn't going to hold a little social hesitance against her when she'd acted so admirably so far.

What was on Naruto's mind escaped the sage. He'd known Naruto for years and he'd never seen the boy so closed off. He could not tell if the boy hated Sakura or was just overwhelmed from whole situation. Considering how he was tied to the incident through his father and the animosity in that relationship, Jiraiya could not even begin to pin down just what the blond was thinking.

It was not a situation Jiraiya wanted to be in.

He gave it up as a bad job and was just about to signal for a waiter when the woman in the booth behind them leaned back and almost hit Sakura on the head. The woman turned to apologize and Sakura sat up and slung her upper half over the partition.

Jiraiya turned just in time to hear and see Senju Tsunade say: "Sorry hon, did I hit you hard?"

Sakura shook her head and smiled falsely. "I'm fine."

His jaw dropped. "Tsunade?"

The woman blinked and her eyes went wide. "Jiraiya?"

Sakura frowned. "…what?"

"Well I'll be." Tsunade laughed and the sound pierced him with a stab of unease. "How'd the man in charge of Konoha end up here?"

"Still in the loop Tsunade? Just who have you been talking with out here in exile?" He stepped out of the booth and Sakura came with him. The little jinchuuriki was no longer docile and her eyes gleamed in cold calculation.

Tsunade swirled her drink and though her eyes were half lidded, there was a sultry lilt of challenge in her voice. "I guess you could say I met with a harbinger of bad memories. And with you here I'm two for two today for unwanted visitors."

Sakura regarded Tsunade intently and let the accusation slip out. "Orochimaru told you."

The blonde Sanin shuddered and her half lidded eyes opened wide. Sakura did not back down from the suspicious glare and Jiraiya tapped the jinchuuriki's head lightly, minding her to hold her tongue. The tightening of her fingers on his arm signaled she'd gotten the message. Her intuitive leap with so little information was impressive and Jiraiya was again glad she was on his side.

"So your cute little pet also has a brain." The older woman scoffed. "Why the hell are you all the way out here with a pair of irritating brats Jiraiya? I thought you _needed _to work alone." The word need stung like a slap, it was an old accusation that had never been allowed to lie.

He shrugged but that implied nonchalance was nowhere to be seen. "Sakura isn't my pet. I know we didn't part on good terms Hime but you could at least save those kinds of accusations for Orochimaru. The boy is Uzumaki Naruto and my apprentice and the girl is his teammate and my responsibility."

The blonde sighed and the fight went out of her tensed shoulders. "I'm sorry Jiraiya. The past clawing its way back up when you thought it was gone…here, take a seat and let's have a drink for old times' sake."

"Thanks." He murmured. He slid into the booth next to Tsunade and Sakura clamored in after him. Naruto sat on the other bench with Tsunade's companion Shizune. The dark haired woman, pale and clothed in a navy blue kimono, had been entirely silent and watched them as if worried a fight would break out.

She had legitimate reason to worry.

Drinks were passed around and both genin declined the alcohol in favor of water. For a few minutes everyone at the table drank in silence. The air was heavy with the old wounds not healed, the accusations not said, and the resentment still festering.

This wasn't turning out as well as he had hoped and Jiraiya set his glass down. It was now or never. "You're probably wondering why I'm here."

His old teammate raised an eyebrow. "The thought did cross my mind."

He answered bluntly. "Konoha has issued a request…aw hell, who am I kidding? I picked you to be the next Hokage Tsunade, so congratulations Godaime-sama and welcome back into the fold."

Neither genin was shocked. Tsunade and Shizune, on the other hand, nearly choked on their drinks.

She spluttered. "Are you insane? You can't just arbitrarily make me Hokage! What about the Daimyo and the Jonin vote and—"

He'd been prepared for these objections. "Weren't you just calling me the man in charge of Konoha? Well Orochimaru got that one right. The Daimyo has complete faith in my choice on the next Hokage and believe it or not, your reputation still carries a lot of weight back home even with how you left. All you have to do is come back and you'll be Hokage, no questions asked."

"So it's true then?" The woman asked morosely. "Sarutobi-sensei really is dead?"

Before he could refute that Sakura cut in. "What gave you that idea?"

Well this wasn't going to end well.

"Orochimaru told me so himself." And the icy disdain was obvious in Tsunade's voice. "Getting stabbed by the Kusanagi usually does that to a person."

Sakura's lips quirked cynically. "He shouldn't be so conceited. Sarutobi-sama isn't dead and Orochimaru's supposed legendary blade isn't as deadly as he pretends it to be."

There seemed to be a war going on in Tsunade's head between relief that her old sensei wasn't dead and exasperation with a genin talking big. His old teammate never had tolerated those she considered to have big mouths with nothing to back them up.

And with everything that had happened with Sakura as of late…her backing down from a fight wasn't going to happen.

The blowup came, Tsunade never failed to disappoint in that regard. "Don't talk about things you have no knowledge of. You're a hundred years too early to know what it means to fight in the big leagues!"

The jinchuuriki tilted her head and the last of the docility was stripped away. The hard and nasty smile Jiraiya had come to know and be wary of split her face. Sakura spoke in a voice sweet with venom. "Considering Orochimaru put that sword through my gut I have a pretty good idea of just how effective it is. And who the hell are you to talk about the big leagues? You've been out of the game a few decades Tsuande-_hime."_

The blonde's eye twitched and she snarled. "Do you always put up with your brats lying like this Jiraiya?"

"No, I don't." He sighed and wished this had gone better. "And while this girl might like to lie her pretty little ass off, in this particular instance it's the truth. Tell me, when Orochimaru came to you how were his arms looking?"

The alcohol Tsunade had already inhibited made her surprised and angry blush deepen. "Bandaged up and completely useless, you're not telling me that...?"

Sakura giggled. "It worked better than I thought."

Jiraiya shushed her but the damage was already done. Tsunade looked on at Sakura in a mixture of disgusted fascination and awe. "So this girl is the _little fucking bitch_ Orochimaru was ranting on about?"

"I'd like to think so." The jinchuuriki chirped.

This time he slapped the back of her head. "Cut it out."

Sakura flashed him a victorious smile and went silent. He guessed this was the long overdue tantrum she should have thrown two weeks ago. She wasn't as over the Kyuubi revelation as she had pretended to be. But it spoke to her character she did not cry or scream but only needled, becoming capricious and embarrassing in social situations instead.

It was a power play he hadn't seen coming, and Jiraiya was horrified to realize he was actually _losing_ it to a thirteen year old.

Tsunade reached around him and tilted Sakura's head back by the chin. "Just what are you?"

Sakura looked between the two Sanin with her mouth firmly shut. Her eyes locked on his and burned him demanding a response. Would he deny her or acknowledge her? The girl was already on the world stage and he knew there was no getting around that. It was about time they stopped hiding her in shame anyways, the future Hokage needed to know what dangerous weapons would be under her command.

He laid an acknowledging hand on the jinchuuriki's head. "I should have been more thorough in my introduction. This is Sakura: the legacy and one and only jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi no Kitsune."

Tsunade visibly paled. "Bullshit."

"I wish." He said and watched Tsunade intently for any reaction. The older woman's hand didn't leave Sakura's chin and while the horror was clear in her eyes it was not touched with the usual hatred or revulsion.

The jinchuuriki smiled like the devil in return. "I'm the best kept dirty secret of the village. Even Orochimaru didn't know who I was, but injuring him outted me and now Konoha can't deny their little atrocity. Do you doubt me?"

The older woman did not immediately answer and the stalemate and shock were palpable in the air. Jiraiya looked around for a moment. No one in the bar was listening but that wasn't his worry, he was more concerned about their other companions. Shizune looked faintly nauseous and Naruto…his eyes were an inferno. Hatred, shame, awe, guilt.

It was the most the boy had shown in weeks and the older man feared the intensity of it just might break him.

Tsunade was one of the Sanin and the top medical ninja in the world and definitely no idiot. She picked up the implication of Sakura's words easily. "How long have you known?"

"Weeks." The girl answered venomously and the edges of her irises darkened. A ring of scarlet swirled in her eyes and bled in. "But I learn fast."

Tsunade reached up and stroked the girl's hair. "Welcome to the world kid, you're not the only one Konoha has fucked over." And then her accusing gaze snapped to him. "Anything else you'd like to tell me Jiraiya?"

He couldn't believe it. In just ten minutes Tsunade was taking Sakura's side and blaming _him_? He wasn't the bad guy in this and he did his best not to scowl. "What's done is done."

"You always say that don't you? It's an easy way not to take responsibility. Typical Konoha jargon." She sneered, reaching around him to pull Sakura over his lap and seat the girl next to herself. The genin did not object and just snuggled up to Tsunade in lieu of words, her green and red eyes still gleaming. Acceptance had been few and far between for the girl; Jiraiya had been the bearer of bad news and Naruto had freaked out and not yet laid judgment either way. Tsunade was the first person to ever know this ugly fact and accept it unconditionally.

Jiraiya had the oddly unsettled feeling his teammate has just succeeded for Sakura in a place where he himself had failed. Sakura seemed to read his expression and reached out to pat his hand. "Don't worry Jiraiya-sama, I'll always love you."

"Thanks." He answered dryly. She gave him a cheery smile and returned to trying to attach herself to Tsunade's side. The blonde woman accepted the cuddling without even a raised eyebrow.

"You need to come back." Sakura stated firmly.

Tsunade raised an eyebrow. "And why's that?"

"Sarutobi-sama did survive but he's in a coma. The blade nicked his spine and the poison damage before extraction was substantial." Something dark passed through her eyes. "It was a mistake and you're the only one who can fix it."

He couldn't believe his eyes. Soft sadness filled his old teammate's face and smoothed away the lines of resentment and frustration his very presence had brought. Somehow where he'd failed Sakura had succeeded, neatly talking Tsunade closest to considering returning.

Sakura certainly had a way about her that let her worm into people's hearts. This was the first time he'd seen it from start to finish from an outside perspective and he realized she'd played him the same way. And worse she'd played him so well he was only mildly irritated realizing it but in no way willing to withdraw his affections or support now.

It took a special kind of monster to reveal its true nature and still be regarded with the same level of respect and adoration afterwards. And Sakura was no run of the mill monster.

He cleared his throat. He had to strike because Sakura had primed the iron as hot as it'd get. "I need to know Hime, what's your decision?"

The hardness returned: cold, disgusted, furious. Her lips curled back. "You want me to gamble my life like it's money Jiraiya? I may have a weakness for bets but I stopped playing those kinds of stakes a long time ago. Just look at the odds, four Hokage's and three dead before their time and another crippled. And all for a shitty village that destroys everything it touches? I'd be a fool too."

Naruto's hands hit the table. A voice that hadn't been heard in weeks cut the air and it was a raspy dagger. "Well that's what happens when you're on top. You shine bright and brilliant and then…"

Sakura's gaze was a mix of hope and trepidation and longing. Tsunade voiced the question the jinchuuriki couldn't bring herself to ask. "And then what kid?"

"They do what all rising stars do." And his grin was a mockery of optimism. "They _fuckin' burn._"

It'd been awhile since Jiraiya had felt dread like this, but seeing both of his genin show the cruelty that their village had beat or bred into them was chilling. If they were the future of Konoha everything would change. He didn't know if it would be for better or for worse.

"I take back what I said about your brats Jiraiya." She exchanged understanding glances with the genin. "They know exactly what they're getting into."

Both children looked pleased by that assessment.

Alcohol sloshed around in her glass as Tsunade raised it in a toast. "Cheers."

No one joined her and she didn't care. With a toss of her head she threw back the drink. The glass drained and she dabbed her mouth with a napkin delicately. "We need to talk Jiraiya. Sorry kids, teammate drama, you know how it is. Go with Shizune and she'll get you a hotel room."

At that Sakura and Naruto shared a glance almost as if their eyes were drawn magnetically together. Then their polarity shifted and they looked away in embarrassment.

Teammate drama was their thing unfortunately. Jiraiya almost objected but decided that maybe Naruto finally speaking meant a little alone time would settle things. He just hoped if it came to blows Shizune would be enough to keep them from ripping each other's throats out.

**Fire Country, Hotel, Two Hours Later**

They opened the room and it was cold and dark. They were shades in the murk and their silence filled the small room from wall to wall. The intensity of it threatened to drown them.

Naruto followed her in and closed the door. Luminous moonlight came in from one of the windows and it dappled the room in silver. She stepped in and started peeling off her clothing. The ridiculous contortionist outfit was cast aside, wraps and scarves in hues of blue and green and gold fluttering into silken pools on the floor.

His eyes followed her tracing the naked line of her shoulders, the willowy arch of her neck, and the pale curve of her back. She shrugged a camisole on and moved towards the bed as she had every night Jiraiya left them alone. Sleeping was the only thing that made the silence bearable.

And yet as soon as she touched the cool sheets she froze. Something had changed and the silence was dwindling, seeping out in anticipation of words and voices and most likely shouts. She turned to meet Naruto's eyes and she could see his face clearly from the other side of the room. The moonlight made him shine as if outlined in silver.

Yet he was not far enough into the moonlight and the other half was sliced away into the dark. His face was unreadable but she saw the hollows in him; saw the scars and agonies warring in his eyes. But where that war would lead…

"Why are you looking at me?" Her voice was a blade. "You couldn't look at me for so long. Why now?"

The wind swirled outside and trees rattled against the windows. Spindly shadows spread on the floor. One shadow cut up his cheek and neatly bisected his eye. Silvery, shadowy, and so very blue. "Because I can't stop looking at you."

She shivered, there were far too many layers too those words, far too much intensity. The trees branches clawed at the windows and cast a spider web of shadows between them. Their reckoning had finally come and she spoke. "Are you afraid?"

"Only that I've failed." His shame was bitter. "I failed you. Our village failed you. My father. Jiraiya…"

"You didn't fail me." She whispered. "You couldn't have known."

"But I should have!" The desperation made his voice crack. "We knew something was wrong, that people acted differently about you. But I didn't try to understand and now we've got people like Uchiha Itachi on your tail. I should have been better prepared!"

"Uchiha Itachi was always a possibility." And saying his name even after all these years made her stomach flip. "And if not him there would have been others. We did the best as we could with what we had and we're alive. We're alive and we can still change things."

"Why?" He stepped closer to her and moonlight and shadows stitched across his body. His question was almost pleading. "Why are you still willing to help me achieve my dreams? After the way I've been these weeks? After what my father did to you…you should hate me!"

Maybe once she had hated the son for the sins of the father but their months together had changed that, and Naruto was now her friend and teammate and also her companion. These past weeks of him mulling and being a bit of a brat hadn't changed anything. "I couldn't hate you."

His guilt showed. "Why not?"

The words came out without her thinking, without her planning, without her even knowing. "Because I love you."

He reeled back.

Her hands flew to her mouth. She hadn't meant to say that.

Had she even meant it?

She looked inwardly and decided, yes, yes she had. He was her beloved friend and considering how much cuddling had been going on before the Kyuubi revelation, she'd definitely been looking for more.

His mouth opened and closed a few times. His face flashed between hope, desperation, and boundless exhilaration. "You do?"

She nodded. "I do." The moonlight seemed too bright, too vivid, and far too surreal. She would never forget this moment no matter the outcome.

"I love you." He answered back and the ragged wounds of these weeks finally closed, but they would not fade and the scarring left behind would forever change him. "I love you so much. You're my one…the only…the only precious person I've ever had. Jiraiya was just always this distant uncle figure. Here one moment and gone the next and I couldn't…I never missed him. Everybody else ended up as leeches and I screwed myself up so badly but you came in and made me see everything. You genuinely looked at me and nothing else. I don't know what it is exactly that binds us but…I'm sorry I didn't realize it sooner."

"You're allowed to be an ass every once and awhile." The laughter that bubbled out of her chest felt so warm and light. "Come here."

He moved to her willingly and she wrapped her arms around his neck. They hugged and she didn't know for how long. It didn't matter and when he sat on the edge of the bed she laid herself across his lap just like she'd done before.

He ran hand through her hair and she practically purred in delight.

But it wasn't just the physical, she wanted it all, mind and soul and everything in-between. She brushed her thumb down his jaw fondly. "You asked what binds us? Maybe it was the pain, that familiar and aching pain..."

His embrace tightened and he pressed his face to her neck. "It might have been the loneliness. Even if it was different, you saw it in me and I saw it in you…"

She stroked her hand down his neck. "How do you know I wasn't trying to tear you down to my level? I was always told I corrupt everything I touch."

His fingers traced her hips then up her spine. "Maybe I wanted that? Maybe I wanted to fall. There's something to say for taking temptation willingly."

Their faces moved back and then shifted in tandem, coming close but not quite touching. She finally leaned in and brushed her lips against his cheek. "I did offer you power and legends and splendor. Our deal, our bond."

He was losing track of the words and the hunger he stared at her with sent wonderful shivers down her spine. He rasped. "Your seduction was perfect."

"Hmmm, one's man seduction is another man's…" She didn't get to finish. Their lips met and there was nothing except the contact, the white hot star burst going off inside her, the dark swirl of colors behind her eyelids, the burn of skin against skin.

After a few moments that could have been centuries they broke apart and panted. She moved to straddle his waist. "It's going to be dark where we're heading, down and down until it all goes black. We may never go back into the light."

He tried to catch his breath. "We were already trained to fight in the dark. The perfect shinobi only knows the shadows."

"Then I guess I'll be the one to say…"She leaned in and he barely heard her words before their lips met again. "Welcome to the dark."

Outside the window the moon disappeared behind the clouds. Like a candle and the flame had been snuffed out. But their second kiss was a supernova behind their eyelids and they were all they light they needed.

**Morning**

When she woke Naruto had his chin on her head and an arm thrown over her stomach. She sat up wondering what had woken her, and sunlight and a cool breeze wash over her from the open window.

Then Sakura saw the beautiful and statuesque blonde woman sitting in the leather chair across from the bed. She was quite calmly sipping a cup of coffee and observing them dispassionately. They had a guest.

_Lovely_.

"My my." Tsunade murmured. "What a terrible influence Jiraiya's been on you. Going after teammates now?"

"I didn't sleep with him if that's what you're asking." She answered flippantly.

Tsunade gave her a pointed look.

Sakura coughed. "Okay, I will admit that I _technically_ slept _next_ to Naruto on the same bed. But I'd like to say if this was actually Jiraiya's influence you would have gotten more than an eyeful coming in here."

"I suppose." The older woman took another long sip. "I'll be blunt about this. I came to say goodbye before things got too out of hand. Jiraiya won't be happy to know I'm splitting town and I'd rather avoid the weepy drama."

"And you're telling me this why?" Sakura felt a vague sort of panic. While Jiraiya could man up and become Hokage if Tsunade fled again, Sarutobi was another matter. She wanted to settle that debt of him taking Orochimaru's sword for her and get rid of the nagging guilt. And for that Tsunade had to return to Konoha.

The blonde set her saucer and cup down, and there was a serenity in her voice Sakura had never heard. "Because you understand what Konoha means and why someone wouldn't want to go back, that's why I'm telling you this."

The genin looked away. She understood that perfectly. "But…"

The older woman raised a perfectly arched eyebrow. "You're telling me that if you had the chance you wouldn't just take that boy to run and never look back? It's a wide world out there, places we've never seen and cities that have never heard the word shinobi. Take my advice and convince your friend there to ditch the village and go out and live. You could make a nice life with him, if I'd had even a sliver of the chance you have now…"

"I'm sorry." She felt calm, cool, collected. The dream of her and Naruto running away flitted across her mind like a summer breeze and it was airy and warm and inviting. But she lived in a perpetual state of winter in a place the sun would never rise in. The dream left with the wind. "I'm not leaving. Naruto is going to be the Hokage and I'm going to be right by his side to help him."

The other woman snorted. "I take back what I said last night. You kids have no idea what you're doing. If you love him don't encourage him right into an early grave. That's where all Hokage's end up."

"Maybe." She allowed and she looked at Tsunade with clear eyes. "But some dreams are worth burning for."

The blonde sucked in a pained breath. Her eyes seemed to go a million miles away and the jinchuuriki waited patiently for the woman to come back.

Tsunade returned with a snap a few minutes later. "Why do you want him to be Hokage? Why does he?"

"The village needs to change." She shrugged. "If we don't do that it will rot and collapse. We're tired of what that place has become, where clans and traditions and civilians are content to drag us into mediocrity. This is an ugly world and if we stop changing…we should just give up now. Those who want to live in the past deserve to rot with it."

"I see." And Sakura had the feeling that out of everyone, even Naruto, Tsunade was the one who saw that the clearest. "Then I won't be changing your mind. Good luck."

The blonde stood, smoothing out her jacket and preparing to leave. Sakura knew it couldn't end like this. "I don't understand."

Tsunade paused. "Understand what?"

"You can't run forever." Sakura continued. "Maybe now you can because you can still fight and your reputation keeps enemy ninja from calling. But time waits for no one and eventually…can you keep outrunning everything? There will come a time when your secrets will be too tempting and some village will decide _maybe_ now's the time to go pay Tsunade a visit."

"I can take care of myself brat." Tsunade answered gruffly.

In one smooth move Sakura pulled a kunai from the nightstand and slit her own palm open. Blood splattered across the floor and Tsunade reeled back as if the blood had struck her. She began to hyperventilate.

Sakura wished it hadn't come to this. "Jiraiya told me everything, the people you lost, your fear of blood, your grudge. I can do this for hours you know. Bleed. The Kyuubi won't let me die quietly or quickly and after some battles I've left entire forests smeared in my blood. Sometimes I think Jiraiya brought me along just for this."

The panicky breathing only got worse and Tsunade swore. "You fucking bitch."

"Yeah." Sakura agreed. "And this may be your secret but guess what? I was Konoha's most jealously guarded secret and even after all that shit they put me through trying to keep it, things still got out. You can't run from everything and when it catches up to you all some Kage has to do is send someone to bleed on you and it's all over. Please, I know what Konoha is and that you deserve better. But give Naruto and I a few years and all of that will change."

Tsunade just gave her one long and pained glare before storming out. The crack of the door slamming shut was like hearing bones breaking. Sakura clenched her fist and let the wound heal in a curl of red chakra and steam. Naruto woke to the smell of burnt blood. "Is something wrong?"

Sakura shrugged and kissed his forehead good morning. "I don't know."

Only time would tell.

They got up and dressed languidly, unable to help themselves from stopping to exchange kisses every few minutes.

If this was what love was like she regretted not finding out sooner.

While she had loved others she had never been loved in return in the way she wanted. There was Itachi and Gai and Kurenai, teachers who had abandoned bonds that could never be regained. Her friends while loving never knew what she really was, and therefore she had to quantify their love as something less.

And lastly her love for the Kyuubi was a deep and blazing thing that was etched on her every cell and felt down to her bones. But it was like a burn, an ache, a crushing vice. The Kyuubi saw her as a pet at the best of times and even if her love for the demon had defined her life, this sweet love she had with Naruto was something to be treasured on its own merits.

So instead of slipping a kunai holster under her skirt she stopped to catch Naruto in another kiss. They stayed there for a moment enjoying the sensation when the door to their room slammed open. They leapt apart each with a kunai in hand.

They were met with Jiraiya smelling like alcohol and looking like death warmed over.

"Are you all right?" Sakura finally asked.

"No." He gasped. "Tsunade drugged me last night. Where the hell is she?"

"Leaving." There was no point in hiding it. "She came to say it to my face less than ten minutes ago and say goodbye."

"That's not it." He slumped into the chair Tsunade had vacated and tried to catch his breath. "Orochimaru isn't one to pay social visits for no reason. You must have fucked him up bad for him to approach Tsunade for healing."

Sakura felt like she'd been struck. "That's not good."

"No its isn't." He agreed dryly. He winced. "Shit, she even did my chakra in. Tsunade certainly hasn't been slacking off in the poisons department."

"Wait." Naruto raised his hands up. "Shouldn't we be going and…I don't know…kicking Orochimaru's ass before he gets his arms fixed?"

Jiraiya waved him off. "Give me a minute kid, I'd like to see you running around without being able to use your chakra and feeling like you're going to vomit…"

"I can help with that." Sakura volunteered. She immediately let her hands glow with chakra and grabbed one of Jiraiya's arms. She got her chakra in his bloodstream in seconds and started filtering. She had spent the first five odd years of her life as the Village's guinea pig for bored ninja and their poisons, and if she'd ever even by touched by any poison remotely like what Jiraiya had…

"Bingo." The compound was a tricky bastard, but once she'd zeroed in cleaning it out wasn't a problem.

Within a minute all the color returned to his face and Jiraiya actually looked half alive. "You're a miracle kid. All right, let's go."

"Hold up." Naruto objected.

Jiraiya rolled his eyes. "First you're trying to rush us out the door now you want us to wait?"

Naruto let out an exasperated breath. "That woman with Tsunade, Shizune. Where is she?"

Sakura stopped to consider that and Jiraiya did too. The Sanin groaned. "Either she's with Tsunade or my old teammate got her out of the way. Whatever happened to Shizune we can't worry about it. We find Tsunade first and get her out, if we encounter Orochimaru and you get the chance: kill him."

They saluted him and without prompting Sakura bit her thumb and began a summoning chain. Toads were nice and all but when it came to tracking, foxes reigned supreme. She slammed her hand down and a two tailed fox the size of a cat appeared.

It flicked its red-brown tails at her and growled. She grabbed it by the scruff of its neck and lifted it. After exchanging snarls, hisses, and chattering sounds she unceremoniously lobbed the fox out the window.

She turned back to the men who were unsurprised by the display. They'd already witnessed her rather tumultuous relationship with her summons. She cleared her throat. "He'll help. He's already got Tsunade's scent from the chair so all we need to do is follow."

Without another word all three leapt out the window. Another S-class missing ninja within a month of the last? Their luck on this mission was bad and getting worse and she supposed it was time they made their own luck. One way or another they were on a collision course with Orochimaru, and they'd need every scrap of what they could get.

Sakura grinned. Last time he'd thrown her around like a rag doll and she'd only gotten Orochimaru on his own mistake. Months had passed and Jiraiya's training had put her on a whole new level. It was time to see how she stacked up against the Sanin.

**Fire Country, City Center**

Tsunade had known what her decision was the moment she saw those too green eyes through the smoke of that bar. Konoha's latest atrocity had been vaguely pretty, disarmingly glassy eyed, and almost something that had slipped beneath her notice.

Then it had all peeled away and the little atrocity named Sakura had stared at Tsunade with those bitter, hateful, and so very _beautiful _scarlet ringed eyed. That child but not a child had seen the depths of desperation and had no doubt flirted with death far too many times. Only something carved under the hardest pressures, purified in the hottest fires, and cut with the deepest of pains could be that achingly beautiful.

It was like seeing a younger, crueler, and far more terrible version of herself. Tsunade had seen the worst of the world but that been in her twenties with a lifetime of well-balanced happiness behind her, and she'd been thoroughly disillusioned and broken by it.

But she supposed the jinchuuriki had never known disillusionment. When the world had always been ugly there would never be illusions of something better to come crashing down. That child had always known the stakes and known the brutal rules, and maybe in some ways ended up more well adjusted than Tsunade herself.

That very girl: jinchuuriki, atrocity, and monster, had stared up at Tsunade calmly and told her there were still dreams worth burning for.

_Those who want to live in the past deserve to rot with it._

Was that the truth? Had she really been rotting all these years trying to find the past, or maybe trying to forget it, in the bottom of alcohol bottles and in the sweet intoxication of sky high stakes? It was a poor substitute.

Nothing could replace her lover Dan lost because of a stupid war. Nothing could replace her little brother dead just because Konoha couldn't swallow its pride. Their deaths had been arbitrary and that had made the loss cut deeper, left the wounds more raw.

And Tsunade had kept tearing those wounds open unwilling to forget and unwilling to forgive.

_Those who want to live in the past deserve to rot with it._

She was rotting. The genjutsu that kept her forever young, forever perfect, seemed to become more unfamiliar as the days passed by. When she looked in the mirror she knew it was all a lie and that young face was of a woman so much more whole who hadn't known terror or loss.

Why did she still wear that face then?

Because she couldn't bear to see the rot underneath and see what she'd become.

Tsunade had known her decision the minute those red-green eyes had gazed up at her and those thin arms had melded against her like a parasite. Sakura had a way of inspiring both the best and the worst in people.

And so the Sanin smiled with all the cruelty in her. "I'll heal your arms Orochimaru."

Her old teammate chuckled, and the sound was raspy and dry like the clatter of sun bleached bones. "Very good Tsunade-hime. No other last requests?"

"You know…" She raised her hands and they sparked with chakra. "I was originally going to ask you to leave Konoha alone."

"But?" His tongue flicked a garish red against his bloodless lips.

Her features were composed but her voice was harsh. "It needs someone who will make it burn."

Orochimaru roared with laughter. "Truly Tsunade, I'm sorry I ever considered you weak hearted. You are the perfect kunoichi. Now let's get started and soon you'll be back with your precious lover and brother again."

She nodded and her hands flared green. "Let's get this over with."

Then by some mutual agreement long learned and never forgotten between old teammates, they moved closer together. Just as her fingers were about to touch his arms the whistle of a kunai split the air.

The two Sanin leapt apart and the kunai dug into the road harmlessly. They both looked up to see Orochimaru's companion Kabuto on the roof above.

"Orochimaru-sama." The boy said, and the name alone carried far more undercurrents than Tsunade could pick through.

Orochimaru got the message perfectly, whatever it was. His serpentine eyes narrowed. "Really, I offered you heart's desire and you betray me? I would have even made Konoha burn for free and instead you try to kill me!"

She had never really expected this plan to work but it'd been a good try. She proudly tossed her hair over her shoulder. "Konoha needs a kick in the ass but from people who will put it back together once they tear its guts out. That person isn't you."

"You still care for that Village?" He scoffed. "Quite the little masochist aren't we Hime?"

"I care for the people in it." And she'd never felt more confident and right in her life. "And I guess if you're not willing to die easy then we can do this the old fashioned way!" She raised her fist up and slammed it into the ground, sending a fissure rocketing through the earth. The pavement cracked and shattered into thousands of pieces and dust billowed into the air.

As the dust settled she cast her jacket off. She let her chakra ebb before sending in out in a burst to reinforce her limbs to the strength of steel. Killing Orochimaru wouldn't be easy. The dust fell and she arched her neck and sent one honey bright eye casting back.

Orochimaru stood above and behind her. "You'll have to do better than that Tsunade."

She cracked her knuckles. "Then let's get _wild._"

**Twenty Minutes Later**

Sakura observed the fractured streets. It may have once been a building, a bustling shopping district, or even a temple. She wouldn't know. All rubble had the tendency to look alike in situations like this. She declared the obvious. "We missed them."

Naruto answered sarcastically. "Ya think?"

She glared. He glared back. They broke out into giggles and Jiraiya rolled his eyes. "Suck it up lovebirds. Sakura?"

She heard the question in his voice and bent to touch one of the largest craters in the street. Her fingers came away dusty and coarse and thankfully without a hint of blood. They still had time, not much, but some.

She whistled and the fox bounded over and smelled her fingers. It yipped and snapped its teeth, thrashing back and forth a few seconds and obviously agitated. It smacked its head against the ground and barked at her.

Jiraiya frowned. "What's wrong?"

Sakura did not understand exactly what the fox was saying, but she got the drift. "Orochimaru and Tsunade moved around here for awhile and the scent trails are pretty snarled. Give him a few minutes."

"We don't have a few minutes." Jiraiya replied flatly.

She raised an eyebrow. "If you have a better idea I'd be happy to hear it."

A muscle worked in his jaw but beyond that the Sanin remained silent, so they waited and watched the fox work its nose and flick its tails. It yipped once to call for them and then bounded off in another direction.

She smiled. The hunt was back on.

**Fire Country, City Outskirts**

_They send someone to bleed on you and it's all over._

The ground was cold and jagged on her knees and it was her only anchor from descending into complete hysteria. Blood dripped down her face and it was hot and sticky. It smelled metallic and sweet; it smelled like thousands of corpses, it smelled like death. It was the past repeating itself all over again and Tsunade was as helpless as a child in the face of her fear.

And the fear ran so deeply...

"I expected more." Kabuto sighed in disappointment. "But I guess the queen of medical ninja isn't all she's cracked up to be. Really, a little blood and you're a whimpering mess? Pathetic."

_Someone bleeds on you and it's all over._

It was odd how, with someone standing in front of her fully prepared to kill her, she did not see her life flashing before her eyes. All she heard was the soft cadence of that jinchuuriki's voice echoing in her head. To remind Tsunade of her failures.

To remind her she _was_ a failure.

Kabuto smirked at her. "You can't defeat me. So just sit still and let me knock you out, this doesn't have to be _too_ painful."

_The blood's on you and it's all over._

The day had finally come. Tsunade of the Sanin would be beaten and captured and later she'd be tied to a metal slab somewhere to be tortured for her secrets. It shouldn't have been that much of a surprise. Ninja always ended up this way, didn't they?

Kabuto's hand changed from a flickering green to electric blue and a thin scalpel extended from his fingers. He angled his hand at Tsunade's heart and she watched it come.

Through the film of blood on her eyes the sky looked so blue…

_And it's all over._

Bone cracked and cartilage snapped and blood sprayed through the air.

Kabuto hit the ground with wet slap, one of his arms broken and the other with three of the fingers ripped clean off. Tsunade blinked in surprise and a little girl with dark hair landed in front of her and the child's entire front was sprayed with blood.

"No you don't." The jinchuuriki crooned and opened her clenched fist. Three dismembered fingers fell out of her hand and rolled across the ground. Trails of blood seeped into the dirt from the ragged stumps.

Kabuto winced. His mangled hand hung loosely at his side and the bones were jutting at grotesque angles.

Orochimaru snarled and his bloodshot eyes narrowed. "You."

"Me."Sakura giggled and rubbed her hands up her face, leaving smears of blood on her cheeks and into her hair. "And how are your arms doing this fine day?"

The sage of snakes let out a strangled hiss. "I won't underestimate you this time bitch. I know exactly what breed of monster you are: jinchuuriki."

"Oooh, how'd you guess?" She asked playfully. There was no fear in the girl's posture and no tremble in her voice. Tsunade, shocked, realized Orochimaru did not scare this little girl. The medic was certain she'd somehow just slipped into an insane nightmare there was no waking up from.

The snake Sanin held up his bandaged arms and smell of rot and death wafted into the air. He gave a sickly and half-mad smile. "No normal medical techniques could heal me after those stab wounds and that little poison of yours. My arms kept rotting and I started having my suspicions. Then Kabuto found there was a foreign chakra in my cells eating me. Demonic chakra."

Sakura tilted her head and her eyes flashed scarlet. "Very good."

His face turned ugly. "I'm going to peel you apart slowly child, and when I'm done I'll take your half dead carcass and finish dissecting you while you're still alive to show you _what_ you're made of."

Tsunade wanted to warn Sakura to run, but for some reason when the genin just laughed, the woman's voice stuck in her throat.

"Only one person is going to see their guts on the ground today." The jinchuuriki spread her feet wide and with a crack of chakra and a metallic click she unsheathed her katana. "So let's play."

Orochimaru fell into his own stance. "Let's."

Tsunade knew she couldn't let this dangerous farce go on. Enough people had died for her already. "This isn't your fight!"

The jinchuuriki did not turn but her voice was gentle. "You did your part Hime, now let us do ours."

And on that sliver of face Tsunade could glimpse, Sakura's lips had pulled back into a dangerous smirk.

A shadow bloomed over Orochimaru's head and he looked up in alarm. Two giant toads came crashing down and Tsunade was lifted off the ground from the sheer force of the impact. Her teeth, her bones and hell, even her cells rattled.

Jiraiya stood defiantly on the head of one toad and Naruto crouched on the other. It reminded Tsunade of decades past when Jiraiya had stood side by side with Minato instead. Could things never change?

The older man grinned down. "Mind if I cut in?"

Sakura grinned back. "Only if you insist."

Orochimaru wormed up out of the dirt a few dozen yards away, his pale skin showing a host of ugly and rapidly darkening bruises. "It won't be that easy."

Jiraiya laughed. "I wouldn't have it any other way. Ready _old friend_?"

Tsunade could see how this fight was sizing up. Naruto drifted one way, taking his toad with him straight after Kabuto who scrambled for escape. Jiraiya went the other way bearing down on Orochimaru with an intensity and finality that had been years in the making.

Sakura stood alone between the two fights shaping up. She cast her eyes one way and then another, appearing only mildly interested in what was going on.

Orochimaru shouted while dodging an earth jutsu and the horned tongue of a very angry toad. "Kabuto get over here!"

Kabuto's response was only a short scream followed by the grinding of bone. Naruto's toad had its tongue around Kabuto's ankle and had hoisted him in the air like an oversized piñata. Naruto had responded to this development by driving a fully formed rasengan into his gut.

The medic in Tsunade couldn't help but admire the horrifying efficiency as the ball of chakra shredded through skin and pulverized bone, reducing Kabtuo's rib cage to a ragged mess of tattered sinew and gushing blood.

Naruto's toad was dismissed and Kabuto fell into a bloodied heap. The Oto medic did not move.

Naruto spat on the body and trotted back to his teammate, and the two blood spattered genin calmly linked hands and gravitated to the fight on the other side of the field. They smiled at each other and giggled and when they kissed their lips smeared blood on the other.

Tsunade was left alone, shaking.

**One Mile Away**

The fight had stalemated. It had taken all of his considerable willpower for Orochimaru to force his invalid arms into a sealing array. By the time he was done blood had soaked through his bandages and they'd unraveled, exposing the puckered and rotting skin underneath.

But it had been enough to summon a two headed snake to kill the blasted toad Jiraiya had road in on. In response Jiraiya had neatly used an earth jutsu that turned the ground to swamp and trapped his newly summoned creature. And then his old teammate had charged up the thrashing serpent with fists swinging. Orochimaru dodged and leapt backwards, giving up the high ground and abandoning his summons to the mud.

Jiraiya had followed him down with fingers flying through seals. Orochimaru found it terribly unfair that he, the gatherer of more ninjutsu than anybody, couldn't use a single jutsu while Jiraiya threw them around like candy.

Behind them the air ignited in a roar. High above Orochimaru could see the jinchuuriki and the giant dragon made of flame rushing through the sky from her mouth. The air shimmered with heat waves as the dragon plunged head first into the mud. His summoned snakes shriveled and burned and screamed under the intense heat. Layers of scales and sinew peeled away before they burst into smoke.

That was all Orochimaru could glimpse before a torrent of water burst from Jiraiya's mouth and roared down like a waterfall. The snake sanin shunshined out of the way but not before he was sprayed by the water. It was oddly greasy and when he landed on the ground he noticed the oily slicks glimmering on the surface, catching the sunlight and shining in a dazzling array of colors.

Jiraiya always had liked dousing things in oil and setting them on fire. "This trick again?"

His old teammate shrugged. "Can't mess with success."

Then fire jutsu were coming at Orochimaru from all sides. He caught a glimpse of the jinchuuriki, Minato's bastard son, and Jiraiya breathing flame.

He cursed and replaced himself again. This was not going to plan at all, and he had no idea where Kabuto had ended up. Orochimaru needed something big and dangerous and he needed it fast, and if Kabuto wasn't here to help…it looked like he'd need a bigger summons.

**Fire Country, Outskirts of City, Ten Minutes Later**

"Where'd he go?" Naruto hissed.

Sakura kept her head on a swivel not willing to get ambushed at this point in the game. "I don't know."

"Quiet." Jiraiya snapped and the genin fell silent. The Sanin for once was feeling confident in a fight with his old teammate, but he knew how easily over confidence could get someone maimed. Orochimaru's arms and Sakura had proved that well enough.

Sakura picked up on this unease but could only offer unhelpfully: "I can't smell him or hear him."

The Sanin just gritted his teeth and his dark eyes scanned everywhere. Then the ground began to shake.

"Oh shit." Jiraiya groaned. "He didn't."

But Orochimaru had and a snake bigger than anything Sakura had ever seen short of the Kyuubi burst out of the ground. It was a deep purple and inky black, with scales the size of buildings glittering in the sunlight. It's eyes alone were wider than she was tall and those slitted eyes narrowed. "Three people Orochimaru? Three! Two of them are less than children and you expect them to fill my stomach?"

Orochimaru was standing on the snake's head and even though he was stories into the air, his voice still carried down. "I'll make it up to you Manda. See that city over there? When you're done killing these three bugs you can eat everyone there."

Jiraiya shoved them away. "Pull back. This is my fight."

Naruto seethed. "But—"

The man who had traveled with them for months, trained them, laughed with them, gotten drunk in front of them, and even bragged about his romantic conquests too, really and truly looked at them. And his eyes were jarringly dark and fierce.

The Jiraiya who was their sensei and Jiraiya of the Sanin were two totally different people, and the gap between them once the switch was made was frightening.

"Go." He ordered flatly.

Naruto bowed his head and Sakura just swallowed. As soon as they'd fled far enough back Jiraiya made his own hand seals and Gamabunta appeared. Both summoned snake and toad, upon seeing each other, threw fits.

Somehow their summoner's soothed them and before the genin could blink, Gamabunta had drawn his sword and leapt and Manda had struck with fangs flashing.

Sakura had rarely felt awe in her life, rarely felt as if something was truly out of her reach. With the Kyuubi anything had seemed possible and everyone seemed killable with the right amount of leverage applied. But now with Naruto clutching her hand and her clutching back just as hard, she watched two titans of the shinobi world wage a decades old grudge and it took her breath away.

Jiraiya was a juggernaut, his ninjutsu were like a force of nature and his taijutsu was blindingly fast and each blow was like getting hit by a meteor. But Orochimaru had always been his perfect opposite, his perfect foil, sinuous and swift, disabling ninjutsu easily, and bending around taijutsu like his muscles were water and his bones nonexistent.

And when it came to flexibility and agility, snakes always beat toads.

"Oh fuck." Naruto breathed.

Sakura closed her eyes. Manda's fangs finally found their mark in Gamabunta's stomach, and with a grunt the toad vanished leaving a trail of blood and venom behind. Left hanging in the air Jiraiya was an open target.

Manda's tail smacked him away like a fly. He flew so far Sakura could not even see where he landed.

In that moment she breathed in and crushed her fear and awe down. She had wounded Orochimaru once and she was far stronger now. Jiraiya getting taken down wouldn't turn her into a quivering wreck.

Naruto's eyes blazed. "I can take the snake, can you take Orochimaru?"

She paused, considered, and nodded. "Yes."

He accepted that whole heartedly. "Okay." And they were surrounded by clones numbering in the hundreds. Sakura smelled the air crackling with chakra and she immediately knew these were no ordinary clones.

The original Naruto hooked his arm around her waist. "Hold on."

So she did. Out of the great crowd she saw two clones get catapulted into the air by their brethren. They pulled out three pronged kunai and threw them and ran through hand seals. The dozens of kunai became thousands, a veritable sun-blocking barrage of steel.

A shadow shuriken technique at its finest. Orochimaru shrieked in rage as his summon was coated in steel. None of the kunai sunk deep enough into the scales to damage, but Manda hissed and thrashed trying to knock them out.

She blinked and felt her stomach drop. She was weightless and it was then she realized they were up in their air with hundreds of clones falling down onto the snake.

Flashes of yellow sizzled down on a crash course and as soon as the clones arrived in a burst of Hirashin they exploded. Chunks of smoldering scales and blood scattered into the air.

"Ready?" Naruto whispered in her ear.

The wind roared around them and she could only nod. The world turned yellow and suddenly the pale speck that was Orochimaru vanished and the next second his sweating, shocked, and angry face was inches from hers.

Her fist crashed into his cheek with a sickening crack and the Sanin plummeted off the snake. Then his tongue appeared and wrapped around her ankle and dragged her with. She felt Naruto's fingers grab her arms, slip, and grasp uselessly at her hair.

She could hear him screaming her name as she fell.

The Sanin hit the ground first and she hit a few yards away. Anticipating the impact she'd already drawn red chakra up and found herself cushioned as she hit the ground.

_Can't do anything yourself, can you?_ The Kyuubi murmured in her ear.

Two massive and clawed red hands of chakra held her inches off the ground. She stepped delicately out of them with a sniff. "I had it under control."

_Of course you did._ He mocked and the chakra swiped at her lightly before vanishing. It almost felt like a caress.

Orochimaru got to his feet slowly and swayed as he rose, his hair hanging in lank curtains across his face. Next to them the towering Manda vanished with a loud curse, Naruto's assault having done its job.

Using exploding shadow clones along with Hirashin was the sort of dangerous and insanely powerful thing only Naruto could have come up with. She had never felt prouder of him. He and his clones landed next to her in a scattering of steel and yellow light.

Orochimaru heaved. "I should have killed you two in the Forest of Death, crushed those thin little necks, broken your bones and poured out the marrow…"

Naruto scoffed. "Too late you snake-faced freak."

"Am I?" He heaved again.

Sakura felt a swell of foreboding but it was already too late. Orochimaru's head came up and a tip of something shinning and metallic split his lips. Kusanagi burst from his mouth swinging by his tongue and the madman laughed.

Naruto's eyes widened and he bent at an unnatural angle to avoid the attack. The blade skipped across his chest and drew a thin line of blood. In those seconds she grabbed for him to try and pull him out of the way. Hirashin flashed and she found them standing dozens of yards out of harm's way.

All of his clones left behind died by the Sanin's hand in short order but Naruto merely snorted as he touched his wound. "A little nick isn't that impressive Orochi—"

Blood bubbled out of his mouth and his face went slack.

"Naruto!" She'd already known the moment the blade had touched his chest. She had prayed, she had hoped, she had inwardly screamed. The Kusanagi's poisons hadn't waned. It had nearly killed her and had crippled Sarutobi even after the best of Konoha's medical care was given to him.

Out here, alone in the field, hundreds of miles from home…

Naruto fell to the ground seizing. Blood and spit turned to a lather on his lips and his eyes rolled up into the back of his head. Her hands went through seals in a blur and her fingers were already on his chest trying to draw out the poison.

It kept spreading and moved faster and faster. When she'd been poisoned the Kyuubi had wiped it away with his chakra. But that was her and this was Naruto and he had no demonic charka to fall back on.

And the poison was spreading far too fast for her fledging medical techniques to reach.

Orochimaru began to chuckle and it turned to full blown laughter as he watched the blond writhe in pain and Sakura fighting to save him. "My blade is tipped with the deadliest poison in the world. Jinchuuriki may be able to survive but regular genin are no match. Enjoy your last few minutes of life Naruto-kun, and enjoy your last few minutes with him bitch."

Sakura didn't answer as she was too busy splintering her chakra, sending it rushing into every vein trying to capture the poison killing her teammate.

Naruto had said he loved her.

His lungs were failing.

Naruto had kissed her.

His heart was slowing.

Naruto had vowed to follow her.

He was dying.

Her desperation spiraled out of control. Two clones burst from the ether of her chakra driven only by rage and fear. Their faces were feral and distorted and their chakra burned red. With shrieks they attacked Orochimaru and she didn't even turn to watch.

She scooped Naruto up and ran like she never had in her life. Her gravity seals dropped without thought. It was only seconds before she stood before Tsunade. It felt like years.

"HIME!"

Tsunade blinked and stared up at her with wide eyes. Sakura could feel herself dripping blood everywhere, feel it running in rivulets down her back and soaking through her clothes.

At the sight of all that red Tsunade shook harder. "Stop!"

"He's dying!" Sakura could feel tears prickling at her eyes and blind fear breaking her voice. "You have to save him! Jiraiya said you were the best medic in the world so save him!"

"Not anymore…" The woman murmured and her gaze turned inward. "I can't, not anymore, I can't…"

Sakura put Naruto down and he was seizing and shivering. Sweat coated his face along with blood and he was paling so fast…

She stepped over him and calmly, viciously, slapped Tsunade across the face.

The woman fell silent and touched her cheek, bewildered.

Sakura's fists clenched until her knuckles turned white. Her eyes flamed scarlet. "How long are you going run? People die! Everything dies and you just sit there crying and whimpering like it comes as a fucking surprise?"

Tsunade's mouth opened but no argument came out. She stared on completely struck dumb in surprise.

Sakura kept shouting. "And you call yourself a kunoichi and a medic? BULLSHIT! A real ninja knows everything dies and that makes us claw harder and cling to life any way we can. We go down fighting, not crying and whimpering and doing nothing, because we're afraid!"

"You don't know…" Tsunade tried to speak but Sakura launched herself at her and grabbed her by the shirt. She hauled the Sanin off her knees with a vicious yank.

"What do I not know?" She shouted. "I spent days dying and bleeding to death and curled up in the dirt sobbing because I was so afraid, but I got up and I spat in the face of fear and the village. I've fought and bled for Konoha and had all the bones in my body broken and I got up. I've been betrayed and spat on and hated and I still got up and believed."

She pointed a furious hand at Naruto still heaving and dying, and tears spilled down her cheeks. "I love him and he'll die someday and I fully know that. But I REFUSE to let him go just because some washed up kunoichi can't get on her fucking feet!"

Something in Tsunade's eyes snapped and the deluge came. She grabbed Sakura's shoulders so hard it took all of the jinchuuriki's willpower not to wince in pain.

"What if I can't save him?" The woman hissed. "History will just repeat itself all over again and what then?"

"The only thing we can't change is the past." Sakura answered fiercely. "And the future is only unalterable if you're dead. You're alive, I'm alive, Naruto is alive! I don't know how this will turn out but if you don't try at all I _know_ the outcome."

The tips of the Sanin's fingers brushed her cheek and Sakura flinched in some expectation of being struck. Instead, Tsunade drew her hand away completely bloodied. The medic looked at her hand for a long moment, stared at the blood in wonder as if this was the first time she'd ever _really _seen it.

Naruto retched. They didn't have any more time.

"Please…" Sakura struggled for words. "We're waiting for you Godaime-sama."

"Presumptions brat." Tsunade gave her a watery smile and pushed her aside. Something had changed in the woman, a driven glint in her eyes, a proud tilt of her head. The Sanin's hands glowed and fell on Naruto's chest and suddenly she was performing complicated medical jutsu Sakura couldn't have even _dreamed _of.

Then a rush of memories flowed over her. Her clones were dead, one had been stabbed through the neck and the other crushed to death by a snake. Orochimaru was coming for them and he was furious.

She looked at Naruto one last time, memorizing his face, trying to grasp the memory of his voice and the color of his eyes. It might just be the last time.

That sent a stab of rage through her so hot something in her splintered. The fissures blazed open and what bled up was not blood but fear and fury and madness. And with it came the Kyuubi's chakra, it had always responded to her baser emotions, always surged with her rage. This time was no different but…it was far worse than anything she'd ever known.

She turned away from the Tsunade and Naruto and ran. She was about to catch fire into a living inferno and they didn't need to see.

She was a monster. Naruto knew that. Tsunade knew that, but…

This wild tearing, sinking, and _grinding _in her guts made her want to rip her own beating heart out. She was spiraling out of control and losing it in front of Tsunade would not save Naruto's life any faster.

Seeing Sakura inches away from screaming and clawing her own skin off her face also wouldn't help anybody. But Orochimaru would be the perfect recipient of her frustration and rapidly accelerating instability, and even as her mind narrowed down on that one bloody purpose her senses expanded to dizzying heights.

And the ground splintered beneath her feet. Orochimaru burst from the earth leading with the Kusanagi and the blade was less than an inch from piercing her heart. But the months of contortion and flexibility training Jiraiya had put her through had its uses and she twisted at a near impossible angle, not losing any of her momentum as she planted one foot and slammed her heel into his ribs.

He rolled with the attack _laughing_. He landed on his feet easily and the sword still hung from his tongue. It glinted dangerously in the afternoon sun, mocking her as it swung.

She should have pulled her own katana to parry him but her instincts were the only thing talking and she was listening. She launched herself at him. The blade snapped up for her chin and she leaned back and watched it whistle past an inch from her face. In the opening left by his overexertion she sank down and plunged her fist into his gut.

Her fist passed through him before something thick and cold slowed her progress. He smirked at her and turned to mud and it hardened around her arm.

It'd been a trap all along.

She struggled in place with the mud clone and that's when the mud visage cracked open and the snakes poured out.

Tails whipped her and fangs sunk up her arm and into her stomach and even her neck. She screamed and let out a burst of red chakra, disintegrating the snakes into a hiss of blood and smoldering flesh. That was all that saved her from the Kusanagi nearly taking her head.

The red chakra felt the blade passing through a foot before it reached her neck and while the chakra snapped out to deflect she ducked low. Once again the blade missed her by a mere inch.

"Pathetic." The real Orochimaru murmured. "How did I lose my arms to you? You're nothing but a weak willed, wild, and incompetent fluke that calls herself jinchuuriki. You are nothing."

A shinobi would never have let emotion dictate their actions. Never let a taunt get another their skin, never let an opponent see them falling apart.

She hadn't seen her friends in months.

Itachi had tried to kill her.

Jiraiya was only god knows where maybe dead.

Naruto was dying.

She was completely and utterly losing it and she was hundreds of miles from Konoha. Right then the very concept of holding back was alien to her. She pulled up more red chakra up and her mind spiraled down, and she was unsurprised to find herself standing before the Kyuubi's cage.

"What?" She spat.

A deep and guttural sound echoed from behind the seal. "Have you forgotten so easily? The last time you decided to play with my chakra you ended up a burnt out husk."

"That was then and this is now." Her body began to vibrate anxiously. She knew time meant almost nothing here but being dragged away from the fight was driving her up the wall. "Give me whatever won't kill me!"

Red fur brushed the bars and milky white teeth flashed. He smirked down at her and drawled. "Making demands are we? Remember just who and what you are wretch."

She wanted to scream but she just tore the bindings off her blood seal and bared the tattoo underneath. "You made a deal with me. Your chakra whenever I ask it. You've never cared if I've burned before so give it to me!"

His blazing eyes were suddenly level with her and she could feel the noxiousness of his power crackling in the air. "Just this once I'll indulge you my little jinchuuriki, but…"

A dull roar came to her ears and she felt the floor tremble beneath her feet. Something was coming and it was a half forgotten memory, a nightmare never dreamed, and something she'd been waiting her whole life for.

The Kyuubi smirked. "If you ever throw a tantrum again because you've fallen in love with one of your puppets and lost them, I'll kill you myself."

She opened her mouth to argue but it was too late. A crimson wave roared out between the bars and swallowed her and sent her rushing upwards.

The sunlight was hot on her upturned face. She was standing before Orochimaru as if no time had passed and red chakra was leaking out of her skin and swirling around her feet. Her head tilted to the side and the chakra climbed up her legs and enveloped her arms.

It felt good.

More poured out and her mind expanded. She could see every pore in Orochimaru's face, she could smell Jiraiya's blood in the air even miles away, she could hear Tsunade's heartbeat pulsing rapidly, she could _feel _the very twist of chakra as it hit the air. Each of her nerve endings was firing at what felt like a billion times per second and her mind took it all in.

She had only ever utilized two tails of power at the maximum. Whatever was pouring out of her was at least three tails and still climbing.

"I am the jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi no Kitsune." A dark chuckle slipped past her lips. "Compared to me, a vessel for an immortal soul…you are the one who's _nothing_."

His bloodless lips peeled back. "Let's test it then, an experiment to see who's stronger."

There were so many pathways in the chakra, so much raw data, so much to feel and hear and smell and touch. Each facet broke off into another and another to become a wild tree of ever expanding branches of awareness. And along each branch a part of her mind siphoned off. Spreading thin and wide trying to touch everything.

But her mind was splintering…

Her voice dropped an octave as the chakra hooded over her head. "Just shut up and die." And a fox head grinned from the crimson shroud. She vanished.

He did not even get the chance to blink before his world turned sideways and half of his rib cage was inside his organs. He rocketed off his feet and his eyes flew wide as caught a barest glimpse of red before he slammed into the ground.

All of his breath left in an excruciating rush.

Sakura landed a few feet away on her hands and knees. Her skin bubbled and he watched on in fascination as it peeled up and then off her exposed arms. The flayed skin rose in the chakra along invisible currents and it shriveled into ash. Four tails fanned out behind her slowly and they came into view like the petals of a terrible flower.

Her eyes were that of an animal, crimson and wild. "Are you dead yet?"

His only response was to pick up his Kusanagi and fling it at her.

One of her tails neatly picked it out of the air and tossed the sword away. Her laughter was half a rasp and half a shriek. "Aren't you getting tired of that trick yet?" She vanished again.

Fear gripped him and without words or hand seals but only a terrified burst of chakra he merged himself into the ground. Just as he was covered in darkness and too deep for any normal jutsu to reach a jolt passed through the earth.

Then the world exploded into red light.

Orochimaru found himself twisting through the open air with dirt showering everywhere like rain. When he looked down his mouth went dry. There was a crater nearly half a mile wide and half as deep in the ground.

And the jinchuuriki was gone again.

Before he could even move a clawed hand raked along his back. It was not just nails but sharpened chakra and even as he was cut he was cauterized. His useless arms swung wildly to try and to bat her away. Her chakra literally _moved_ her in midair and then she was right in his face grinning like the devil. She echoed back his earlier insult. "Pathetic."

Her tails slammed into his body. Pain lanced through his skull and the world exploded into starbursts and blood.

He went down and the impact with the ground snapped his spine. Nausea rippled through his guts. He couldn't die, not here, not broken. He was the one meant to be immortal.

His mouth opened wide and hair and flesh pushed out. His jaw broke open and a paler but mobile Orochimaru emerged from the old like a twisted and reverse oroborus. His arms were still useless even after the instant rebirth technique. Trying to stand back up without them was difficult and he was dimly aware that he had lost the Kunsanagi somewhere.

He had no defense left.

This was no longer a fight and no longer about winning. This was about running for his life because his lack of mobility meant the jinchuuriki would win and she'd massacre him in the process.

And then she was upon him. More of her skin was gone and underneath her muscles shined with searing heat. Her irises were a deeper red and even the whites of her eyes were darkening as blood vessels burst inside them.

When she punched him his neck almost snapped and for a brief insane moment he watched her skin heal and burn and heal and burn. Then he watched one of her blood vessels fissure open to the air and the blood seep out as if weightless, sizzling down to nothing but smoke in her chakra.

The only person she was killing faster than him was herself.

The ground filled his vision. Starbursts again. Pain.

In the distance he could hear her laughing even as her vocals cords burned.

Her head went back. That strange fox visage reappeared overlaying hers and over both their mouths a strange energy gathered. It turned from deep red to a fathomless black, and it was as if light itself was dying in that hellish orb.

Just the feel of it sent horror racing to his every cell as if some base instinct knew _exactly_ what that was. The escape jutsu he performed took less than seconds.

Sound left the world. Light left the world.

Then came the deafening and earth shattering roar. The sun was nothing compared to the brilliance of her attack. Dirt was thrown hundreds of feet into the air and the smoke and ash billowed in a mile high column into the sky.

When it cleared in a few hours it would reveal a trench over a hundred feet wide and twenty deep. The trench would lead to a wound in the earth over a mile wide that would eventually become a lake when the rains came. The city nearby would be convinced a powerful earthquake had formed it.

No one from Konoha would ever correct that assumption.

Sakura fell back on her haunches and smoke wafted from the seared flesh around her mouth. She turned and spat up a mouthful of blood and burnt skin. Her tongue felt odd until she'd realized it was half burnt and half chewed off.

She didn't care. "Are you dead yet?"

Her voice came out strangely, slurred, both high and deep, both resonant and raspy. It was as if two voices were trying to speak out of the same mouth.

"Are you dead yet?" She asked again.

The pressure of the chakra was the only thing keeping her body and mind together, and saying her mind was together was…generous at best.

Her head lolled to one side listlessly and her smile was madness. She vanished.

A mile away Orochimaru came out of the ground trying to pull a badly bleeding Kabuto to his feet. He wasn't even sure how the medic was alive with half his chest gone but…he felt an ominous tingling and it was only decades of experience in the worst wars and battles across the elemental nations that saved his life. He dodged and the tails that would have eviscerated him only burned off the top layer of his skin.

"Die for me?" The beast crooned.

And he knew it was nothing but beast. There was nothing human in that girl's eyes.

She had finally lived up to the name of jinchuuriki.

"Not today." He told the creature.

The malice and ugliness and raw instinct that now made her up just sent Sakura snarling for his throat, her jaws opened wide. She was willing to tear into him even with her own teeth.

The shushin he used was overpowered and the excess wind slammed into her with the force of a hurricane and knocked her back. Orochimaru had finally escaped.

She snarled and her chakra tails slapped the ground. She wanted to hunt, she wanted to catch, she wanted to kill, she wanted and wanted and wanted…

Her mind pushed outwards and she sought the awareness. Her mind splintered further trying to take in the world, trying to find Orochimaru.

And her mind was…

Behind her someone gasped. The sound traveled up her spine like nails on a chalkboard. She reeled and behind her stood…stood…

She couldn't remember. It was odd. Why did she even care again?

"Sakura...?" It was a man. It was a man and he was inching tentatively closer. "Is that you?"

Sakura? Who was that supposed to be?

She cocked her head. She wanted to remember why she was here. Oh, that was right, she was going to kill someone. Was it this man? The question fell effortlessly from her lips. "Die for me?"

White hair, a horrified face, something very familiar. The voice was panicked. "Sakura it's Jiraiya. Orochimaru is gone so…just come down."

Her eyelashes were singeing off. It made blinking…odd.

"Why?"

His mouth opened and closed. Confusion. She could taste it on the air.

Then came the grim reminder. "Because you're dying Sakura. And if you die you can't see Naruto again."

That name sounded so very important. Naruto. Blond. Blue. So very important.

Her head hurt. "Naruto?"

"Yes, Naruto." His voice was calm but the frenzied edge he was hiding grated on her ears. "You two were just kissing this morning, he'll be wrecked if you're not there when he wakes up."

Someone was waiting for her. She let the chakra go and immediately she knew it was the wrong thing to do. Without the pressure of the chakra holding her mind together and guiding her fractured awareness…

Everything unraveled. In that moment jinchuuriki Sakura's mind flew apart. She fell to the ground in a boneless heap of blood and seared skin.

Jiraiya caught her. Her face was a unrecognizable mess but he only looked for one thing: her eyes. They were wide open and thankfully a clear jade green but—

His breath caught in his throat. Her eyes were too clear.

There was nothing in there at all.

Her body was alive but…Sakura was gone.

* * *

Edit: Huge amount changed this chapter with Jiraiya reflecting on the situation with Sakura and highlighting the fact Naruto _would_ have been the jinchuuriki if not for complications, and why he'll never tell anyone that fact. The entire meeting with Tsunade was rewritten with Sakura being the instigator of most of the conversation, also the dynamic Tsunade will have with Sakura later was built up better in the resturant, later at the hotel, and in her inner musing when fightning Orochimaru. Sakura and Naruto's reconciliation was touched up, and the entire fight with Orochimaru and Kabuto was rewritten. And lastly when Sakura took on the Kyuubi's chakra the consequences were far more severe, and her odd behavior was her going psychotic under the pressure. Also this time around Sakura won't just sleep it off because the damage she did to herself will have far deeper consequences.


	11. Distortion

Disclaimer: I still don't own anything, if the fanfiction wasn't a clear enough indicator.

* * *

**Within The Seal**

The darkness was absolute and the silence deafening. It was a void that laid empty before the Kyuubi and he knew the cause: Sakura's mind had flown apart. Every once and awhile he would feel an ether of her brush him, feel an echo of a memory, a murmur of her ambitions, a whisper of her soul slipping by…

And every time he tried to reach out and grab her she'd flit away. It was like trying to hold on to water and no matter how much he cajoled or coaxed her she wouldn't come back to him.

The Kyuubi was honestly beginning to fear there wasn't enough left of Sakura _to_ leave the dark.

When he'd first laid his eyes upon his jinchuuriki eight years ago his first serious consideration had been whether or not to crush her mind into a paste. That shivering and crying wreck of a child had not swung the decision in her favor, but in the end he had stopped short.

A vague unease and caution had stayed him. If he had crushed her there was no guarantee that'd leave her body a completely empty vessel for him to fill, and it also hadn't guaranteed him breaking the seal apart any faster. She'd been marginally more useful alive and if he _had_ to have a jinchuuriki, the Kyuubi no Kitsune was going to have the best damn one he could make.

He'd done the right thing as evidenced by her fractured mind churning around him in the dark. He could no longer reach reality and currently her body was somewhere (he couldn't even see where) laying around like a vegetable open to attack.

It galled him to no end to be useless. Without her fully functioning mind as a conduit for his chakra he couldn't even passively defend her. They had never been in more danger than they were now. Even in her childhood he, at the least, could send his chakra into her to keep her alive while mortally injured.

By his estimates there was maybe, _maybe_ enough of a backwash of his chakra left in her body before her mind had flown apart to heal her. But after that…if she got injured again while her mind was nonexistent and he was trapped in this infernal emptiness, well…they'd both be dead.

And that was simply unacceptable.

"I know you're out there." His voice echoed strangely in the void. "You're going to get us both killed if you don't pull yourself together."

He felt a…ripple. For a brief moment something translucent and vivid slipped from the dark. It sounded of instinct and fear and smelled of a memory he couldn't quite place. Before his eyes could even track it the ripple vanished.

His tails slammed against the seal. "Stop hiding from me you wretched little meat vessel!"

There was no response, not even a ripple, not even a murmur.

He swore. As much as he'd like to curse her, blame her, build her back up and then smash her apart again just for screwing up…this had been his mistake.

His genetic manipulations had prepared her body for his chakra (or at least, extended the amount of time she could _survive_ his chakra) but he had never given much thought to the strain on her mind. His chakra's power was exponential in growth and the rapid acceleration of both the power and the raw data capacity his chakra demanded to function, well…her fleshy little brain had neither the pathways nor capacity to handle it.

That she had completely unraveled as soon as the pressure of chakra had left her wasn't a surprise.

He'd change that. Next time both her body and her mind would be ready to fight in his name, but before he could insulate her brain to better prepare it…he needed to actually _find_ it.

**Fire Country, Unknown Location, Hotel **

"Is he sleeping?"

Jiraiya nodded. "Yeah, Shizune had to put a sleep jutsu on him to keep him down, but until further notice Naruto is out cold."

"Good." Tsunade rubbed her tired eyes and sighed. "Did you tell him?"

Jiraiya pulled up a chair and sat next to her. They were both next to the bed now and in the corner of his eye he could see dark hair splayed across the sheets. Even the sight of Sakura made his heart ache with guilt.

He couldn't help but sigh as well. "Of course not. His blood is at the consistency of water right now and if he knew Sakura was brain dead…I couldn't tell him, not with his chest wound so fragile."

Tsunade almost didn't seem to hear him as she was too busy tenderly smoothing down Sakura's hair. "This wasn't supposed to happen."

Her eyes had taken back on that melancholy and bitter gleam he'd known too well. He dropped a comforting hand on her knee. After Sakura had worked so hard to pull Tsunade out of her downwards spiral, Jiraiya wouldn't let his old teammate sink down again. "I know, but Sakura was a jinchuuriki and she knew the stakes—"

"Bullshit!" She snarled furiously. "Did any of you dumbasses in the village ever think to tell her? That using that power would burn her body from the inside out and flash-fry her brain?"

He flinched. "Tsunade…"

"No." She snapped. "Don't _Tsunade _me. It's not hard to guess what kind of life she led in Konoha and now you bastards have her risking her life against S-class ninja and she's running blind! And because of that she's…she's…"

"Sakura's not dead." He argued. "Not yet anyways. I've seen that girl get up from injuries that would have killed even you. If anyone can come back from brain death it's her. Besides, you told me you were getting some signals…"

Her lips pressed into a thin line. "Not enough to suggest that it's anything but a few fried neurons still firing…"

"But Sakura still has some function." He cut her off before she could depress them any further. "We'll take her back to the village. Either some Yamanaka or some of the boys down in T&I can poke around in her head to see if we can pull her out."

Tsunade's eyes turned hard and decidedly mutinous. "The only reason you brought her out of the village was to avoid them lynching her. We can't take her back there while she's helpless, you're just asking for an _accident_ to happen that kills her."

Jiraiya wondered if they would ever return to being able to trust each other again. He grimaced. "This isn't my first covert operation Hime. We'll slip her in on the sly and I have plenty of friends who'd give their lives for me, they'd at least keep her out of view for me until we figure out what to do. Konoha has been without a Hokage for nearly _five months_, we can't wait any longer, even for Sakura."

Tsunade scowled.

Jiraiya groaned. "Even if you're willing wait. The village needs you Tsunade and I'm sorry to be the one to say this, but Konoha also needs you more than Sakura does right now."

She huffed. "Fine. But we're not moving until Naruto is well enough to take the news."

"Good." He answered brusquely and stood. It took all of his willpower not to storm out of the room like a sulking child and he paused at the door. He turned for one last parting shot but what he saw behind him stopped him cold.

Tsunade's eyes had misted and she was leaning over Sakura's bed. Faintly, sadly, the blonde was singing a melancholy lullaby as she smoothed the girl's hair. The jinchuuriki could and would not hear it and Tsunade kept singing.

Jiraiya swallowed and left without a word.

**Within The Seal**

Drifting.

It was a little like flying and a little like falling and she would never hit the ground. Blackness, darkness, void. She was cradled inside it and she never got hungry and she never got tired and she never got cold.

There was no pain and she couldn't remember how she had gotten here. For some reason that didn't seem important enough for her to worry.

She liked it here.

"Wretch!"

The voice was here again and reverberating to her through the shadows. It sounded familiar but she couldn't place why.

"I know you're here somewhere. I'm not going to let you float around out there for the rest of your very short life. Come here." The command sounded like thunder.

She hated the noise.

Time passed and the voice went away. She drifted for awhile.

The voice returned as smooth as silk. "Sakura."

A brilliant jolt passed through her. Sakura. _Sakura_. There was something very important about that.

"You've sat at my feet and said you loved me Sakura, I need you to prove it to me now. Come here."

Love. She had loved. And held in her hands…oh right, hands.

Her ghostly fingers peeled through the dark. Something hot burned in her chest, yearning, desperate, passionate. A chest, a body, blood. She had those.

Her heart had beat so fast. The love had curled there, warm and comforting, painful and needy. Every day she had used her eyes to look up into crimson and…oh right. Eyes. She knew she'd been forgetting something.

Her eyelids fluttered open and her fingers reached out. Cold black flame licked at her as she touched the bars of the seal. It was like coming home.

The Kyuubi grinned down at her. "Welcome back my little jinchuuriki. Hold still."

A strand of chakra shot out and pierced her forehead. She arched back screaming. The drifting and the darkness shattered. She _remembered_.

The chakra snapped out of her and she collapsed down on the marble floor. The temple had returned and above her the stars flickered into view. The moon rose and the flames lighting the ceiling ignited. Everything was back as it should be.

The pain was indescribable.

"Oh." She said breathlessly.

He snorted. "It's about damn time. Now sort your memories into their proper spots and wake up. I've thrown your mind back together but I was a bit…sloppy on the inconsequential parts."

She swore. Her memory recall would be shit for the next few weeks after what the Kyuubi had done to her. "Was that really necessary?"

He waved a dismissive tail at her. "I put your fighting techniques back in perfect order. The rest hardly matters."

She raised her eyebrows. "Right. What the hell happened?"

"Your mind couldn't handle the mental aspects that my chakra demanded. Then you managed to screw it all to hell by letting go of my chakra while your mind was scattered in a thousand different directions. If my estimation is right I've been calling for you for almost a week."

She shrunk down. "Sorry Kyuubi-sama."

The demon smirked. Sakura always had been rather amiable about accepting blame, even blame that wasn't hers. One of his tails snaked out of the bars and patted her head. "I will accept your apology this time, just don't expect me to be as forgiving if this repeats itself."

Not that there would be a next time if he could help it.

She bowed. "Of course." And she touched the bars of the seal reverently and laid her head against them. "I love you Kyuubi-sama."

"I know." He let out a longsuffering sigh.

She grinned. He shook his massive head.

Her out and out adoration always had made him uncomfortable. As much as he liked worship what she felt towards him had long surpassed that childish stage. And judging by how deeply he had rifled through her mind before slamming her back together, he fully knew that.

She looked up at the sky and could feel reality waiting. Her mind slowly dilated back to outside time and she realized the Kyuubi was right. She'd been out cold for nearly six days. There were people waiting for her up there.

It was time to go.

**Unknown Location, Fire Country**

Even with her eyes closed Sakura could tell she was flying through the trees. The familiar rhythm of leaping, the smell of leaves, the wind pulling at her hair, the steady tapping of sandals against bark. She was riding on someone's back and judging by the softer curve of the muscles and sweet and lingering smell, it was a woman.

Sakura tightened her arms and opened her eyes. A sky of the most dazzling blue flew past her, clouds shimmering white and leaves of dark green swirling in the wind. She breathed in. "Pretty…"

The person carrying her gasped and they were suddenly falling to the forest floor. Tsunade lifted Sakura off her back and set her against a tree. They stared at each other, Tsunade in wonder, Sakura in something bordering on mild interest.

Tsunade spoke softly as if fearing the sound of her voice would break the child in front of her. "Sakura?"

Suddenly Jiraiya, Shizune, and a red eyed and weary looking Naruto were surrounding her too. They all pressed in. Sakura had a feeling she was missing something important. "Yup. Where are we?"

Naruto hugged her tightly and her breath rushed out of her. He babbled so quickly none of his words made sense to her. The only thing she knew was that he had missed her, desperately.

Her heart fluttered strangely at the thought.

Tsunade had to practically pry Naruto off her. "Give the girl some space, she's been brain dead for nearly a week!"

Oh, that explained it then. They'd thought she was dead, or at least, close enough that it really didn't matter that she was still breathing.

"That explains…so much." Sakura muttered to herself.

Tsunade swooped in on her with a diagnostic jutsu flaring. "What do you mean? What happened?"

"The Kyuubi..." She coughed as her dry throat burned. Being out of her body for a week was probably the cause. She swallowed the pain down. "The Kyuubi pulled me up and said he wouldn't be as forgiving if I did this a second time. He was rather…put out with me."

Jiraiya's eyes hardened. "You spoke with it?"

Sakura blinked. She had been chattering the ears off of that Demon for nearly eight years and sometimes she forgot that as far as everyone else knew, she'd only been aware of the Kyuubi for a few weeks.

She hedged. "Well…yeah. He put my mind back together and then reamed me out for awhile. It's not like this came as a surprise."

She let them draw their own conclusions from that. And by the way Jiraiya relaxed, she guessed she'd been vague enough for his own conclusions to soothe him.

"Okay." He nodded. "I've bee wondering for some time if the seal permitted contact so I guess that answers that question." He pulled away from them with his chin in his hand, no doubt thinking hard about something. She was too preoccupied with Tsunade bodily checking her over and Naruto hovering to really care.

Sakura looked up at her teammate and smiled softly. "You doing all right there? You gave me a scare going down from that poison."

He rubbed his head fitfully and looked close to tears. Strangely she felt the same way.

"I'm okay." He croaked. "Tsunade put me right back together and…fuck, Sakura. You're the one who scared me."

The older woman finally stopped her prodding and made a pronouncement. "I guess you're not going to drop dead anytime soon."

Yeah, like Sakura hadn't already know that well enough thank you very much.

The sarcasm was left alone and Sakura just laughed and opened her arms. Naruto practically threw himself on top of her and they were rolling together on the forest floor and laughing. It almost sounded like they were crying.

"Damn it, you two better not rip open any wounds!" The Hokage shouted after them half heartedly.

Shizune just rolled her eyes. Tsunade rolled her eyes right back; she was far too transparent to her long time companion.

Sakura was alive, Naruto was in one piece, and they were finally heading home. Tsunade was at peace with the world. Nothing had warmed her heart in so long as the sight of these two children, these two shinobi, these two monsters laughing and hugging at her feet. It ignited a fire in her heart.

Konoha needed a Hokage but the one they were going to get would be a shock. It was about time someone kicked Konoha's ass into gear and Tsunade was definitely the woman for the job.

Sakura was too busy reveling in being alive to notice Tsunade plotting. Cool grass pressed on her back, Naruto was warm on top of her, their heartbeats seemed to beat in tandem, and most of all…she smiled devilishly into Naruto's shoulder.

Even if she had been _burning_ while it happened, she had mauled Orochimaru until he had fled. It had not been luck or a fluke this time but a battle of vicious attrition where she had hammered him from every angle and powered through his taijutsu and made him _hurt_. Once the Kyuubi had her head on straight she would gladly track down Orochimaru and finish the job.

Naruto pressed his lips into her hair. "I love you Sakura."

The plans of carnage and vengeance fled away at his words. She turned her face into the sunlight. "I love you too." For some reason the words tasted differently when she said them to Naruto. They were sweet and airy and effortless on her tongue.

Not like the Kyuubi, saying those words of adoration to him was like voicing fire, swallowing glass, and having her heart clenched tightly enough to burst. It felt like standing on the highest cliff peak and willingly throwing herself off.

She wondered what that difference meant.

**Two Days Later, Main Gate, Konoha**

"Feels good to be back." Naruto said as he crossed his arms. "This place was given five hell-raising-free months. That's practically a crime."

Sakura snorted. "Back to your old ways Uzumaki?"

His expression turned nasty. "Let's just say after the revelations from this trip Konoha could use some deserved payback."

He was practically adorable when he got all vengeful over her. She had to fight hard not to hug him and start nuzzling. They _did_ have reputations to maintain.

Tsunade ruffled their hair affectionately, not caring for their reputations at all. "As Hokage I quite strongly frown upon any and all hell raising."

Naruto pouted.

Tsunade just grinned and continued. "But if there's no evidence leading back to the culprit, I guess it's just out of my hands, isn't it?"

The scowl on his face immediately turned to a smirk. "Duly noted Hokage-sama."

Somehow she had the feeling life in Konoha was going to be very interesting, humiliating, and painful for some people the next few weeks. Sakura was quite looking forward to it.

They wordlessly began their trek to cross the last few miles to the gate and everyone in their small squad noticed Sakura's increasing silence. Naruto had realized how she had slowly grown quieter the closer they had gotten back to Konoha. He had so gotten used to how she acted these months outside the walls it came as a painful reminder that in Konoha itself, Sakura had been a veritable ghost.

Lying, acting, smiling without meaning it, laughing in a hollow voice, pretending to be dim to hide her true genius. It infuriated him and he almost wanted to turn back around and suggest they leave but he saw the resolute set to Sakura's jaw, saw the grim determination in Jiraiya's eyes, saw the blazing hope and purpose that had become Tsunade in these past few days.

There was work to be done and dreams to fulfill and Naruto won't dare stand in their way. And leaving now just felt too much like running away anyways.

Sakura felt the wind move unnaturally. Her voice came out calmly. "Incoming."

An ANBU squad landed around them in a half circle, all kneeling in the dirt. Nobody in the group was surprised.

Tsunade arched a delicate eyebrow."Dramatic as always, aren't we?"

The ANBU chose not to backtalk, and instead the squad captain lowered his head in deference. "Welcome back Tsunade-sama." Sakura vaguely recognized him as one of the dozens of ANBU who'd present during the hectic fight with Orochimaru during the invasion.

"Ah, news travels fast." Tsunade waved them off. "In that case I want less talking and more action. Gather the council, assemble the jonin that are in-village, and the rest of you escort me to the hospital. I have some patients I need to attend to."

"Of course my lady," The ANBU flashed a few hand signals to his subordinates. Over half of them vanished. "Follow us to the hospital."

With a great rumble the gates opened to the village and the ANBU leapt away. Tsunade walked into her village for the first time in decades with her head held high. A new chapter for Konoha had officially begun.

**Konoha Hospital, Coma Wing**

"So why the coma wing?" Sakura asked curiously. She knew for a fact Sarutobi was downstairs in high security and all things considering, she thought former Hokage's got first dibs on medical treatment.

Tsunade swatted at her. "I'm getting there. You could just go wait in the lobby like I asked."

"Naw." She chirped back. "I want to see your techniques. Most of my medical jutsu are more of the: oh-my-god-I'm-bleeding variety."

The older woman raised a curious eyebrow. "Really, give me a full briefing on your repertoire later and I'll see what we can do."

Sakura beamed. While not technically Jiraiya's apprentice she'd gotten just as much face time with the man over the past half a year between the trip looking for Tsunade and the month before the Chunin Exam final as Naruto. And now that Tsunade was willing to teach her…

Heck, she might become the student of _two _Sanin. And that definitely filled her with a certain giddy amount of joy.

Tsunade threw open the doors in front of them and Sakura felt a jolt go through her stomach. Sasuke and Kakashi were in the wing, unconscious and looking like hell.

"What…?" She spluttered for a moment, for once genuinely at a loss for words.

Behind her Naruto swore. "Shit. We leave for five months and they can't take care of themselves? I knew it."

She rolled her eyes at him and moved to Sasuke's bed before gingerly taking up the clipboard hanging off the rack. She'd had definite aspirations of acquiring Sasuke into her little band of misfits, and if he was out of commission…

Seeing her reluctance Naruto snorted and read over her shoulder. "Broken arm, chakra exhaustion, and an advanced state of apathetic neural dissonance…what?"

Sakura was equally as confused. "His brain…has function but isn't waking up. I've never seen this before."

"I doubt you have." Tsunade breezed past them with hands flaring in a dizzying medical array of chakra. "Back when this village actually had Uchiha there was an ugly little genetic quirk that cropped every once and awhile called Mangekyou. One of its functions was utilizing a mind-jutsu that seriously crippled the mental faculties of anyone under it. I believe the Uchiha called it Tsukyomi."

Sakura cursed. "I'll be damned. So that's what Itachi was trying to do…"

Tsunade spun on her angrily. "What?"

Sakura shrunk back in surprise, unable to interpret the fuming expression on Tsunade's face. "Itachi tried it on me."

The jutsu the Hokage had been about to drop on Sasuke switched to the jinchuuriki in a flash. "And you didn't tell me this why? You could have been walking around with brain damage for the last month!"

She shrugged and winced, trying to not fight the jutsu crawling through her skull. "It's no big deal."

Tsunade glared. "You'll find the old administration's policy of ignoring whatever happened to you is over now Sakura. Whatever injuries you take, whoever attacks you, I want to hear about it and I _will_ do something about it."

Sakura flushed. She was used to cruelty and desperation and apathy and revulsion. But caring…that was new. She didn't quite know how to respond and she kind of doubted she ever would.

Naruto filled the silence. "It's official: you are the best Hokage ever. Not that you had much competition, but still."

"Thanks Naruto." The older kunoichi answered dryly. "Your vote of confidence warms my heart."

Naruto just gave a sunny grin in return.

She wiggled out from under the jutsu. "I'm okay. The Kyuubi threw a hissy fit before the jutsu did anything to me and kicked Itachi out. Help Sasuke instead, he sort of needs it."

Tsunade looked unimpressed. Sakura just stared back defiantly, it was a stupid thing to throw a tantrum about but she had so long gotten used to taking care of herself and internalizing all her pains…she could never allow someone to try and take care of her. To fuss over her. It just felt _wrong_.

The Hokage sighed. "Fine." The jutsu reactivated over Sasuke, and the flickering green chakra almost made his face soft. "You may want to hold him down, this sometimes get's ugly."

Sakura blinked. "What?"

Sasuke came awake like a shot, screaming, with his hands clawing for his eyes. Sakura heard Naruto swear as they both leapt for their teammate, falling onto his arms and pinning his writhing form.

She stared down at Sasuke and his active Sharingan stared back at her unseeingly, a stream of incoherent agony spilling from his mouth. And his eyes, his eyes were the worst, panic and terrorized and a sliver away from madness.

"Sasuke." She put an arm around his neck and pushed her temple against his. "It's all right. Relax, we're here, we're here. It's over."

Naruto haw lowered himself as well, murmuring his own comforts to their teammate in a whispered rush.

They had never liked their teammate, Sasuke had barely tolerated them and Sakura and Naruto had returned the favor, but they had never turned their backs on him. Naruto was the one to fight by Sasuke's side when Zabuza had first attacked them, Sakura had been the one to tend to him during that hellish night he'd gotten his cursed seal.

They'd been his teammates. Kakashi had been their sensei, barely, but Sasuke had been _theirs_ and no one else's. All these months apart hadn't changed that.

A minute later Sasuke's thrashing stilled. He croaked. "Sakura? Naruto?" He looked between them in confusion. "Did you get us out of the hotel?"

She and Naruto exchanged uneasy glances and a few silent and rather insistent gestures later, Sakura was the one to answer. "No Sasuke, we evacuated with Jiraiya-sama. Another jonin brought you back here. That was over a month ago."

"A month?" He asked dumbly, eyes unfocused. The blind terror and confusion drained out of his face to be replaced by grim understanding. "I was in a coma wasn't I?"

Naruto shrugged. "Kinda sorta?"

Sasuke might have laughed but it sounded more like a strangled cough. "Shit."

"Yeah." Naruto agreed, easing up and off the hospital bed. "You never do things halfway, do ya Sasuke?"

Sakura shot him an annoyed glance but her teammate (and boyfriend now, she supposed) just smirked in return. Brutal, barbed tongue, and vicious as always. It made her weak in the knees.

She was being such a girl about this.

Sakura shook her head and stayed on the bed. Sasuke did not push her away and in fact seemed to gravitate in her direction. She spoke softly. "It was mangekyou."

He shot her a hard glance, the gravity of their closeness suddenly gone.

She titled her head, considering. "But you already knew that, didn't you?"

He didn't answer her but that was answer enough.

Tsunade cleared her throat behind them. "Another time Sakura. I need to make sure none of the wires in his brain crossed."

The genin shrugged and clamored off the bed, as she left she felt Sasuke's fingers touch the base of her back. She stopped.

He rasped. "Where's Itachi?"

"He…escaped." She answered, not really certain she and Naruto _running_ for their lives really qualified as Itachi escaping. But admitting weakness was never really her thing.

Sasuke immediately closed off. Brooding, silent, and as Tsunade ushered her and Naruto out of the room (Sakura noted she didn't bother tending to Kakashi) she saw Sasuke rubbing at the base of his neck.

On his bone white skin his cursed seal stood out starkly. A flicker of unease settled in her guts and the door snapped shut. She and Naruto outside, Sasuke and Tsunade were still within.

Naruto grumbled. "Well I can see we're not wanted. Wanna head out?"

She nodded distractedly. "Sure." But there was something wrong and no matter how much she tried to shake it, she couldn't figure out what.

**Coma Wing**

"Uchiha Sasuke."

Sasuke had never heard someone say his name like that before. Tempered, cool, nearly _disdainful_. For a boy that had lived most of his life revered and venerated by his village, it was like a slap to the face.

His hand fell from his neck as he blinked past his surprise. He was no idiot and he clearly recognized that Tsunade of the Sanin stood at the foot of his bed. She could snap him like a twig if the mood struck her.

He answered neutrally. "Yes."

She pulled up a chair and straddled it, and he was simultaneously struck by both how beautiful she was and how cold. Her head titled back and her honey hued eyes seemed to flay him. He shuddered; Tsunade did not need a Byakugan or Sharingan to see right through someone.

Her fingers delicately splayed across the back of her chair. A medic's hands. Deadly hands. "Tell me about your team."

He regarded her cautiously. Normally he would have clammed up, refused, or even demanded answers in return, but this woman was a Sanin and he remembered Orochimaru's brutality too well. He had no grounds to get cocky with this woman.

"You mean Sakura and Naruto?" He asked slowly.

Tsunade's eyes moved past him and onto the bed of his comatose sensei. Her lips thinned. "And your teacher."

He wetted his cracked lips. A month in a coma had done him no favors. "We did missions together, Kakashi gave us some training, and we took the Chunin Exam. Then Sakura and Naruto left." It was a sparse answer but Sasuke had never been one for words.

She regarded him like a bug under a microscope. "Tell me about Sakura."

"Vapid, brainless, dead weight." His lips quirked cynically. "The best fuckin' liar I've ever seen."

Her eyes flashed and he suddenly felt like there was a red hot brand on his chest. Surgically placed killing intent. He choked on it.

"Really?" She purred. "And what makes you think that?"

The intent diminished enough to let him draw in air. "She wanted me to. I have no idea what she's really like, and Naruto was a complete whack job before…well…Sakura did something. They were really close after we took a mission to Wave Country: training together, I heard they even started living together…anyways, they were their own unit."

She rubbed her fingers together and chakra danced between her nails. "Did they leave you out in the cold?"

Sasuke thought of all the times Sakura had offered for him to join their training sessions, how many times he had turned her down out of superiority. His voice went flat. "They invited me in." Not that he had accepted.

That seemed to satisfy her and the chakra shorted out. Her eyes cut to Kakashi again. "How did your sensei treat the three of you?"

Sasuke snorted. "Like Naruto was a ticking time bomb. Sakura could have been invisible as far as Kakashi cared, and he trained me…more than them. Not as much as I'd like, but more."

"Is that so?" Her lip curled in disgust. "So you were the favorite?"

Sasuke knew this was no time to gloat. "You could say that." If she was going to hang him he wouldn't give her the rope to do it.

"How was Kakashi's and Sakura's relationship, specifically?" She was driving at something, Sasuke just didn't know what.

He picked his words. "Like I said: she could have been invisible. He treated her like she was incompetent and Sakura didn't seem to care. But…"

"But?" She pressed.

He sucked in a breath, wary of her killing intent. "But sometimes he'd look at her like he hated her."

Tsunade rose from her chair gracefully. Her eyes were hard. "Thank you Uchiha Sasuke. Your information was most…enlightening."

He didn't want to know what that meant. It wasn't his skin at risk and frankly Kakashi could fend for himself. Sasuke only looked out for number one. "Yes."

"Indeed. You should know your team is likely to be dissolved soon. I don't know where you'll be placed but—"

And Sasuke suddenly forgot that this woman could kill him. "But they're _my _teammates! You can't—"

"I can't what?" He voice had fallen back to that dangerous purr and her killing intent was driving a white hot shaft into his chest.

"They're my teammates." He answered lamely, suddenly uncertain just _why_ this bothered him.

"Not for long." She waved at him dismissively. "Get some rest; you'll be discharged as soon as we're sure you won't relapse."

She then moved to Kakashi's bed, flicked a jutsu across his head, and left without a backwards glance. The blazing pain in his chest did not abate until she was long gone.

Kakashi blinked awake and looked over at him. "Sasuke?"

The genin didn't bother answering and his hand returned to his neck, rubbing at his seal fitfully. How could he hope to kill Itachi when another S-class ninja could pin him in place with just a little killing intent?

**Konoha Hospital**

They hadn't even gotten out of the lobby when a small body attached itself to Sakura's side.

"Nee-chan!" Konohamaru stared up at her adoringly.

Naruto groaned. "Son of a bi—"

She swatted his shoulder distractedly. "Hello Konohamaru, how have you been?"

"Great!" His grin was so wide Sakura was surprised his face didn't break. "I've been training lots and lots since you left with the things you taught me! We should spar, I want to show you what I can do."

The blond next to her seemed to bristle at the thought. "Sakura's not—"

She silenced him with a look. "How about we do that tomorrow? Naruto and I just go back from a long term mission and we need to get some things in order tonight."

The younger boy pouted. "Fine. So where were you all this time? No one seemed to know…and hey, is it true you defeated Orochimaru during the invasion?"

She raised her hands. "One thing at a time. Where we were was a mission and no, I didn't defeat Orochimaru, I just gave him one hell of an injury when he wasn't looking."

Konohamaru took one of her hands, and over the top of his head Sakura was amused to see Naruto turning three different shades of jealous.

"So what was the mission nee-chan?"

She smiled down at him. "Big secret okay?"

He nodded eagerly. Sakura felt rather warm at that, he was just so eager to please that sometimes she felt like a god around him.

"We brought Tsunade-hime back to the village to save everybody." It wasn't exactly a secret because everyone who was somebody had already seen their entrance, but indulging Konohamaru with supposed secrets just increased his awe and his devotion. And his devotion was a priceless commodity if Naruto fell through…

"So…" His face brightened even further. "That means she can help gramps!"

"Yeah." The thought of Sarutobi still pained her in more ways than one. More than anything, she had fought to bring Tsunade back just to settle the debt of him saving her life during the invasion. She hated debts.

Naruto's voice was sly. "Hey, I bet Tsunade is downstairs waking him up right now. Maybe you should go."

Sakura could see where this was going. Saying Naruto even tolerated Konohamaru breathing was stretching it. Nothing good would come of them mixing much longer anyways. She ruffled the boy's hair. "Naruto's right, you should go. Come find me for that spar though, okay?"

His head bobbed once. "Kay. You're the best nee-chan." And he was gone. If nothing else Konohamaru was a great ego boost.

Her boyfriend let out a sigh of relief. "Brat's gone, finally."

"Oh shut up." She brushed past him. "Your hatred of small children is almost frightening."

He slung an arm around her waist. "Not all small children. Just the brats."

"Uh-huh." She answered dryly. "Didn't you tell me once all kids younger than ten are brats?"

"Imagine that." He replied blandly.

She rolled her eyes, ignoring the heated looks they were getting as they strolled out of the hospital arm in arm. She was certain those looks were all for her.

She heard a nurse hiss at her as she passed. "That bitch. Touching the Yondaime's son like that…"

Definitely all for her.

Naruto stiffened. She increased the pressure she had on his arm. "Leave it."

He looked at her oddly but then smirked. "Fuck that." And he grabbed her right there outside the hospital front doors, in full view of at least two dozen people, and dipped her backwards dramatically and kissed her.

The discontented buzzing was immediately silenced.

Naruto's lips left her but she could taste that grin of his on them. He looked around. "What, you never see two people kiss before? Prudes."

It took all her willpower not to burst out laughing. It took even more willpower not to blush and giggle like a lovesick girl.

By this time tomorrow every single person in the village would know about their relationship. And Naruto's strategy was to, apparently, give the villager's the metaphorical finger by making out with her in the streets.

It was something only he could come up with. There was never a dull moment with Uzumaki Naruto.

She plastered herself to his side. If they were going to do their relationship publically she was damn well going to enjoy it. "Let's go home." And then she nuzzled his neck.

He wrapped his arm back around her securely and dropped a light kiss on her lips. "Let's."

The looks on the villager's faces were priceless.

**Hokage Tower, Council Room**

"Afternoon boys and girls." Jiraiya grinned at the room at large and the people inside scowled back.

Clan heads both shinobi and civilian, a handful of older ninja, Koharu and Homura, a few civilians, and Danzo made up the bulk of the council. And they all looked about as pleased to see him as they would a piece of dirt scraped off their shoe.

Jiraiya did love annoying anything that moved. The older ninja merely had to remember his early and wild days as a jonin to despise him. The younger (and the youngest was thirty-five in this room) disliked him merely for the fact he moved freely outside of the precious command structure and ergo, their control.

Being the only Sanin in the village, for the time it lasted, had been a lovely thing.

Koharu sighed. "So you've succeeded in your mission I take it?"

"Indeed." He smirked. "As of this moment Tsuande-hime is in the village and willing to assume the role of Godaime Hokage."

Hyuga Hiashi sneered. "And why are you the one telling us this? Where is the precious Tsunade?"

Her abandonment of the village had won Tsunade no friends, but more than that, after decades of exile her sweeping in to claim the throne of strongest ninja infuriated the shinobi in here more than Jiraiya ever could. The Toad Sage, sadly, felt outclassed in the pissing-people-off department.

He'd have to make up some ground.

"She's at the hospital tending to Sarutobi." He answered coldly. The room at large flinched.

He smirked. "As the Daimyo has already signed off on this and the jonin vote is only formality…" He got more glares but everyone in the room knew Tsunade's legend alone would easily carry the vote. "She'll be sworn in tonight. I've come to tell you this out of courtesy, no more."

What he didn't say was he was here first to see what a mess of things the council had made of the village in the five months it had gone without a Hokage. Jiraiya had no doubt the advisors had carved out more powers for themselves, the Clans had sunk their claws deeper into the system, and Danzo had inserted his spies and usurped control wherever he could reach.

The Sanin clapped his hands. "Now onto business, status of the village?"

In the corner Jiraiya noticed Danzo frown. The Sage smirked back; the man could covet the position of Hokage all he wanted but if Jiraiya had anything to say about it, the only people donning the hat in the next few decades would be Tsunade and then Naruto when she stepped down.

Jiraiya was tired of letting the politics of his own village devolve into a quagmire. Sarutobi had let the rot set in, and in the vacuum of power left in his absence after the invasion things had only worsened.

He had his work cut out for him if he ever wanted to leave the village again without it falling apart behind him. Jiraiya got to work at doing what he did best: pissing off everyone within earshot.

**Apartment Building**

Sakura could only sigh as she stared down the hall and nudged the front door shut. Everything she could see was covered in a thin layer of dust and the taste of it was even on the air. Mildew, stale, and rotting…

She swore and let her fingers trail through the dust on her way to the kitchen. "Did you empty the refrigerator out?"

Naruto gave a sheepish shrug. "Not entirely?"

Her stomach rolled and she tentatively opened the fridge door. She slammed it back shut in seconds to limit the rotting smell from contaminating the apartment any further. She had only gotten a glimpse of the putrid mess inside and it would be too soon if she ever saw it again. She slapped her forehead.

He grumbled. "In my defense I didn't think that mission would take _five _months."

She rolled her eyes and went to search the cupboards to see if they had fared any better. She was sorely disappointed to find anything not in cans or plastic had turned to discolored and inedible mush.

Completely disgusted, she pushed the food she could reach in the garbage and continued her fruitless search. The cupboards were a lost cause and she returned to the fridge and this time opened the freezer. She was rewarded with the sight of ice cream, iced over but still edible ice cream.

The container was unceremoniously dropped on the table while Naruto fished two spoons out of a drawer. He handed one off to her.

She murmured her thanks and took a bite. The sweet and cool confection went down easily. For the next few minutes the only sound in the room was the clatter of spoons. They lingered in their own thoughts content not to speak, and the long golden light of afternoon quickly gave way to a murky blue twilight.

It was then that a small, hard shelled bug scuttled across the table. Naruto let out a disgusted squawk and moved to crush it. She grabbed his arm and stopped him. "Wait."

"To not kill the bug?" He asked incredulously.

She put her fingers on the table and the bug scuttled on them. She cooed in delight. "This is one of Shino's."

Naruto looked nonplussed. "…yay?"

She shot him a look. He didn't appear even slightly apologetic. "What? Should I be happy one of your friends decided to send his bugs to infest our apartment?"

"Not infest." She looked to the far counter and wasn't surprised to see a group of bugs dragging a letter towards her. She reached out and plucked it away.

Their message delivered, the bugs flew to the windows and squeezed their way back outside. Naruto looked utterly disgusted by the whole display.

She flipped the letter open and read Shino's familiar scrawl: _I still owe everybody dinner._

A snort escaped her. That bet over Kiba and Naruto's preliminary match was still in effect and Shino never wiggled out of a deal.

She kept reading: _Rumor is your back in town; we're all waiting to see you. We'll be waiting at…_

The following address was to an expensive restaurant she'd never frequented, but it was the sort of place clan heirs were right at home at and considering all her childhood friends were clan…

She gave Naruto an apologetic glance. "Looks like Shino invited me to dinner."

He read the apology clearly. "And I'm not invited."

She raised one shoulder ruefully. "I haven't seen them in five months and it's not like they could know about you and me."

"Bah." Naruto rolled his eyes. "They're your friends, not mine. I'll just go do something else."

She looked around them and raised an eyebrow. "Like clean the kitchen?"

He gave her an injured glance. "You'd leave me alone to _this_?"

"Who didn't clean the fridge out?"

He crossed his arms and pouted. Her gaze was entirely unimpressed.

He scowled. "I'm going to find Jiraiya before he bails out of the village, and hell…" He pulled out a three pronged kunai. "I heard my dad squirreled these things all across the village, I might as well find out where."

She smiled impishly. "Fine. Have fun."

He leaned across the table and kissed her. It tasted like ice cream. "You too." And in a flash of yellow she was alone.

When he was gone the silence and dust closed in on her. She lounged back in her chair letting the ice cream melt, letting the dust settle. She could have sat there for years absolutely alone, absolutely silent and wistful for what was lost.

Those five months out of the village had been the happiest of her life. Her and Naruto together with no stares judging them, no rumors slandering her, no political fallout threatening them. And now in their village for the rest of their lives, she knew they'd never get to have that again. The people who despised her wouldn't allow them that much.

It was a price they would pay, but sometimes she'd wish they could just leave…

But she had missed her friends. Five months without a word and barely seeing each other between training and missions before that…it felt like a lifetime since they'd been in the Academy and inseparable: Hinata, Chouji, Shino, Shikamaru, and her. Their own little world and they were the only ones in it.

She couldn't take back the past though and her world was too large now to forget.

A warm smile slowly graced her face and she put the ice cream away. Her fingers trailed a swirling pattern in the dust as she left. They were here now and that was all that mattered.

**Konoha, Commercial District**

They were waiting for her outside the restaurant and when Hinata saw her the smaller girl grinned brilliantly and nearly crushed Sakura into a hug. The jinchuuriki laughed and hugged back. The last time she'd seen Hinata the girl had been in a hospital bed. It was a nice change.

Hinata grabbed her face. "You've gotten taller. How are you Sakura?"

Sakura grinned as she felt Hinata's fingers tracing her face, as if trying to rememorize the new contours. "Wonderful. I missed you guys."

Shino, Chouji, and Shikamaru all smiled at her from over the heiresses' shoulder. Hinata immediately passed her to Chouji who pulled her into a hug that lifted her off the ground. Sakura slapped his arm, laughing so hard it was difficult to ask him to put her down.

"Never." Was Chouji firm reply, and she put up with the indignity of being lifted around like the doll another ten seconds.

She was passed to Shino next, who's hug was much more reserved but no less tight. "Did you take care of yourself?"

She rolled her eyes. "Of course I did, I'm here aren't I?"

Behind his sunglasses she could see a hint of a shimmer in his eyes but then it was gone and she was passed to Shikamaru. Her oldest friend let his hands rest on her hips, not hugging her but regarding her like a puzzle. "Heard you were off with Jiraiya."

"I was." She swatted his elbow. "But no details until we're eating, this is too good a story to get interrupted."

He grumbled but good naturedly led her inside. The rest of their friends followed them in. Shikamaru spoke to the host. "Table for five."

The host was already smiling and about to enter his spiel when he caught sight of Sakura. He scowled harshly. "I'm sorry but we don't seat monst—"

Shikamaru's voice dropped to a chilling octave. "Seat us now or I guarantee you'll never see one cent of clan money here again."

The host swallowed. "Right this way." It was amazing how cowardly some people really were when the chips were down.

Sakura passed the man like he wasn't even there and her friends gave the host the same treatment. They were soon seated far in the back in a cushioned, well hidden booth. Sakura supposed the host didn't want other customers to see them but for the purpose of the conversations they would likely have, that was just fine with her.

"Jackass." Chouji muttered, sliding into the booth across from her.

Hinata and Shino piled in after Sakura and Shikamaru joined his teammate on the other side. All eyes immediately turned to the jinchuuriki. It was just like old times.

Shikamaru rapped his knuckles on the table. "Spill."

So she did. About searching for Tsunade, about running into Itachi, fighting Itachi, about Naruto mastering Hirashin, about finding Tsunade and asking her to be Hokage, running headlong into Orochimaru, fighting Orochimaru, beating Orochimaru. She didn't say a word about the Kyuubi revelation, nor did she mention spending a week brain dead after overdosing on his chakra, but the story was intriguing enough her friends didn't seem to notice the omissions.

"Shit." Chouji breathed. "All three Sanin and another S-class missing ninja in one mission? I don't know whether I'm impressed…or seriously worried."

"Probably both. We made it back but that mission wasn't exactly kittens and rainbows."Sakura shrugged and grabbed for her drink that had arrived during the story. She took a long sip, cool and sweet.

Shino snorted. "I can well imagine."

She played with the straw. "So what about you guys? How have you been?"

Chouji answered first. "Training mostly. Things have actually been pretty good since that fiasco at the Exam. You really embarrassed Ino beating her in the preliminaries you know, and after the invasion…well Ino has been training really hard with us. Our teamwork is better than ever."

Shikamaru mumbled. "She's still a pain in the ass though."

Sakura had to fight hard not to laugh. "What about you Shika?"

He flicked his fingers in disinterest. "Same old same old. Learn jutsu from my old man, train with Asuma, train with Chouji and Ino. Take a mission here or there. Go to an Intel briefing when the old man lets me."

Sakura was impressed. Shikamaru hated hard work but by the sounds of it he'd had his nose to the grindstone for nearly half a year without his arm being twisted. She supposed it was a combination of Hinata's fight with Neji and the invasion giving everyone a wakeup call.

The jinchuuriki looked to the girl next to her. "Hinata?"

The girl blushed. "Training too. I got out of the hospital right before the finals and well…my family hasn't been all that happy with me, but Kurenai-sensei has been teaching me plenty. And Kiba is really working hard since Naruto made him looks so bad in the preliminaries."

Shino let out a murmur of agreement. "Indeed. We have all progressed very far since you've last seen us Sakura."

She nodded. "So have I Shino, so have I."

Her friends all exchanged glances. She felt left out. "What?"

Shikamaru answered. "Wanna put that to the test?"

"Spar?" Sakura's face split into a nasty grin. "You're on. I've been training under a Sanin you know, this isn't going to be playtime like it was in the Academy."

Her friends looked equally as eager, even shy little Hinata. She was sweet and kind but every once and awhile the kunoichi in her would shine through.

"We're counting on it." Chouji slapped his hand on the table. "Now less gossiping and more eating."

They were all only too happy to comply. It was only over the third course that a semblance of a conversation picked up again.

Sakura spoke. "I thought about a lot of things while I was on that mission. How did you guys get through the invasion?" It had been a question that had bugged her for months. She had thrown a fit and refused to leave the village until she knew her friends were alive all those months ago, but after Jiraiya had given her confirmation none of them had been KIA-ed during the invasion, she had not known a single detail of what had happened after they'd split up from the observation deck in the stadium.

It was the sort of thing she'd obsess over and she'd driven Naruto nearly insane over it.

Shikamaru wetted his lips. "It's not nearly as impressive as your exploits during it."

She nearly bit off her tongue. "I…see?" It sounded like a question but the truth was it was a flat statement; she saw and she really wished she didn't. Her friends had always known she was a bit stronger than she'd let on, furtive around their sensei's and unwilling to take the Academy seriously, but injuring S-class ninja and summoning demon foxes into battle was so out of left field it wasn't even in the same city.

Hinata jabbed Shikamaru in the shin with her foot and made a hissing sound. "Not now." There was something flinty in her voice, tight, blade-edged sharp. Something very un-Hinata.

Shikamaru immediately sat back, calculating. There was something going on her between them that she didn't know about. It filled her with a sinking sense of unease. Maybe these five months had eroded more than she'd thought.

"I'm sorry." Sakura let her fingers drag through the condensation rings on the table. "Things got a bit…out of hand." If dropping demon's into the middle of a city, smacking down a fellow jinchuuriki, getting their Hokage nearly killed saving her ass, and crippling a Sanin's arms with well placed kunai and poison could be merely called _out of hand._

Hinata touched her hand under the table. A sweet gesture Sakura had come to know well. The Hyuga smiled softly. "You don't have to be sorry. All that happened during the invasion was Shino got me and Kiba from the stands and Shikamaru and Chouji grabbed Ino, and all of us got our backs to the wall on the upper deck to wait it out." Her eyes were a filmy shade of lavender, honest and bright and Sakura knew everything the girl would say was the truth. "We saw you summon that fox."

"Ah." It was as she feared. The disparity between what she'd told them and what she actually was had been laid bare.

Shino spoke. "How did you get that summon's?"

This lie was one well-rehearsed. "Got approached by a demon fox while we were kids. Promised me power and assistance and some battle buddies if I just paid a little price with my blood." Her grin was wicked and bitter. Self depreciating in her own screwed up way.

Shikamaru surged forward, eyes intense and smoldering. "But why you?"

_Because I'm the goddamned jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi no Kitsune. _Not that she could say that, she was pretty sure there was still a law on the books that meant she couldn't go blabbing that sort of thing without getting whacked. She shrugged instead. "Beats me."

More shared glances between her friends and this time she saw unease. There was definitely something they weren't telling her.

"We should—" Shikamaru started.

Chouji cut him off. "Not yet, we can't—"

Shino didn't let either of them finish. "Not _now_. Drop it."

"Guys?" Her stomach felt like a stone had fallen into it. Maybe she'd throw up. She was the big bad jinchuuriki, she'd fought Uchiha Itachi and Orochi-freaking-maru themselves, she'd literally gone insane and killed her own brain while on a power trip and here she was nervous with her palms sweating because her friends were keeping secrets.

In some ways she was still an insecure child and she _fucking hated it_.

Hinata patted her hand under the table. "It's nothing." Her eyes were a silvery white. The eyes Hinata wore when she was lying.

Sakura swallowed. "Right." She picked up her fork and took a bite but the food tasted like ash. "So who wants to hear what it's like to train under a Sanin?"

They seemed relieved when she changed the subject. Shino was pensive, Shikamaru was moody, Hinata went quiet, and Chouji began to guilt-eat in a way she'd seen too often.

Secrets. She'd been keeping them for years.

It seemed her friends were finally returning the favor.

**Apartment Complex, Midnight**

Naruto was in the kitchen when she got back, surrounded by bags of groceries and the floors and walls around him were scrubbed nearly sterilely clean. He'd been hard at work, or at least some of his clones had.

She grabbed him by the jacket and shoved him against the table, and her head dipped and her lips were already running down the curve of his neck. "You are a god among men."

He looked rather pleased with himself. "You're not so bad yourself, any reason you're about to molest me?"

He'd noticed her hands peeling up the back of his shirt then. She grinned against his neck. "I'm pissed."

"Oh." His fingers caressed her hips and were peeling up her shirt too. "So we're about to have an angry make out then? Should I ask what the occasion is?"

"Maybe later." She pressed into him, slamming the back of his thighs against the table, molding herself to him as if they'd done this a million times before. "Now are you gonna keep asking stupid questions or are you gonna kiss me?"

His lips answered for him by crashing against her own. She sunk her nails into his back, his neck, hanging on for all she was worth. His arms closed in a vice around her and she wasn't getting away and neither was he.

They stayed locked in that embrace and it wasn't the sensuous, passionate kissing that they'd had in that hotel. It wasn't the sweet kisses they'd shared briefly whenever they'd had a moment to spare.

This was just harsh, horny, wild, and hormone driven advances neither of them was going to stop. Not that either of them wanted to.

**Apartment Complex, 7:00 AM**

A sharp tapping sound woke her and it was infernally loud for that hour of the morning. She cracked one eye open, debating if she _really_ wanted to get out of bed and leave the warm sanctuary of Naruto's arms.

She did a quick check on her body and found her underwear on and the hem of her shirt twisted uncomfortably high on her stomach. Last night must have been fun then, not _that_ much fun of course, but getting that far would probably have been too much too fast.

She rolled out of bed. Maybe she'd find the source of the noise and dismember it. That was a nice, blood tingling thought to keep her occupied and not clawing her eyes out in the morning sunlight.

Her eyes adjusted slowly and she walked into the kitchen (and the groceries were scattered around, utterly forgotten) to see a small messenger bird with its beak rapping on the window. A scroll was tied to its back.

So much for a languid morning in bed. Duty called.

She opened the screen and let the feathery creature hop inside. It sat still patiently as she untied its parcel. Once relieved of its burden the bird took back off, no doubt heading back to the messaging center for more deliveries. They were so well trained it was sickening.

Noticing the stamp of the Hokage on the outside of the scroll she quickly broke the seal. Considering she'd only been parted from Tsunade for less than a day, getting called in already came as kind of a surprise. She'd thought she'd at least get a vacation after five months of S-class mission hell.

A minute later she tossed the scroll over her shoulder and it burst into flames. It wasn't exactly confidential but she had a policy to burn all messages on site. It was a good, life saving habit for every shinobi who wanted to live past chunin.

According to annoying birds with even more annoying scrolls, she had two hours to be in Tsunade's office for unspecified reasons. Easy enough.

She walked back through the bedroom stripping along the way and threw herself into the shower. Naruto was still dead to the world which was a pity, she was certain he would have enjoyed the show.

**Hokage Tower, 9:00 AM**

Uzumaki Naruto was having a great day. He may have been standing before the new Godaime Hokage at what felt like an ungodly hour with a moronic and dreamy expression plastered on his face, but he'd had the best wakeup in the history of his life. This sort of thing took precedence.

The sound of the shower running that morning had slowly brought him around and by the time he was reaching coherency his girlfriend had stepped out of the bathroom cloaked in only steam and a too small towel. Her skin had been dappled with water, flushed, and her hair was silky sheet of black plastered to her shoulders.

It had been a rather striking contrast. He'd barely even noted the tattoo on her left arm in the shape of a fox. "Where's you get that?" He'd murmured sleepily.

He only then realized giving away he was awake meant she wouldn't be changing in front of him. His stupid, sleepily, curious brain had betrayed him.

She had touched her left arm and appeared both surprised and guilty. "Had it for awhile now."

"So that's why you always bandaged that arm?" That had made an amazing amount of sense for that hour of the morning.

She'd shrugged. "I suppose."

He could see she really didn't want to talk about so he let it drop, but a nauseous feeling welled in his stomach wondering what sick bastard had played that fucked up joke on her, talking a kid into a tattoo knowing what she was and marking her for the world to see. Probably for shits and giggles too.

Probably hoping she'd get lynched.

He'd never had much affection for his Village but for the first time he viscerally _hated_ Konoha. It was a feeling that would take many bloodied years to fade.

Then she'd gone to the dresser, her back to him, and quite neatly dropped her towel and looked for clothes. And he'd forgotten all about tattoos and cruel jokes and questions.

An hour later, and lips felt rather bruised from all the kissing they'd managed to get in before leaving the apartment, they stood outside the Hokage's office waiting for entry. They had met Shikamaru at the door and the Nara and Sakura had shared a friendly if uncertain glance with each other.

Naruto knew they hadn't fought last night at dinner, not exactly, but something had happened to make Sakura antsy and angry enough to hate-make-out with him when she got back.

He wasn't complaining or even looking into it, if he got more of the same from Sakura if the whatever-it-was continued, he was perfectly fine with that.

All three had no idea why they were there and had moved together to the Godaime's office where Naruto now stood smiling dreamily at nothing and no one.

Feeling an elbow jab him in the stomach courtesy of his girlfriend, his attention was brought back to Tsunade. The Hokage was currently sitting behind by an impressive pile of paper work even by Konoha standards.

The Hokage shoved a stack out of the way before addressing them. "Do you know why you're here?"

They all gave a collective shrug.

Tsunade snorted. "Well then I'll make this quick. Nara Shikamaru, Uzumaki Naruto, and Sakura." They all stood up a little straighter at her formal tone. "I am very pleased to inform you all three of you qualified for promotions."

Naruto started in surprise. Then again, considering they'd left directly after the Chunin Exam with their old Hokage in a coma and no idea where the new one was, he supposed any promotions had been delayed. More surprising was that Sakura hadn't even fought in the Final Exam, so how was she getting a vest?

Sakura opened her mouth, no doubt about to ask that very question. Tsunade silenced her with a gesture. "Two of you showed yourselves amazingly competent at the Exams, the other was recommended by a platoon of ANBU."

Sakura flushed. The platoon of ANBU were no doubt the ones present during her little tussle with Orochimaru and Sarutobi. To Naruto's shock she looked nearly embarrassed.

Tsunade pulled out three vests. "After impressive displays of tactical genius and the pure and driven intent you used to achieve victory, you have been promoted to chunin Nara Shikamaru." She passed him the vest and Shikamaru looked both overwhelmed and slightly annoyed.

A promotion wasn't making his life any easier but it spoke to his growing maturity that he accepted without any fuss or eye-rolling.

Tsunade turned to her fellow blond and spoke. "You've shown bravery, strength, and unyielding determination." Her gaze lingered on him."And loyalty unmatched and skills in battle I will plainly admit have not been seen at a genin level in the history of this village. You have been promoted to chunin, Uzumaki Naruto."

He swallowed and nodded and accepted his vest. All of those accolades were nice but the one that touch him deepest was loyalty. Naruto knew Tsunade meant his loyalty to Sakura and that being acknowledged was worth more than any bravery or skills in battle he possessed.

Then Tsunade's eyes landed on Sakura with a proud glint. "You stood shoulder to shoulder with the best of our village in its darkest hour, you have fought enemies far beyond your years for the sake of your village, and I have no doubt you could move mountains if the mood struck you. Those who recommended you consider it a crime that you still hold the rank of genin with your prowess and if it could be done you'd be leap-frogged straight to jonin."

Sakura smiled at that. So did Naruto, because he loved it when people finally acknowledged what he already knew was there. Shikamaru looked at bit shell shocked but blinked it off rapidly. It was like he had already half expected this.

Naruto could only smirk. Those other genin may have been Sakura's friends for years but Naruto was quite smug that he now knew her the best.

Tsunade kept speaking. "As such you have been promoted to chunin Sakura, and it should have happened years ago."

His girlfriend accepted her vest wordlessly.

They all bowed in unison. "Thank you Hokage-sama."

The Hokage rolled her eyes. "Right, right, cut the formality crap. Naruto, Shikamaru, take your vests and wait outside. I need to talk to Sakura for a minute."

Both boys immediately turned mutinous. "But—"

Tsunade gave them a withering look. Sakura wiggled her fingers to them in a silent signal. _Go._

They both did, but Naruto couldn't help but wonder what would go on behind closed doors.

**Hokage's Office**

Sakura stood in front of a full length mirror that was normally and cleverly hidden in a reseeding pocket in the wall. She was openly admiring the new clothing that adorned her body. "Are you sure this is…wise?" She questioned.

Tsunade touched her shoulder, brushing away lint that wasn't there. "Jiraiya and I had long talk about this. Other Village intelligence services have been scouring high and low for you. And rumors are already moving freely about their being a Jinchuuriki for the Kyuubi alive and well."

"So you're not hiding me anymore." That was an understatement.

Tsunade clicked her tongue. "Not to those who know, not anymore. Sarutobi's silly law about telling those who don't know your status is still on the books so you can't go screaming it from the rooftops yet, but _this_ will be plenty to get the message across."

Tsunade had truly out done herself this time. A black sleeveless flak jacket hung on Sakura's slender shoulders and red lining along the seams and pockets stood out brilliantly against the darker cloth. Her arm with the tattoo on it was covered by black bindings that went all the way to the shoulder and a little of her wrist was visible before fingerless black gloves with metal plating covered her hands.

The vest was partially open revealing a fishnet shirt and her chest bindings that led to a pair of black spandex shorts. Below that there was a little of hers legs revealed to the knee before they were concealed by a pair of high heeled boots.

She tapped her foot against the floor and a small blade slid out. Grinning, she jerked her foot back and snapped it from view.

It was not those things that made her question the Hokage, but the back of her vest.

A red fox adorned her entire back, the head starting at the shoulder and its nine tails flaring out all the way until the tips ended at the bottom of the vest. Her katana was slipped in between the vest and another layer of cloth and the hilt rested against the back of her head, comforting her with its cold touch.

The fox was with no doubt and no uncertainty meant to be the Kyuubi, and she was certain the demon in her stomach would _love_ this new outfit.

Sakura shivered as she felt Tsunade's fingers trace the pattern on her back. "The only reason Konoha didn't get invaded while we were gone was because no Village knew exactly who you were or where you were, nor did anyone know your strength. But uncertainty isn't going to buy us anymore time, if we have an S-class jinchuuriki sitting around we're going to shove you in their faces and dare them to make a move."

Sakura liked the sound of that. She twisted in the mirror and raked the fox design with her eyes, trying to burn it into her memory. "And our own Village?"

Tsunade smirked. "You're my jinchuuriki through and through, aren't you?"

Sakura nodded empathetically. The only force she'd follow above her new Hokage was the Kyuubi himself.

The Kage smirked dangerously. "I'm daring those clan assholes and Danzo himself to try and usurp me while I've got you around. Everybody already treats you like you have no compunctions killing anything in your way."

And she didn't.

"So everyone will stay right in their place if I can set you lose on a whim." Tsunade finished simply, sweetly, _poisonously_.

Sakura had never respected this woman more than she did now. The jinchuuriki bowed. "Your wish is my command."

Tsunade swatted her. "No formality brat. Just one more thing…" She saw the older woman coming up behind her with something in her hands. When Tsunade lifted it to go around her neck Sakura vividly remembered the time someone tried to garrote her when she was four.

Sakura flinched. Tsunade hesitated.

The jinchuuriki took a deep breath and let it out. "Sorry Hime, old habit."

The older woman didn't question her and slipped a necklace around her throat and fastened the clasp. Sakura stared in awe at the beautiful prism. It was the one that had been passed down to Tsunade from the First Hokage, the one that could buy small nations, an heirloom of Konoha's history with unspeakable value. For one of the few times in her life she was speechless.

It was not something she'd though anyone would ever trust her to look at, let alone wear.

She breathed. "My lady…" There were no words coming.

Tsunade rested a hand on her shoulder and squeezed. "That necklace is a very precious thing to me Sakura; it's one of the few things left from my family. But I've seen the curse of its weight, the people I've given it too before have…" Her voice trailed off and for a moment the woman was far away and awash in memories. She came back slowly, sadly, but not as unwilling as she used to. "This necklace is for those who protect this village and you've done that more than anybody. And more than anybody…I think you can wash away this curse."

Protect, destroy, she'd do both.

The jinchuuriki touched the flawless gem at her throat reverently. It was a fathomless green a shade far deeper than her eyes. "I won't die to this. I promise."

Not dying was something she was very good at.

Fingertips touched her cheek. Almost like a kiss. "I know you won't. Now go enjoy the rest of your day off, I recommend you make a circuit of the village and let them know we're not fucking around anymore."

Naruto had been right: Tsunade was officially the best Hokage ever.

**Hospital, Four Days Later**

Sasuke ran the bandages up his arms in practiced patience, relieved that he was about to see the door of this place. Hospitals well and truly _sucked_ as far as he was concerned.

Kakashi had weaseled out a day earlier after flirting with a few of the nurses. The Uchiha was still ticked off that Kakashi never bothered to come back and sign him, his _student,_ out as well. But he wasn't that surprised. Kakashi had never really looked out for anybody on his team besides keeping them alive at the bare minimum, and Sasuke doubted the man would start caring beyond that now.

Giving a disgusted sigh he tied the binding off and heard the tell tale sound of the door being pushed open. He hoped it was the nurse with his weapons so he could finally bail out of here. He had never realized the hospital had instituted the policy of holding gear hostage before now to keep its patients in check.

He should have seen it coming.

Impatiently, he turned to glance over his shoulder. It was not a nurse but Sakura entering with a casual wave and Naruto on her heels.

He saw the vests they were wearing, Naruto's green and hers black, and it didn't take long for things to click despite the unusual coloring. Chunin.

An anger lanced into his chest so intensely hot he couldn't even _breathe_ through it. "You've got to be fucking kidding me."

Naruto's head tilted in confusion. "What?"

Sakura eyes turned a smoky shade of green, closed-off, icy smooth. "The vests aren't a joke Sasuke, we were promoted this morning."

Tsunade hadn't been lying about their team being split up. He just hadn't thought it'd be this way. That'd it be a slap right in his face that they were good enough and he wasn't.

He spluttered. "But, you—you didn't even _fight_ before the Final got interrupted, why in the hell did they promote you?"

Naruto looked thunderous but Sakura silenced him with a gesture, and just regarded the Uchiha back in disinterest. "Extenuating circumstances. If you paid attention to any of the rumors you should know why."

And he did. "So it was all true."

She shrugged. "The lion's share of it. I'll cop to jinchuuriki takedowns, demon summoning, and Sanin injuring. Anything else you heard are all vicious, vicious lies."

"Prove it." He was on his feet and furious. "Fight me; show me you're worth that vest."

Naruto stepped between them. "Not on your life Sasuke. If you're fighting anybody you're fighting me, I'm a bit more in your league than Sakura right now."

"I don't need you to fight for me Naruto." She sounded incredibly bored with the whole display.

"But I am." He answered flatly.

She crossed her arms and nodded. "Fine. Have at it."

Sasuke was boiling. They had just dismissed him like he wasn't even there, like he didn't even need to be part of the conversation, like his demand was nothing more than a negotiable request. "I said I'm fighting Sakura, not yo—"

A kunai was at his throat. Fast, so _fast_, and Naruto's grin was skeletal. It was a violent thing, a vicious thing, a sadist's smile. But the grin didn't reach his eyes and Naruto's irises bared an electric blue fury. "You don't get to make demands of her. You fight me or you don't fight anybody. Got it?"

He nodded stiffly, Sharingan activating. He wouldn't be caught off guard again. "Bring it." He'd take down Sakura's guard dog and then take the fight straight to her.

Sakura drifted past them to the door. "Roof's open boys."

Their gazes stayed locked, blazing, and they both vanished in a burst of shushin. Left alone in the room Sakura only laughed before heading to the door.

**Konoha Hospital, Roof**

White sheets flapped gently in the breeze and for one breathless moment they obscured the dizzying azure sky above them. When the winds died down Sakura tucked her hair behind her ear and delicately crossed her legs.

She sat on the concrete roof above the service entrance, and she luxuriated in the sunlight and let her hair be whipped from her face by the wind.

Naruto and Sasuke stood below on opposite sides of the wide expanse of concrete, and they regarded the other like a particularly rabid animal. Hate and fury cast a scent like burning ozone on the wind, or maybe it was chakra, it was hard to say now.

She breathed in. "Ready boys?"

Red eyes. Sharingan. All rage and storms and blood soaked fields.

Blue eyes. Winter. Electric and frigid and razor shards of ice.

They looked to her as if asking for permission and the power of that was so heady she wondered if she could get drunk on it. She flicked her wrist. "Go."

Sasuke flew across the open space between them, already on the attack. It was a carless move and Naruto casually stepped out of the way of the attack and backhanded his teammate.

"Don't get cocky." Sakura murmured.

Sasuke was sent skidding back and blood bubbled past his lips. He swiped at the blood absently and his eyes went from that rage-hued crimson to a murkier shade of calculation. He'd realized this wouldn't be easy and Sakura was almost glad.

Naruto beating their teammate in thirty seconds or less would just be _boring_ for her.

"You're not wearing your headband." Naruto remarked casually, standing with his shoulders thrown back and his hands in his pocket. He wasn't even pretending this was a fight.

Sasuke scowled. "You're not my equal."

Naruto chuckled. "You're right."

The Uchiha looked surprised until that skeletal and feral grin returned to Naruto's face. The blonds' voice was thicker than venom. "I'm in the big leagues now and you're nothing but a two-bit genin with a shiny pair of eyes. You're nothing special."

And then Naruto reached up and untied his own headband. He cast it away without a second glance. "You're nothing to me."

With a shout Sasuke launched himself at his teammate again, throwing a storm of lethal blows.

Sakura chuckled. Sasuke was smart and frankly a decent hand when it came to tactics, but when he was angry it went all out the window. And no real shinobi let their emotions rule them. When she got her hands on him she'd have her work cut out for her. That pride of his would have to be…tempered. Maybe even _burned_ out of him.

Naruto ducked out of the way of the blows, weaving carelessly, his hands still in his pockets. "Too slow."

Sasuke leapt back and his hands were already through a dozen seals when he landed. His mouth opened and a tidal of flame burst out.

Naruto looked almost mildly interested as back flipped above and allowed the flame to harmlessly pass beneath him. The surge hit one of the small water towers that dotted the roof, melting some of the bottom and sending water gushing out. The room was soon covered in a thin and sparkling film, and Sakura had the feeling someone down in the hospital was going to be pissed at them for this.

Fun times.

"You wanna play with jutsu?" Naruto's eyes flickered with delighted and cruel glee. Even in his rage Sasuke took a step back. He recognized those eyes.

Naruto always got like that just before someone got eviscerated. The blond tapped his foot on the roof and his own hands signs were nothing but a blur. A dragon made of water exploded from the melted tank behind them.

Sasuke's Sharingan eyes went wide and he flew through his own hand signs. Sakura noted they were only half as fast and clumsy compared to her boyfriend's.

The water around their feet became its own dragon that rose to shield the Uchiha.

"Copied." Sakura remarked in interest.

But Sasuke hadn't learned the jutsu or had a quarter of Naruto's capacity, and it was like a kitten compared to a lion. Naruto's dragon crashed down like a tidal wave and Sasuke and his meager replication were engulfed.

Sasuke spun through air and water rapidly, swallowing enough to choke him before righting himself to land. The rest of the jutsu slammed into the roof and exploded into thousands of droplets and into a momentary rain.

She reclined back and let the water splatter and flow down her skin.

Naruto looked over to her with a lecherous grin. "Looking good babe."

Sakura preened for him.

Sasuke glared murderously. He rose to his feet and snarled. "Quit fucking around."

"Me?" Naruto pointed to himself innocently. "I'm not the guy getting his ass bounced across the roof. If anyone's fucking around here…"

The retort was cut off by the sound of chirping birds, which quickly ramped to just raw and crackling lightning.

"Pulling out the assassination jutsu already?" Naruto lifted one palm. Chakra ignited above it like a supernova. "I'm game."

The chakra turned to a small hurricane that compressed down and down until all the rage of the sky was crushed into a tiny orb.

Sasuke's widened eyes told Sakura everything, but the fear quickly morphed to fury. "Chidori."

Naruto smirked. "Rasengan."

They moved. A collision course; faster than sound and more inevitable than gravity. They swung their arms in wide arcs and prepared for their very chakra to splinter and tear into their teammate. Fully prepared to be sprayed with blood and pelted with shredded skin.

"Idiots."

It never happened.

Naruto and Sasuke both let out groans of pain as their wrists buckled. Their jutsu flickered out like dying candles. Sakura stood between them with a hand on each wrist and violence in her eyes. "Are you two stupid?"

Sasuke opened and closed his mouth a few times, unable to articulate any kind of response through mind-numbing shock. One second she'd been sitting nearly fifty away. A fraction of that same second later she was planted between them, had intercepted a double assassination from two different people, and all on a collision course even his Sharingan hadn't been able to see clearly.

Naruto tried to be nonchalant. "It was just a little fun Sakura. It wasn't like I'd _actually_ kill him."

In response she bent Naruto's wrist back until he fell to his knees hissing in pain. The look she gave Naruto chilled Sasuke down to his very soul.

"Don't patronize me." Her voice was guttural but then it took on venom and sweetness liked poisoned honey. "You think I can't see that bloodthirsty look in your eyes? Think I can't _smell_ it when you get all horny for a kill?"

The blond appeared chastised, even embarrassed. "It was a mistake."

"You would have killed him." She answered flatly. And it was that complete. Written in stone.

The Uchiha shuddered in fear. She had spelled out his death sentence and then averted it on a whim, and her whim was not a safe place to be.

She turned on Sasuke and this time her eyes were ice, but her irises were ringed fiery scarlet and they reflected her disgust. "I guess I shouldn't have expected any better from you. What a fucking waste."

He couldn't feel any anger and chills gnawed at his guts. How could he have ever mistaken her for vapid or weak? Right at this moment it felt like the devil itself had a grip on his wrist and maybe his soul.

"That's enough." A familiar voice called out.

All three of them turned to Kakashi and their old sensei's rebuke was thunderous. "What the hell made you think it'd be a good idea to fight your teammate straight out of the hospital?"

Naruto's lips twisted into some ugly facsimile of a grin. "It looked like fun, and Sasuke-chan was just _begging_ us to play."

Sakura nodded sweetly and let their arms go, almost as an afterthought. Naruto just massaged his wrist and did not appear any the worse for having his girlfriend bring him violently to heel.

As soon as her cooled touch left him Sasuke couldn't get away fast enough.

She cooed after him and the cold, invisible possession of her grip stayed on him. "You're going home already Sasuke? But we just started playing."

"ENOUGH!" Their sensei roared and killing intent slammed into them. It was a muddy and thick and scorching intent, blistering under their skin and shoving white hot needles into their veins.

Sakura looked unmoved. Naruto buffed his nails against his shirt. They both seemed entirely unimpressed by the display.

Sakura tilted her head and giggled. Vapid. But those eyes of hers were still ringed crimson and the effect was eerie and immutable and distorted. "Sasuke is our teammate." And those animal eyes raked him and Kakashi's protection was nothing to her. "We'll play with him whenever we like."

Sasuke had never feared his teammates, never even regarded them as anything else besides just being _there_. Now he was hip deep in a noxious tar and Sakura seemed quite happy to drag him down and let it fill his throat and burn out his guts until he drowned…

Kakashi's hand landed on his shoulder. It chased away the noxious heat of fear but left chills of uncertainty behind. "Go home Sasuke. I'll take them in to the Hokage to be disciplined."

But Sasuke couldn't stop looking at his teammates, couldn't conceive of punishment, and he felt like a kid in the school yard being drilled by all the other's kids eyes if he even dared _think _of snitching to the teacher. They looked at him like a little kid running to cry to mommy. He wouldn't show any weakness, wouldn't show how off balance they'd made him. "I asked them to fight."

Naruto and Sakura smiled at him around Kakashi. It wasn't assuring.

Kakashi dropped his voice to an urgent whisper. "I know they egged you into this Sasuke, Sakura is…she's persuasive." That hadn't been closed to what Kakashi had been about to stay, but something had gripped his sensei tight and choked off the words. Something that was beyond the four of them on the roof. Something even Sakura's distorted gaze couldn't induce.

Sasuke didn't care about the details; he already knew there was something very _very_ off with his female teammate.

"I asked them to fight me." He repeated. "Don't interfere."

Kakashi's jaw tightened under his mask. He might have been irritated, he might have been afraid, but the Uchiha didn't care. Sasuke just watched his teammates turn to leave and couldn't deny the small tremor of relief them leaving gave him.

"We're out of here." Naruto called over his shoulder. "But if you want to play again…"

Sakura batted her eyelashes at him. It was like flirting with the devil. "We have plenty of games for you, so don't be a stranger Sasuke."

His stomach crushed back down into that tight knot of fear and uncertainty and doubt. His self-loathing and blind hatred rose like bile in his throat. He had been outstripped, beat down, and rendered obsolete by his chunin teammates. He could never _ever_ face Itachi while they stood over him and Sakura had her grip on him.

Both he and Kakashi saw the blood red fox on the back of her vest at the same time. Sasuke, as unsteady as he was, only thought it was an odd design to wear considering the history of their village.

Kakashi went stiff as a board beside him. He spat. "Where did you get that?"

Sakura looked over her shoulder and one of her arms twisted back, gently brushing her fingers down the design. Lovingly, fondly. "Get what?" She asked coyly.

Kakashi took a threatening step forward. "You know exactly what I mean."

What she said next was beyond brazen. "I don't answer to you Hatake Kakashi."

Sasuke blinked and Kakashi was in front of Sakura, about to spin her around and haul her up by the collar. A larger hand stopped Kakashi from manhandling her. "Why are you touching my subordinate Hatake?"

Jiraiya of the Sanin was the tallest man Sasuke had ever seen and he towered over Kakashi like the jonin was a small child. And the power rolling off him reminded Sasuke viscerally of Orochimaru, of the sheer and near reality altering _force_ his chakra could rip through the air.

"Jiraiya, Sakura is my stu—" Kakashi went mute. The Sanin's glare was all it took.

Sakura grabbed handfuls of the back of the Sanin's jacket and her voice came out in a loving croon. "Jiraiya-sama! What do you need?"

The heaviness of the air receded a bit as Jiraiya threw a grin back at her. "You to stop playing around and head to the usual training ground. I have work for you."

She nodded cheerfully. "Of course. We'll be waiting for you." She moved off and linked hands with Naruto and they quickly left. They didn't spare Sasuke a second glance.

Jiraiya called one last gentle admonishment. "Don't let me catch you doing this again."

They smiled like the idiot genin Sasuke had known and knew were a facade, and then they were gone.

Jiraiya released Kakashi's wrist and the jonin stood back. Sasuke could swear Kakashi resembled a kicked dog right then.

The Sanin's tone fell into a businesslike clip. "I'll only say this once. Sakura was moved to my command half a year ago and the only one punishing her will be either myself or the Hokage. You lay one hand on her and I'll rip it off."

The almost calm and flatly confident delivery of this assured Sasuke that this was a guarantee.

Kakashi swallowed. "I understand, but that vest—"

"Was given to Sakura by Tsunade-hime herself." Jiraiya's eyes were flint on a cold burn. "And both of them know exactly what it means. Our little S-class killer is going onto the world stage."

"S-class killer?" His sensei spluttered.

Sasuke felt like a sledgehammer had been driven into his ribs.

"Just between you and me." Jiraiya's grin was vicious. "On our last mission she injured Uchiha Itachi himself and after that…well, you can read the mission report for that happened when Orochimaru showed up. You Kakashi, _you,_ missed the fact you had the most powerful genin that has ever come out of our village _on your team._"

And Sasuke's world shut down on itself into blind, numb, and harshly raw disbelief. He had fallen so far behind he couldn't even comprehend the magnitudes of the gulf separating him and the teammate he'd once considered useless.

Then Sasuke remembered Itachi had been _chasing _Sakura and he hadn't even questioned why. And while he didn't know the reason why Sasuke knew it was because of those wrong eyes of hers and why Kakashi couldn't stand her and the pure-embodying-genocide insignia she wore on her back like a badge of pride.

Sasuke had never known his teammates.

"Keep your student disciplined." Jiraiya left with a parting shot. "And considering you didn't even give a damn to train Naruto, the kid who learned _Hirashin_ in a few months, you should consider yourself lucky you even get to keep the Uchiha. Try not to screw that up too."

Sasuke didn't even notice the Sanin's departure until he found the air was easier to breathe. It took all of Sasuke's willpower to even turn to his sensei and form words with his unresponsive tongue. "What's going on?"

Kakashi tried to smile at him but it came out brittle and fake. "Later Sasuke, I have a mission out of the village I'm already late for."

What a surprise.

Kakashi left but to the genin it was more like fleeing.

Sasuke stood there alone with his world crashing down around him. He was staring into a distortion and nothing was as it should be, and in the filmy and bending reflection the things he thought he knew were fracturing into new and monstrous contours. He rubbed at his curse seal not so absently and considered his options.

**Rice Country, Unknown Location**

The hallway was dark, silent, dank. A small tray of glass vials clinked together gently in his hands and even in the dark they glittered strangely. Doors flitted past in the corners of his eyes, heavy and iron, stark and tarnished with muck.

The last door was covered in a maddening scrawl of seals and they were so powerful they hissed with chakra, daring any to test their mettle. Kabuto sighed and balanced the tray on one hand and bit down on his fingers. In the dark he felt the sticky and hot trail of his blood gushing from the wounds.

With casual ease he smeared his blood down the door and with a reluctant murmur the seals powered down. He nudged the door open and was met with the distinct stench of putrid decay. Of lingering death.

His face did not betray his disgust. The candles in the room seemed to suck in on them themselves at his entrance before reigniting.

They illuminated the skeletal and pale form of Orochimaru sitting on a sterilized medical table, his shirt draped loosely around his shoulders. The loose cloth revealed the puckered skin of his arms, fetid shades of green and purple, with long slivers of already peeling skin sloughing off the bone.

Kabuto put the tray on a nearby stool. He didn't dare make any noise or he'd rouse the living corpse before him from its drug induced stupor. And that would be...unpleasent.

His fingers trailed through the vials, his chakra sampling their contents. He plucked one up filled with silver slicked promise. He swiftly put a needle through the rubber stopper and drew the liquid out and injected it.

Orochimaru came around like a shot, screaming.

Kabuto winced. "I'm sorry master, this is the only—"

He barely dodged Orochimaru trying to break his knee. It was only the deep and fanatic loyalty to his master the stopped Kabuto from sticking Orochimaru in the neck with the needle.

"This isn't the only way. You've been searching for a cure for months Kabuto, and what do your efforts give me?" He raised his mutilated, rotting arms. "NOTHING!"

Kabuto flinched. "Orochimaru-sama…"

"Don't." The Sanin spat. "There is no point in continuing this…_farce_ of yours. Gather the Sound Four and send them to Konoha. Taking on a new body like Sasuke-kun's is the only option left."

Kabuto kept his face blank even though he was inwardly seething. It was not like he hadn't suggested just that course of action early on, only for Orochimaru to rebuff him. In the end though he swallowed his anger down and nodded. "I'll go tell them right now, with any luck they should be there and back in less than a week."

Orochimaru just hissed, half in irritation and half in pain, and reclined back on the table. His molten-gold eyes closed but Kabuto knew he was far from asleep. His master's wounds were too severe, too utterly-crippling, too mind-numbingly painful for him to get anything closer to sleep than a drug-induced trance.

And if Kabuto was honest with himself, Orochimaru's sanity (which was questionable at the best of times) was already fraying apart. Lack of sleep for an already half-psychotic Sanin tended to do that.

Kabuto left quickly and repowered the security seals on the door. As he made his way through the dark halls to the quarters of Orochimaru's most elite bodyguards he considered the situation.

Absently he touched his own scars, those carved into his chest by wind and chakra and cold calculation. They were once gaping wounds that had sheared open his chest cavity and nearly killed him.

Uzumaki Naruto had taken him apart like Kabuto had still been a greenhorn genin. Jinchuuriki Sakura had mauled Orochimaru on two separate occasions and even if Kabuto hadn't been present for one battle and unconscious for the other, he'd seen the results.

Orochimaru had his arms crippled and infuriated by that he'd been throwing death threats left and right, but more than that…

He was _worried_.

And now he was sending Orochimaru's handpicked bodyguards to steal the third member of that dangerous team. Kabuto couldn't help but wonder if he'd tell the Sound Four they were being sent on a suicide mission.

* * *

Edit: Massively long chapter, so there was a lot rewritten and even more added in: the scence with the Kyuubi and Sakura interacting in the seal was added in along with Jiraiya and Tsunade's conversation over Sakura to expand on the consequences of the situation. This time when Sakura woke up everybody was visibly relieved, and any mention of the Kyuubi she made was taken with the severtiy that it should have been. Also, important mention was made between the different and evolving forms of love Sakura is experiencing between herself and Naruto and/or the Kyuubi. Sasuke's wake up after his coma was altered and his conversation with Tsunade afterwards was new to help show the dynamic of Team Seven from his perspective. Sakura and Naruto making out in front of the hostpial was added inand her meeting with Konohamaru was shifted around. Jiraiya's meeting with the council was put in to actually show what politics are going on since they were gone for five months. The dinner scence with Sakura's friends was new and foreshadowing is now in place that her friends know something is up with her. Sakura's blood seal was momentarily adressed by Naruto, but only that he's under the impression someone tricked her into taking on a tattoo as a kid. Last the entire fight scence on the hospital was redone to be better, more violent, and the aftermath more creepy so Sasuke is suitably freaked out by his teammates. Also, Jiraiya ripping Kakashi a new one was a bit more explained.


	12. Hunters and the Hunted

Disclaimer: Because I don't own Naruto, obviously.

* * *

**Training Field 23**

"So are either of you going to explain what that little incident on the hospital roof was?" Jiraiya sounded surprisingly calm when he asked. Sakura guessed he wasn't even particularly angry with them this time, just curious.

She and Naruto shared a silent conversation with their eyes and the responsibility to answer was shoved off on her. "Sasuke wasn't all that happy when he found out we got promotions and he didn't. Things were said, insults were thrown, and it sort of devolved into a fight after that."

The Sanin spoke flatly. "With you watching."

"It's the voyeur in me." She answered brightly.

Naruto looked vaguely ill. "Oh god, stop trying to make this sound worse than it already is."

Jiraiya ran a hand over his face. "And you two didn't go to the hospital just to rub it in?"

While that did sound like something either of them would do, the truth was Sakura had bullied Naruto into going so she could continue her turn-Sasuke-to-the-dark-side campaign she had going on. The fight had been an unfortunate but not that really unexpected consequence.

She shook her head. "No."

He accepted her honesty. "Good. In that case kiddies gather round, I have training regimens set up for both of you and I need you to memorize 'em."

Naruto raised an eyebrow. "Because you're leaving again?"

Jiraiya gave him a look of mock insult. "Is that disappointment I hear? Don't worry Naru-chan, it's only a little Intel run and then I'll be back. I know you'll miss me terribly but—"

"Oh please." Naruto rolled his eyes. "I'll miss you about as far as I can throw you."

Sakura looked between them, used to the bickering, and decided she felt left out. She sidled up to Jiraiya and plastered herself to his side, nuzzling. "Well _I'll_ miss you Jiraiya-sama."

"I see somebody has their priorities in order." Jiraiya grinned and ruffled her hair. "Just why aren't you my apprentice again?"

Naruto whined. "Stop messing with me you two."

Sakura smiled and gave Jiraiya one last, tighter hug. _I really will miss you._ It said.

The ruffling of her hair stopped. He patted the crown of her head once. _I know. _The weight of it said.

Through all the jokes, the training, the playful banter, Jiraiya had become something like an uncle to her. He was the first adult that she had _ever_ been able to depend on. Their bond was one of genuine depth and though she was perfectly self-sufficient without him, she would not object to her and Naruto following Jiraiya around to the ends of the earth if they could.

She stepped back and Jiraiya motioned for them to sit. Naruto latched onto her as soon as she was in arm's reach.

For the next hour they stared attentively at Jiraiya's absorbing every word he spoke. He would leave shortly after to parts unknown and unaware to all three, events in the village were boiling dangerously.

**Hokage's Tower, Balcony **

A man was sitting on a wheelchair silently, a pipe hanging from one of his withered hands. He brought it to his mouth and took a slow drag. His face was a weathered one, wrinkled deep with the lines aged in wisdom and loss.

He blew the smoke out and watched it twist in the breeze. This had once been his office, his balcony. Now it belonged to another while he sat here crippled.

And yet Sarutobi, the former Sandaime Hokage did not feel that bitter. A student he though forever lost had returned to take his place and he was alive. It was frankly more than he ever expected when he'd fallen into a coma over half a year ago.

He turned in his wheelchair as he heard the door open behind him. A warm smile covered his face once he saw who it was.

He chuckled. "Ah Tsunade, glad to see you still have the time to come see an old man."

She set a sake bottle on a nearby table and sat herself on a luxurious chair next to him. "Old man, really Sarutobi? Spare me. If you're old what does that make me?" She poured out the bottle into a nearby glass and took a long and slow sip.

Her taste for alcohol certainly hadn't waned in the decades since he'd seen her.

"It makes you as lovely as always Tsunade." He assured.

She snorted. "Flattery will get you nowhere."

For a moment they were almost, _almost_, back to that time where he had been her beloved sensei and she his bright little medic. Then he saw the shadows and hardness in her eyes and felt his own crippled body reminding him the past was long over.

He dropped his pipe into his lap, pleasantries over. "With all of your duties to both the hospital and to the Village I'm surprised you found time for a social call."

"Shizune has become a wonderful medic in her own right, and she can handle the hospital for a while." Tsunade took another sip of her drink before getting up to lean against the terrace railing. "And by duties I'm sure you mean: busy while the Council tries to suck the lifeblood right out of you."

He frowned heavily. "They are the check this Village needs. We've both seen what happens on the battle field, when Kage's lose it and send their own ninja to die in vain unchecked."

"I have." She put her back to the railing and her chin was tilted harshly. "And our council is complete bullshit. They're a bunch of power grubbing, traditional-grasping, and even _civilian _morons. It's one thing to have advisors to check your battle plans so you're not killing your ninja unnecessarily, it's another to let them sink their fingers into every function of the village!"

"Tsunade…" He tried to cut her off.

"Sakura."

Her name alone carried the weight of blood drenched years.

Tsunade hissed. "I have no idea what the _hell_ was going through your head when you made that silly little law about her being a protected jinchuuriki and never did a damn thing to enforce it, but I do know your council practically gave pardons to anyone who hurt her and you didn't seem to care if she ended up half-dead."

"Don't." And even crippled and far beyond his prime, his killing intent had not weakened. "Don't you dare say I didn't care about her. I put her through the Academy, I made sure she graduated, I put her on a team that couldn't be failed, I—"

"I'll say it again to your face old man." She pushed off the railing and her lips curled into a snarl. "You didn't give a _damn_ about the _person_ who was Sakura. I've looked through her hospital records and I've seen the damage that was done to her. Every bone in her body broken at one point or another, every organ ruptured, more concussions than I could count, more stitches than even the nurses wanted to write down, every poison under the sun in her blood."

A thick, painful flash of guilt sunk in. "That wasn't…"

"Wasn't what?" Her voice took on a vicious lilt. "Wasn't your acceptable amount of damage? Wasn't the necessary sacrifice you decided she had to give? Wasn't the _only option _just because you couldn't stand up to your own Village?"

It would have been more painful if she had punched him. And considering it'd be Tsunade doing the punching…"You have no idea what it was like here sixteen years ago. The balance here was so delicate anything could have set it off. People were punished but we couldn't have executions, one spark…any civil war would have destroyed Konoha for good."

She smiled and it was so sharp and so cruel it sliced him to the bone. "So that's what you tell yourself to sleep at night."

He had no response for that. No defense she would accept. He had done what was necessary for the village when he'd been Hokage and no amount of second guessing would change that.

"You'll never admit it though." Her voice cooled and all the rage and aggression was gone. "Well it was nice to see you Sarutobi-_sensei."_

He turned towards her. "If you hate me so much now why did you heal me? Did you think it was justice to let me live crippled, live so you could second guess everything I've done for this village?"

Her words were iced in bitterness. "I healed you because Sakura asked me to."

His breath rushed out of him.

"Not that you deserved it. But her understandings of right and wrong and pain and forgiveness are so warped I don't think I'll ever understand them." She took a deep drink of sake and slammed her cup down. "Goodbye Sensei. Enjoy what's left of your life and never show your face to me again."

She left him on the balcony. He had no doubt within the day she'd have him barred from the tower and on an ANBU watch list. It was a necessary price. He could go and be retired now, spend time with Asuma and Konohamaru, finally do that painting he never could manage with his office hours. His legs might be beyond repair but his arms were fine.

He wouldn't second guess himself. Anything less than absolute belief would drive him insane.

**Uchiha Compound, 6:00 PM**

His fists pummeled the wooden post relentlessly, and his knuckles slowly bled through the bandages on his hands. He slammed his fist as hard as he could into the center one more time and the punished wood splintered easily under his hand.

He was still too weak.

He took a ragged breath and stepped back from the old training post. He rarely ventured into the sprawling Uchiha compound, but right now he was lost in the midst of it beating himself bloody in a place drenched in horrid memories. All just to remind himself of his purpose.

Killing Itachi. That was all that mattered.

Not psychotic teammates. Not useless Sensei's. Not anything.

He had to get stronger and that's all there was to it. Even if he had to torture himself with memories just to get there.

Itachi had been right when he said he didn't hate enough, he'd been so caught up in his teammates he had let the burning inferno in his guts weaken. He had let them distract him from his purpose and that was unacceptable.

He sat wearily and he grabbed a towel and mopped up his face. It felt like his entire body was coated in a second skin made of sweat.

Memories of the battle with Naruto churned through his mind. He remembered the speed of his opponent, the fluidity of his taijutsu, the sheer and raw _power _of his ninjutsu. And even thinking of that Rasengan left chills crawling down his back.

He thought of Sakura appearing like lighting between them, and turning on Naruto with fury in her eyes. _You would have killed him. _She had said that like gospel truth.

And he'd believed her.

His fists clenched.

His eyes flew open with his Sharingan flaring. His rage and helplessness fueled the chakra in his lungs and the speed of his hands. Fire poured from his mouth and immolated everything in front of him. It did nothing to assuage him.

Panting angrily, temper not dissipated, he turned to leave.

He froze when he felt _something _behind him, and instinct screamed at him. Acting on that pure impulse he flung a handful of kunai over his shoulder. Metal clanged against metal and he turned deliberately.

His instincts had never been attuned to his teammates in fear, even now, so he already knew it wasn't Naruto looking to finish their match.

Four shinobi stood around him. Oto ninja. One a girl with red hair and a nasty smile, another a massive man with a shock of orange hair, the third a dark skinned boy with six arms, and the last a pale and silver-haired male with an odd growth of _something_ sticking out of his back.

This wasn't a good sign.

The girl spoke first and smirked as she did. "Well there's no mistaking an Uchiha's eyes Jirobu, told you this worthless bastard was him."

Sasuke felt his eyebrow twitch.

The one who must be Jirobu grinned and cracked his knuckles. "Now now Tayuya, don't call him a worthless bastard until _after_ we kick his ass."

"Well this is nice and all," Sasuke answered amiably, having well learned just how goddamned _infuriating _it was when Sakura and Naruto did the same to him. "But I don't have time for a bunch of morons who decided to walk in the middle of Konoha just to get beat down."

The one with more arms than was natural smirked. "Big words for a genin."

The silver-haired one spoke up next. "Too right Kidomaru. You want the honors?"

"Naw." Kidomaru answered. "I think Tayuya-chan here is about to blow a fuse. We should let her work it off."

"Go to hell." Tayuya snapped.

And Sasuke was getting bored. It was weird how a life or death situation could turn so…dull, but he could sense these guys weren't on Naruto's level. And even if Sakura had never really 'flashed' him, as it were, with a full scope of her ability he knew they couldn't match her either.

Having seen worse it was suddenly hard to get worked up. He threw a kunai and watched in satisfaction as it cut the girl's face.

She touched her bloody cheek in surprise but it quickly morphed to rage. "I'll fucking kill you." And she threw herself at him.

The fight was on.

That was as farce as he thought when her skin seemed to twist before his eyes and darken. The world turned sideways and suddenly his mouth was filled with dirt and his head was ringing. He flipped to right himself and she was already on him again and this time he saw the curse seal as it unfurled.

The very feel of it chilled his blood. Suddenly this ragtag group was a threat.

A knee caught him in the chin and his jaw audibly snapped shut. He reeled back and threw a punch. She caught it on her forearm and it felt like hitting steel. She punched him in the stomach and black spots exploded in his eyes.

The seal crawled farther across her skin.

"Easy there Tayuya." One of the others called out. "Don't want you calling the ANBU down."

"I'm not a moron Jirobu." She stepped back and her skin was clear. "I've got it handled."

Sasuke sunk to the ground wheezing. He was still _too fucking_ weak.

Inwardly he tapped the cursed seal on his shoulder, testing the strength of the suppression seal over it and how easy it would be to break it.

"The last of the great Uchiha huh? Pathetic." Tayuya spat and stepped away.

He rose to his feet clutching his side, feeling the suppression seal crumbling…

Kidomaru spoke. "You've learned nothing in this hell hole of a village. The only way you'll ever get any stronger is to come to Orochimaru-sama. He gave you a gift Sasuke, now you need to learn how to use it. So what'll it be?"

His chakra stopped. He let the suppression seal fold closed and his mind cool. Icy clarity. He'd already long considered this.

"And if I go with you?" He asked slowly.

"Orochimaru-sama will make you stronger than your wildest dreams." Her smirked viciously. "And you'll become Sasuke-sama, our leader. Here you're nothing but a genin being held back but there you'll be taught real power."

On that Hospital roof he'd already made his choice. "When do we leave?"

All Four shinobi grinned like devils. Kidomaru answered in an oily voice. "Right now Sasuke-_sama_. Follow us."

They vanished and Sasuke looked back at the compound one last time, burning it into his memory. It was all for this, everything he did. He followed them to his future.

**Training Field 23, 7:00 PM**

Rock Lee walked slowly through the woods, his damaged legs weighing him down heavily. They were like chains on his soul, an executioner's axe over his dreams, a price on his life.

Gaara of the desert had mutilated him the preliminaries of the Chunin exam and even now, half a year later, Lee couldn't take up his headband and fight for his village. Not without falling to the ground screaming in pain anyways.

A few days ago a woman named Shizune had called him into the hospital and examined him. She had then told him surgery could be done. He'd been elated for one breathless moment.

Then she'd told him it had a fifty percent chance of fatality.

It was…a hard choice to make. One he couldn't share with anyone, not even his sensei. If he chose the safe way, to live as a non-shinobi for life, he could never face Gai again. If he took the risk and died…he couldn't let his team worry either.

So here he was, wandering the training grounds trying not to let fear, jealousy, or pain eat him from the inside out. His morbid train of thought was interrupted by the sound of a spar. He spent a long moment debating if he wanted to see two people fighting when he could not.

But Rock Lee loved taijutsu more than anything in the world, and just from the noise of battle he could tell whoever his fellow ninja were they were good and fast and strong. And Lee loved good taijutsu.

A well beaten path caught his eye and he followed it through the trees and into the open.

A shout pierced the air as he watched on in both admiration and envy.

Two people were sparring, one a dark haired girl, the other a blonde haired boy. They went round and round throwing punches with deadly accuracy and kicks with honed fluidity.

They looked familiar and it took a long moment for him to remember them as fellow genin from the exam he'd been crippled in. Then he saw the chunin vests they were wearing and jealous knot formed in his throat.

They weren't his fellow genin, not anymore.

He watched the girl, Sakura, bring her leg up to smash her teammate in the chest. The blonde, Naruto he remembered, was not easily taken down and he rolled one shoulder below her kick and dropped to the ground under her attack. Pressing his advantage he grabbed her leg and gave it a twist.

She let herself move with the motion and her body momentarily left the ground as she turned sideways. She arched back in midair and brought her second leg screaming down on Naruto's head.

To avoid the knockout he released her leg and bent back just out of reach.

She completed the wild spin through the air and landed back on her feet, grinning. Lee watched it go on as they traded blows; Naruto seemingly coming out on top through sheer tenacity only for Sakura to reverse positions and twist at near impossible angles to flip the tables.

He was supposed to be the taijutsu genius of his generation. They had ninjutsu and genjutsu and he'd seen it with his own eyes…and even if his legs were fine he knew they could take him in a fight in a pure taijutsu match. It was humbling, maybe even demeaning.

He shuddered and he pushed those dangerous lines of thinking to the back of his mind. They had both worked hard, probably three times as hard as he ever did to have mastery over three fields like they did. That just meant he had to train harder…if he ever got his legs back.

"Are you just going to stand there?" A female voice called out.

Lee jolted in surprise when he realized Sakura was calling out to him. "uh…"

She waved him over. "Come on then, no need to be shy."

He moved towards them tentatively, and as he got closer he saw she looked barely looked winded while Naruto was bent over and panting.

"So what can I do for ya Lee?" She asked cheerfully.

"You remember me?" He blurted. Moments later he felt like an idiot.

She snorted. "Dear Gods, of course I do. You don't forget the guy who nearly crippled one of your teammates before the exam even starts."

He flushed. "I am sorry for doing that to Uchiha-san."

"Ah." She waved him off. "I doubt Sasuke even remembers that anymore. So what brings you out here?"

He had a lie all prepared when he paused and really thought about it. This secret, this surgery was eating him from the inside out. He just wanted someone to share his burden with if only for a minute, just ask for a second opinion if he should do or die.

His mouth went dry. "Thinking."

Naruto had regained his breath and joined the conversation. "About what?"

Lee took a deep breath and spent the next ten minutes outlining the situation: his injuries, the surgery, the risk. When it was done the two chunin regarded him seriously, their faces devoid of the cheery smiles they'd been wearing minutes before.

"I can't tell you what to do with your life." Sakura finally replied.

He sagged down. He had jus wanted one small indication of what to do, someone else to carried the weight of the choice so he wouldn't have to feel guilty.

But Sakura kept speaking. "But I can tell you this. That kind of surgery will definitely be done by Tsuande-Hime herself, and when it comes to life-or-death operations you can't be in any better hands than hers."

Naruto nodded. "Sakura's right, but more than that…we risk our lives every day as ninja. You've already put your life on the line for this, if being a shinobi means that much to you…what's one more risk?"

It was a crude, messy, harsh how he said it. It was also the truest overview of the situation anyone had given Lee.

Sakura frowned but didn't object and Lee felt something ignite inside him. "Thank you. You've shown me that this worrying has wasted my youth."

Her lips twitched and for one moment she almost looked wistful. "Put that youth to good use Lee, and good luck."

He nodded and felt his energy return and suddenly his legs weren't as heavy. "Yosh! I will surely fight you both when my legs are better, let us all embrace our youth!" And he rushed off and the two chunin watched him go.

When he was out of view Naruto and Sakura exchanged a long look.

"Did we do the right thing?" Naruto asked her.

She closed her eyes. "Who knows."

He didn't ask again and she reopened his eyes and lined up in a fighting stance. Naruto mimicked her, already forgetting the odd meeting with the exuberant genin. Already forgetting he just encouraged someone to risk their life, but such was the life of a shinobi. Messy, brutal, and short.

"So I lost that last round." He began amicably. "So I have to make breakfast tomorrow, but if I win this next one we're back to even."

Sakura snickered and lowered her stance into something far more dangerous. "Try all you like, your ass is going to the ground."

"Oh really?" He raised his eyebrows and his stance sharpened into something equally as deadly. They weren't fighting with kiddie Academy styles anymore.

She let out a near _sensuous _growl. "I'm confident enough to say if you win I'll do something…fun for you."

She grinned as his eyes widened.

"You mean I have to work for it now?" He asked in mock horror.

"Oh this isn't something you've gotten to have before." She purred.

His eyebrows went up another notch. "You know just how to encourage a guy. Guess whose ass is gonna be on the ground now babe?"

She made a come-hither gesture. "Why don't we find out?"

He burst into action and the first punch grazed her face. She wove her body around the blow and hooked her foot behind his knee and pulled.

He let himself go down only to drop on his hands and send his off leg sweeping her off her feet. She felt herself being lifted and as she went down she drew her knees in and drove them into his chest. He gasped in surprise and pain but rolled her off.

They grappled for a minute and Sakura tried her best to shimmy back to her feet and continue the fight there. Naruto wasn't letting her go anywhere and he had her legs uselessly around his waist trying to throw him and an arm twisted and locked behind her back.

With her last free hand she charged chakra and slammed her fingers against his throat. He wheezed as his air flow was cut off but through the pain he grabbed her hand and pinned it over her head.

Suddenly her chest was tight and her thighs uncomfortably hot. He ground against her and gave her one hell of a lecherous grin as he caught his breath. "So what were you saying about something fun?"

"I can't show you when you've got me pinned." She answered coyly, not that _upset_ she'd lost.

He kissed her. "Bullshit."

She wiggled under him. "Wanna bet?"

"Betting's what got me here." He pressed his chest against hers. "I'm game."

She licked her lips slowly, gazed at him with smoky irises, and the devil was in her eyes.

Naruto wouldn't have it any other way.

**Hokage's Office, Next Day, 8:00 AM**

It was only lucky, clerical fluke that made Tsunade aware that Uchiha Sasuke was missing. The mission's office had him slotted him for a mission that morning and when he'd ignored the summons the handler had sent a ANBU to find out why.

The Uchiha's apartment was empty and his gear missing. The original ANBU had widened the search and then called for backup. Within a few short hours it became obvious Sasuke was either hiding very _very_ well or was gone from the village.

Then a radio message had come from a guard post some miles outside the walls that a group of Oto ninja had been spotted moving through. Once they'd realized they'd been seen the Oto ninja had attacked, but the damage had been done. The message of their direction and location had been sent out.

Tsunade did not believe in coincidences. Sasuke had a cursed seal, Sasuke was missing, Oto ninja were within a few miles of the Village and leaving in the opposite direction. It didn't take a genius to figure out what was going on.

Kidnapped, desertion, it didn't matter. Uchiha Sasuke had to be brought back.

She flipped on the intercom "Shizune! Who do we have right now that can run a mission?"

There was a long pause and the sound of ruffling papers. "Only a handful of chunin and a lot of genin. All jonin are out on missions and our ANBU patrol on-village is stretched to the breaking point."

Chunin and genin? She could work with that."Send for Shikamaru, Sakura, and Naruto. And make it quick."

Tsunade massaged her temples as she slumped into her chair considering all the possibilities. Unfortunately she already knew the end game. Jiraiya had explained to her about Orochimaru's supposed _immortality technique_, and she knew Sasuke was just being dragged to Oto to become Orochimaru's new meat suit.

That couldn't be allowed to happen.

She swore. They should have seen this coming. It was on file that Orochimaru had some kind of obsession with the boy…

It was less then fifteen minutes later, a testament to Shizune's efficiency, that three newly promoted chunin came skidding into her office. They all stared at her with bright and intent eyes. Summons on such short notice did not come lightly.

They all gave salutes and waited in silence for orders.

He voice came in a clipped cadence. "We learned early this morning that Uchiha Sasuke is missing from Konoha in the company Oto ninja, willingly or not we don't know, but he must be recovered."

"Shit." Naruto covered his eyes.

Sakura's entire body went rigid. "We should have…"

"Seen it?" Tsunade replied brusquely. "Probably, but what's done is done. Bring him back and this point will be moot."

The faces in front of her morphed dangerously. Their eyes hardened and Sakura's voice pierced the tension. "If he cannot be recovered alive is termination acceptable?"

These weren't children in front of her no matter how they looked. They knew the stakes.

At all costs. Even the worst. "If possible, certain elements in the village would prefer the last Uchiha…alive."

Their faces all twisted in varying amounts of disdain. Tsunade snorted. She was so proud of these children.

She answered briskly. "If you feel it's necessary, do it and don't hesitate. Make sure you clean all blood you leave behind and bring the body back. Gather who you can from your fellow rookie's and any other genin you find acceptable. Sakura will be squad leader with Shikamaru as the group tactician. Naruto is second in command. Now move!"

All three gave an affirmative signal and were gone before she could throw them out. Now she waited with the burden of their lives resting on her command. For a moment she understood a small fraction of Sarutobi's pain.

Tsunade shook her head. She would never be like that man; any sacrifices she made were made by ninja who knew the price, not by children who knew nothing else.

**Outside Hokage Tower, 8:15 AM**

"Listen up guys. Shikamaru I need you to try and find Chouji or Ino or both. Naruto, I want you to grab Neji and Tenten if you can. I'll go fetch as much of Team Eight as I can grab. Meet at the gate closest to where the Oto ninja were last seen." Her orders were rapid and clipped. "Go."

Shikamaru nodded leapt away, trying to remember if his old teammates had somehow ended up on other missions since he'd been promoted off the team.

Naruto gave her a quick kiss before vanishing in a buzz of yellow. Considering he'd nearly eviscerated Neji in the Finals, he knew his fellow shinobi's chakra signature quite well.

Sakura sighed and headed in the opposite direction. She'd find her dear friends one way or another.

**Aburame Compound, Gardens**

A butterfly flew through the air delicately, its fragile red wings castings an almost ethereal glow in the morning sun. Shino reached his hand up to it with long practiced ease. The tiny creature landed on his outstretched finger. He examined it for a moment, counting the lines that flared along its sizeable wingspan. After fulfilling his curiosity he held his hand out to the girl next to him.

Hinata's lavender eyes glimmered in awe as she reached her own hand out. Her lips parted slightly and Shino felt something inside him turn hot.

The butterfly flapped its wings and effortlessly fluttered from his hand to hers. She let out a delighted sigh and cooed to the bug. She moved closer to her teammate, molding herself to his side.

Shino took a sharp breath and she looked up at him tentatively, recognizing the look on his face even covered by his collar and sunglasses. They'd been friends for years. Been. Now they were something more.

The butterfly fluttered off her hand as she leaned up, tilted her head back, and kissed him. He returned the kiss gently and alone, surrounded by the wilds of the garden, it felt like they were the only ones in the world.

Not that this was the first time they'd kissed. Not by far.

After the preliminary nightmare that was her fight with Neji, her father had not said a word to her beyond one harsh admonishment. Then he had completely ignored her and the rest of her family seemed to take up the standard. It was like she'd become invisible in her own home and the loneliness was more intense than she'd thought possible.

Shikamaru and Chouji had their own team and their own problems, and considering the state of the village meeting up was rare and sometimes only for a few minutes. And Sakura had just vanished after the invasion and Hinata was alone.

Except for Shino. Teammate. Childhood friend.

Boyfriend.

After one particularly trying day in the compound (she'd been shaking so badly she'd broken two china pots) her father had thrown her out in disgust. She had gone running to Shino of course, her faithful teammate who'd been her shoulder to cry on for weeks. And she'd cried, then run out of tears, then got embarrassed she'd cried at all.

And Shino had kissed her. It had been that simple.

In some ways they were perfect for each other. Hinata who was shy and soft and tender, Shino who was quiet and stoic and secretly just a little bit sweet.

They had both been lacking for physical affection. The Aburame and their bugs made hugging between fellow members difficult (as bug colonies living inside them considered it an act of war from a fellow colony) and Hinata had grown up in a ice cold family that cared nothing about love but only about eyes and blood and power.

Then Sakura had come along, aggressively affectionate and breaking through their shells with sheer willpower. Hinata knew it was thanks to Sakura literally hugging them to normality that Shino had taken that chance to kiss her.

Hinata knew it was Sakura's unconditional support that let Hinata not hate herself enough to accept that someone loved her.

Guilt crept up the back of her throat. "We need to tell her Shino. About us, about _that_—"

"Listen." He grabbed her by the shoulders. "We'll tell Sakura about us whenever things are right. But when it comes to _that_ we need to make sure we do it right. If we screw this up…"

"But she deserves to know!" Hinata felt her eyes tearing up. "If she knew about us what we know about her, she would have told us the second she could."

He smoothed her hair down. "I'm sorry. But we both know it's more complicated than that."

She closed her eyes and sighed. "I know. I know that, it's just…she's our friend Shino."

"I know." He dropped a kiss on her forehead.

He went rigid. "Someone's coming."

They both stood up quickly and Hinata was already flowing chakra to her byakugan when a dark form split from the trees.

"Yo."Sakura landed in a crouch and raised her hand in greeting.

The guilt grew exponentially. Hinata had to swallow the lump in her throat. "Hi Sakura."

Sakura looked sheepish. "Sorry, did I jump in here too fast?"

"What is it?" Shino interrupted, his insects buzzing as his adrenaline notched down.

Sakura looked between them and opened her mouth to answer. She stopped short and took a deep breath with a surprised look on her face. Then she breathed through her nose looking incredibly interested. She smirked at them wickedly. "Were you two making out before I got here?"

Hinata was mortified. Shino choked. "What?"

"You two were totally making out!" She accused gleefully. "I can _smell_ it."

Hinata covered her face and tried to look anywhere but her friend.

Shino sounded defeated. "What we were doing in private is none of your concern, but we are…dating now."

Sakura clapped her hands. "That's wonderful, really, I'm happy for you guys." And just like that her face darkened and her demeanor changed abruptly. "I'm sorry to have to ruin the mood but a mission has been issued. Sasuke has gone AWOL in the company of four Oto ninja. We need to track him down before he reaches the border and I need your help. Both of you."

The mortification and embarrassment faded, but now Hinata felt guilty for another reason. "I'm sorry, my father has…banned me from missions outside the village until I get my act together. According to him."

Admitting it was thick and shameful on her tongue.

Sakura's eyes darkened further. "I'm sorry to hear that. Less said, your father is a blind moron and he can go fuck himself. You would have been an asset on this mission or any Hinata. I'm sorry to separate you guys but…" She looked to Shino.

He nodded. "I will assist you in any way I can."

Sakura turned to leave. "You suited up to go or do we need to make any stops?"

Shino answered. "I just need to grab a field kit from the house and then we can go find Kiba if you prefer—"

He froze. Even though Hinata was supposed to be the girl with the all seeing eyes it was Shino that saw the bloody red fox on the back of Sakura's vest first. Hinata followed his gaze and her blood turned to ice and her hands began to shake.

"Wha—where did you get that?" The question came out before Hinata could even reconsider.

Sakura blinked owlishly and touched the back of her vest. "The Lady Hokage gave it to me. Some kind of political thing I guess."

Shino shot her a worried look. Hinata could only shake her head helplessly. They both knew now wasn't the time.

Shino swallowed and re-voiced his question. "Should we find Kiba as well?"

Sakura gave an affirmative nod. "Lead the way."

But instead of leaving he turned to Hinata and kissed her again. It felt like goodbye. "You will see me soon, stay in the gardens as long as you like. You are always welcome here."

Hinata wrapped her arms around herself and blushed deeply. She liked Shino but in moments like this she was certain she loved him.

They left as swiftly as they arrived and Hinata sank back to the earth. The butterfly fluttered back and landed on her cheek. She closed her eyes and smiled sadly.

**Konoha, Gate #12, 11:20 AM**

Shikamaru tilted his head back as he noticed a few incoming chakra signals. He was unsurprised to see three ninja land around them. It was Sakura flanked by both Shino and Kiba.

"About time you got here." Shikamaru drawled. "Where's Hinata?"

Sakura smiled faintly. "Sorry, but we're gonna have to make do without our Hyuga princess." She looked over to see Neji and Chouji and Naruto were there as well. No Tenten or Ino, Sakura chose not to ask.

The faint smile turned vicious as she glanced to Neji. "But I suppose we have a two-bit Hyuga replacement for her, so we'll live. Probably."

Neji bristled but wisely kept his mouth shut. It had taken him over a month to recover from the injuries Naruto had given him in the finals, and even if he'd been out cold during the invasion he'd heard all the rumors about what Naruto and Sakura had done.

Some small, distant part of him was ashamed for what he did to Hinata, but in the end it was pure fear that kept his mouth shut and leaving Hinata to her own devices.

"Oh you got burned Neji." Kiba added mockingly. He was equally unhappy with what had happened to Hinata as the rest of them. "So foxy lady here brought us here, what's the mission?"

Sakura sucked in a breath, surprised at the nickname. Naruto looked perturbed. "Why are you calling her that?"

Kiba raised his eyebrows. "Dude, she summoned a big ass fox right in the middle of the village. Foxy lady has skills man."

Sakura let out a sigh. She did not notice the tense glances exchanged by Shino, Shikamaru, and Chouji. Naruto did but he kept his mouth shut. They were going on a mission and whatever was going on between them could wait.

"All right boys, here's the gist. Sasuke is missing, we think he's with some Oto ninja, and we don't know if he was willing or not. Kiba will take front point with Akamaru and be our main tracker."

Kiba pumped his fist and Akamaru yipped in excitement.

She kept talking at a professional clip. "Shino will take the left point to cover Kiba, and I'll take right. Shikamaru will follow right behind us and issue tactical orders. Naruto will be right behind him to provide main support. Neji will follow and use his Byakugan to watch for ambushes and enemies. Last we'll have Chouji as our vanguard to keep the baddies off our tail. Am I understood?"

All six boys nodded and moved into position. Shino's bugs began to buzz, Akamaru barked, Naruto cracked his neck.

In a burst of chakra they leapt over the wall and landed in the trees beyond. Following details from the field post that had radioed in, Kiba and Akamaru picked up Sasuke's scent in a matter of minutes. He was defiantly with the Oto ninja.

Kiba beckoned for them to follow and they fell in line. There would be no more banter from here, the mission had begun.

**Unknown Location, Fire Country, 3:36 PM**

"…you need to die immediately."

His heart thundered in his ears and for a moment, Sasuke almost had himself believing he'd misheard them. "What did you say to me?"

It was Jirobu that repeated the ultimatum. "You need to die."

He already had his escape plan mapped out, already had chosen his distraction jutsu and his route out of here. He'd claim kidnap and never wander out of the village again with foreign shinobi he didn't know promising him the ninja equivalent of candy.

The silver-haired one, Sakon, held up a pill bottle carefully. "You must take this Sasuke-sama, it will put you in a near death state in order to activate the second level to of your cursed heaven seal. This is…necessary."

Sasuke felt his fight or flight reaction ratchet back. The escape plan wasn't needed. Yet.

He held out his hand for the pill and it was given to him. He was already hip deep in this and the curse seal seemed to be itching in anticipation. The time for turning back, honestly, had long since passed.

He dropped it on his tongue and it tasted bitter as he swallowed. For a long thirty seconds he felt utterly fine, then without warning an inferno ignited in his guts and he was on his knees. Distantly in he could see his curse seal spreading down his hands and the chakra was so noxious and deep he could have drowned in it…

"Damn it!" He heard Kidomaru shout. "Hurry up and get the sealing ready or we'll lose him!"

He saw hand seals and flashes of chakra but he was too far gone to care what they were doing. Then he blinked and he was enclosed in what felt like a tomb. His seal let out flare of the rawest kind of agony and Sasuke knew nothing at all.

**Unknown Location, Fire Country, 9:21 PM**

Sakura jumped off another branch and propelled herself forward in the darkness and her eyes had long turned crimson to augment her night vision. But it was not sight, smell, or sound that brought her screaming to a halt.

It was merely instinct and she froze on a tree branch and raised her hand for a halt. All the others stopped behind her, it was not noise that told her this but the delicate fade of chakra only brought by absolute stillness.

To those watching she moved her fingers and seemed to run her hand along thin air.

Sakura sighed. This had just become, unfortunately, a situation that could not be conveyed in hand signals alone. For the first time in hours she spoke. "Are there trip wires ahead of us Neji?"

She felt the tell tale chakra in the dark. He whispered grimly. "Yes there are trip wires, thousands of them. It is a design I recognize: a massive circular trap of tripwires and plastic explosives that extends in all direction for a half mile. The prize is at the center, if it could be called that."

Sakura bit her thumbnail. She tried to look farther into the trees but even with her Kyuubi enhanced eyes it was too dark. "How many of you can see the wires and avoid them?"

Only Neji and Shino raised their hands. Naruto looked glum but didn't bother trying to pretend he could.

She shook her head and motioned for Shikamaru to come to the front. He moved up quickly and they put their heads together to confer. "There's no way we can navigate this at night. We either wait until daylight or send the few who can see in to take them down while they rest. What do you think?"

Shikamaru made a negative sounding noise and relaxed his hands into a meditative position. After a few tense minutes he spoke. "Shino should send in a few of his bugs to plant on them and keep tabs. Between you and Neji I'm certain we can find a way around this so we can get in between them and the border. Then we set our own traps."

"I like that." She murmured. "Shino, Neji, you know what to do."

By midnight they had gone around the entire edge of the trap carefully marking where it ended and untouched forest began. When they were certain they had the layout mapped as best as they could in the dim light of the stars, Neji extended his Byakugan to get a shadowy glance of their prey. "There are five of them, I assume Sasuke and the Oto. Though one of their chakra signatures looks…strange."

"How?" She questioned.

Neji's lips pulled tight. "I can't explain it any better than that. It's just churning…oddly."

Sakura knew Neji was a bastard, but she also knew he took all missions with the utmost seriousness regardless of his feelings. With nothing else to be done she made the signal to get to work on the traps. It was sweaty and back breaking work and in the dark fingers were cut and arms were sliced. No one said a word.

She checked over the traps before sending everyone off to make camp. It was the fastest settling of camp she'd ever seen and in ten minutes she found herself taking first watch with Naruto. She climbed to a high tree branch and Naruto eagerly joined her, slinging an arm over her shoulders to keep her warm.

Not that she needed to be kept warm as her chakra always kept her at a pleasant temperature, but it was a nice gesture all the same.

From the dark ground below she heard Kiba whisper. "How long do we wait foxy?"

She stared up at the moonless sky before calling back down. "Until day break or they break the trap and come out. Just rest for now, I doubt foreign ninja are going to run around in the dark on our home field."

No more questions were directed up to her and she let her mind drift. By the end of tomorrow it would be all over and even if she didn't know why, it settled on her with a firm sense of finality. Thick clouds moved in and even the stars vanished.

It was too dark too see but she would not sleep, there was too much anticipation in her guts and too much bloodlust pulsing inside her looking for an outlet.

Naruto pressed his lips to her neck and murmured. "Will we really kill him?"

She breathed in shadows and dust and considered it. "I don't know. If he was kidnapped I'll do my damndest to save him, he is our teammate."

His lips moved to her ear. "And if he's a traitor?"

"Whether he lives or dies…" She turned and kissed him gently. "Will be his choice."

The kiss was short and he leaned back into the tree, touched his eyes to apply a night vision jutsu, and began their watch.

The hunters now sat patiently for their prey and their bloody trap would be sprung. But who would bleed would only be known in the harsh light of day.

Sakura couldn't wait.

* * *

Edit: Short chapter but a lot of changes: Jiraiya giving them a regimen was put in along with adressing why he wasn't in the village when Sasuke left. The entire conversation between Tsunade and Sarutobi was redone and this time Hime called the old-man out for Sakura's childhood. So at least concerning Sarutobi's treatment of her, we understand his reasoning and now have some closure on it. Sasuke's encounter with the Sound Four was tweaked and his charaterization was again shifted to make him a practical, selfish, and a not-so-complete bastard as the orginal version. Also Sakura's first real conversation with Lee was put in, in the original version she trained with both Gai and Lee but because that training should have been secret the rewrite cut Lee out of ever knowing it happened making Sakura a complete stranger to him. More foreshadowing was put in between Hinata and Shino to show all of Sakura's childhood friends know something is up and wrong, and why Hinata didn't come on the mission was actaully given a reason. Also how Hinata and Shino started dating was actually adressed and Sakura figured it all out in short order without having any hand in it this time. Last the mission chasing Sasuke was given a basic cleanup to make it run smoother.


	13. Carnage

Disclaimer: If I owned Naruto the only disclaimers you'd be seeing were ones for extreme amounts of bloodshed and gore. Cheerful thought, isn't it?

* * *

**Unknown Location, Fire Country, 3:00 AM**

It was in the darkest and most silent hour of night the Kyuubi called for her. On the forest floor and long past her shift, she had laid awake with her eyes blinded by shadow and the utter silence thick as a gag in her mouth.

It was if even the bugs and the animals knew what was coming. Or maybe they could sense the wrongness of her presence. Demons did tend to be at the top of the food chain, and she was so hungry for blood...

As if summoned by this thought alone the Kyuubi's chakra churned inside her.

She obligingly let herself be pulled down and the pitch black suffocation of that darkness outside gave way to the baleful silver-dapped night of her innermost consciousness. Her feet touched cool stone and she pressed her hands to the gate. "Kyuubi-sama?"

Red fur brushed her fingers and his hell-fire eyes were suddenly level with hers. "Enough play time wretch."

A thrill of excitement thrummed up her spine. "So how much of your chakra can I take on this time?"

His chuckle was sinister. "If you don't want to fry your brain I recommend two tails, but if you still manage to lose with that much…you can chance three. Try not to have another psychotic break."

"No four tails yet." She sighed but wasn't that surprised. Last time she hit four tails her brain had been scrambled and her skin had burned and healed and burned and healed over a dozen times over the course of the fight. And Orochimaru had not had the kindness just to lay down and die for her during all of that.

"Indeed." He answered dryly. One of his tails gestured at her. "Show me your back child."

She giggled in delight and turned around and pressed her back against the gate. The vest seemed to glow in the moonlight and his chakra, and it was a swirl of silver and scarlet splayed across matte black.

The very tip of one of his tails brushed the motif of him on her vest. He cackled. "This new Hokage certainly has fine taste."

Sakura bowed her head, filled with both pride and warmth and love. For the Kyuubi, for Tsunade. "Hime always does."

He flicked his tail on her shoulder to turn her back around; if she had been anyone less it would have dislocated her shoulder. For him it was practically gentle and loving. She saw the milky shine of his grin. "You are my jinchuuriki brat, as lovely and ugly and twisted as you are."

She nodded. Accepting all of that, knowing all of that: the beauty of her power, the ugly and ragged hollows of her soul, the disarray of her shattered humanity. "Of course I am."

His voice was thunder. "Don't disappointment me. I won't have those hairless apes out there call you weak now that they know you're mine. Go and be what I made you and wear my power as your only pride."

She couldn't help but ask. "And what did you make me?"

His tails receded into the dark and all she could see was the inferno of his eyes. "A harbinger of death."

She snapped awake.

Gray light filtered through the trees in hesitant dawn. With half-lidded eyes she stared into a sky promising a new day filled with warmth and light and hope.

And blood.

The moment the dawn touched their eyelids her squad was up. They were packing away the camp in moments but she laid there on the forest floor, ignoring the frantic commotion as she drifted. Bloodlust road heavy in her stomach but right now a lethargic calm had taken her, and she knew this moment would be the clearest her mind would be for the rest of the mission.

Her equilibrium stabilized as Naruto kneeled down next to her and whispered. "Sakura? We're ready to move out."

Her eyes shifted to stare at him and his hair was brighter than the sun and eyes bluer than the sky could ever be. Nothing in his face showed but professional attention and there was no sign that last night they'd shared kisses in the dark.

Naruto was, as always, the quintessential ninja.

There was no need to be sentimental. She smiled tightly and made the signal. The six shinobi around her leapt to the trees. The lethargy faded and she rolled back on her shoulders before launching herself to her feet. A rapid last check of the area made it clear there was no trace of them left.

Mindful of what laid ahead she joined her squad in the canopy.

Chouji, Kiba, and Naruto had already taken up supporting position nearby and she landed between Neji and Shikamaru and gave the Hyuga a long look.

He seemed to understand her instantly and concentrated more chakra to his eyes. His veins flared along his temples. "They're bringing down the trap now. It took like they're leaving up most of it except their exit corridor." Sakura made mental note to notify a cleanup team when they got back to the village. Leaving massive traps lying around the forest wasn't exactly…safe.

"They should be out in five minutes at the longest." Neji confirmed, already palming a few kunai in preparation.

Sakura smirked and reached behind her head. The hilt of her katana slapped her hand and she drew it out. A light tap and the clear resonance that followed told her the blade was in peak condition. And it was surely thirsting for blood just as she was.

She turned her head so the squad wouldn't see her eyes, and in the bright light of day she felt them sting with demonic power. She tested the weight of the sword and was faintly amused to find her crimson slitted eyes reflected back at her. That reflection wouldn't last much longer, gore was always such a chore to wash off…

Her smirk widened to a feral grin as she heard the last trip wire come down. It was show time.

**Trap Perimeter, Unknown Location**

Jirobu heaved the barrel onto his shoulder, grunting at the weight. The Uchiha inside still hadn't awakened from his drug induced state and considering he'd been in it for hours, Jirobu was secretly beginning to worry something had gone wrong.

He could do nothing though but hope that everything was still going according to plan. He swallowed his doubts for the sake for the mission and looked to his squad mates.

Kidomaru was busy popping his arms, having been the one to take down the trap. "Let's get going, Orochimaru-sama doesn't like to be kept waiting."

"Let's." Sakon agreed.

A sleepy Tayuya just murmured something that was probably scathing and shoved out ahead.

Jirobu was beginning to think this might not be so bad as he fell in line behind her. The trap wires glimmered faintly in the gray light of morning and they were easy to avoid as they made their way out the cleared corridor. Let some dumb Konoha ninja find the rest of the trap and get themselves killed.

When they cleared the radius they took to the trees. They didn't get farther than three trees away when Jirobo landed on a branch that felt _wrong._ He looked between his feet in confusion and that's when he saw the array of exploding tags powering up.

"Oh shi—" And the tags alighted.

It was only the rapid reflexes of Kidomaru snaring him in a web and dragging him off that saved his legs from being blown off. As it was Jirobu was caught fully in the chest by the explosion and was blown off kilter, slamming him into another tree and snapping the web holding him.

The barrel with Sasuke inside fell away to the forest floor.

"Son of a bitch!" Tayuya screamed, jumping desperately to catch the barrel before it made a nasty crash landing. Sakon moved to help her only to land on another rigged tree on the way down. His eyes widened for the split second before an explosion sent him crashing through the trees and vanishing with a sickening series of cracks.

Jirobu stuck himself to the tree sideways with chakra, knowing if it hadn't gone off already he wasn't on an exploding tag at the moment. Kidomaru was in a similar position: frozen at an odd angle on another tree looking around wildly for escape. They both rapidly realize that the entire area had been overlaid by exploding tags, nasty kunai traps, razor wire, and the occasional paralyzing sealing array.

"Holy fuck." Kidomaru breathed.

Jirobu felt his head buzzing. "This isn't our trap."

"Of course it isn't our trap!" Kidomaru shouted back. "You think I'd walk us into our own trap?"

"Some sons of bitches got ahead of us!" Tayuya shouted from below. "Get to the ground! It's the only place not rigged to blow and make us bloody decorations for the next square mile."

Jirobu debated how he was actually going to get down through the maddening crisscross of wire below. He was half-surprised Tayuya hadn't been blown to hell or just garroted throwing herself down like she had. "Do you have Sasuke-sama?"

Her voice rose up angrily. "Of course I do you dumb bastard. Just get down here!"

Jirobu and Kidomaru shared a glance. Kidoamru gestured down. "After you."

Jirobu sighed and jumped. By miracle alone he landed fifty feet below unscathed. Kidomaru was right behind him having traced his path down and followed it.

He glanced up. "Tayuya do you—"

And he saw her wide, furious, and panicked eyes. She was wrapped in what looked like a black sheet that was twisted in spindly coils around her body, and some had even twisted around her head and snapped it back, shoving itself in her mouth and gagging her.

Her panicked eyes shouted at him: _do something!_

Kidomaru just stared. "What in the hell—"

Jirobu then noticed the barrel was gone and he followed the odd shadowy black shape from Tayuya across the ground back to a bored, pale, and dark haired boy kneeling on the grass.

"Shadow jutsu." The boy said amicably. "Your friend there isn't exactly the most observant. Really, the ground was the _only _place without traps? You should try thinking that through next time."

At his side another boy with wild brown hair, red facial markings, and a feral grin patted the missing barrel cheerfully. "Thanks for telling us where Sasuke was though."

Kidomaru snarled. "Two genin to take us on? You shouldn't have showed your faces."

The rough looking one, an Inuzuka (Jirobu recognized that well enough), just scratched his nose. "Hey Shikamaru, foxy says to finish it."

"Right." Shikamaru gave them a lopsided grin. "Say bye to your friend." And his hands clasped and twisted violently.

Jirobu realized Tayuya was going to have her neck snapped. Her eyes rolled into the back of her head and her neck turned an a grotesque angle…then the shadows were ripped apart as chain-like markings flared across her skin and her chakra burst like a volcano.

The curse seal kept growing and her skin turned a matte shade and horns pierced out from her skull. Tayuya roared. "I won't die that easily!"

It was right then Jirobu saw Sakon in the trees angled behind the two Konoha genin, already going for the barrel as Tayuya charged. He smirked and watched the show.

It happened in an instant; Tayuya stabbed the shadow-user by plunging her arm into her stomach while Sakon landed behind the Inuzuka and cleanly snapped his neck. It was so easy it was criminal. Was this all the famed Konoha that had rebuffed their invasion had to offer? Maybe they were weaker than Orochimaru-sama had thought.

The two dead genin vanished in a puff of smoke.

Tayuya screeched. "They were replaced by shadow clones! Motherfu—" She spun around on the forest. "I can feel you out there! Come show me your faces so I can kill you all!"

Jirobu grabbed the barrel. "How many Tayuya?" In the second stage of her curse seal the girl was as good as a chakra sensor.

She answered gruffly. "Six that I can tell, maybe seven, but the last one's elusive so it might just be another damn clone."

A plan came to mind. He threw the barrel to Kidomaru and ran through hand signs. "How close are they together?"

She looked ready to leap into the trees and start tearing everything she could reach apart. "Two are wide back, one's far to the left, but four of them are pretty close together maybe fifty feet out…"

He had already finished his jutsu and rushed forward. He landed on his knees and buried his hands in the ground. The earth began to shake and splinter and like a tidal wave a mound of earth arced into the sky.

Now with his chakra in the ground he could feel the ninja scrambling but it was too late and the earth crashed down. He frowned, one of the four had gotten out from under it, but now three were trapped inside his jutsu open for him to leech their chakra until they died.

Not bad. Jirobu shouted back. "Get to Orochimaru-sama! I have three of them contained but watch out for the others!"

His squad nodded and scattered and Jirobu settled in to wait. With the barrel heading one way the rest of the ambush would have no choice to follow, leaving Jirobu three of their comrades to feast on and kill.

He began the leeching process, turning the earth bellow and the massive dome above to a voracious tomb for those inside. He tasted their chakra. Male, male, and female. And the female's well of power was so deep he laughed gleefully.

It looked like he'd caught the leader. This rescue attempt of Konoha's was over.

**Inside the Earth**

It was like being trapped inside a sepulcher and she could see nothing and smell nothing and hear nothing. Nothing but Kiba screaming anyways. "I'm not staying in this hell hole!"

She heard another gatsuuga power up and the screech of earth tearing and chakra drilling. Kiba came skidding to a halt by her side and leaned against her leg, gasping for air. "It won't budge. I keep hitting the same spot but it's like I'm not getting through."

She absently reached down to pat his sweat slicked hair. "Relax, we're not dead yet."

Neji spoke up from somewhere off and to her left. "The jutsu is not over, the walls are imbued with chakra and it takes dirt from below to replace whatever we destroy."

"Cheery." She answered calmly. "Anything else?"

"It's eating our chakra."

Kiba stiffened. "And you just decided _now_ to tell us?"

Neji sounded just a touch annoyed. "This jutsu is very complex, it takes time to unravel the nature of the chakra's function and—"

Sakura coughed into her fist to interrupt. "That's fine, both of you. I already know a way out."

"Really?" Kiba asked hopefully.

She smiled into the dark and moved towards the walls, tracing them with her fingers. Under the cool and slightly rough earth she could feel tendrils of her chakra being leeched off her skin. Now that she was close to the jutsu it became obvious what was happening.

"He's going to suck us dry, nothing fancy." She smirked dangerously. "We'll just have to give him some chakra."

Her right hand came up and it flared red hot, boiling with demonic chakra that swirled like miasma.

"Cool." Kiba breathed, and in the harsh light of her chakra his face was awed.

Neji's visage was a mixture of interest and horror. "What are you...?" He trailed off and she could feel his Byakugan on her stomach watching the seal there ignite. She knew he could not recognize it but from personal experience knew what a show it was to watch once all its functions were visibly alight.

"Look in the wall for a weak spot Neji, once you have it direct Kiba's attack. I'll handle the rest." Her voice was assuring but the red chakra was building dangerously, and thin burns were beginning to radiate up her arm in a sickening tapestry of chakra lines and burnt veins.

Neji scanned the walls and Kiba got into position with Akamaru, popping them both soldier pills as he waited.

"On my mark," Sakura dug her fingers into the earth and the charka visibly flowed away. "Get set." The entire walls of the dome took on veins of glowing crimson, becoming brighter and brighter and taking on a sinister shine.

Neji marked the spot with a kunai.

She hit the surge. "Now!"

**One Mile North**

"Did we really just have to leave them like that?" Naruto shouted ahead. On all sides the forest blurred past and his heart was thundering in his chest. He had just seen his girlfriend get swallowed whole into the earth and he'd not done a thing to stop it. Then he'd had to run the opposite direction after Sasuke and the Oto ninja and done nothing to save her.

It was the first time he'd ever been forced to leave her behind. Sakura and Naruto. It was how they always operated, and now that she was gone he felt off kilter and sick.

Chouji looked back at him guiltily, Shino seemed unmoved, and it was Shikamaru that answered briskly. "Sakura pushed me out of the way before the jutsu got them. She told me to keep on the mission. They'll be fine, give her fifteen minutes and I'm sure she'll have them caught back up."

Naruto knew her skills better than anyone and he should have been the one who had faith in her. He pinched himself hard and sighed. Mission first. Worry later.

Shikamaru touched down on a tree branch and a blur broke form the darkness and kicked him in the chin. A loud crack rang through the air as his head jerked oddly. Shikamaru was lifted off his feet and tumbled sideways.

It all happened so fast Naruto could do no more than blink.

Chouji shouted. "SHIKAMARU!"

The Nara continued to fall and Naruto forced himself to face the threat and not watch a squad mate plunge to their death. The girl with the horns landed in front of them. "You sons of bitches aren't getting any farther. Now be good boys and come and die for me."

Then, oddly enough, she pulled out a silvery flute and began playing. The music was haunting and shrill and he couldn't help but stand there to listen…

Shino jolted in surprise. "Cover your ears!"

Naruto did not question it and did exactly that. His sudden fascination was gone and he noticed Chouji still standing there listening and slack jawed. It was some kind of genjutsu and Naruto already knew the best way to break it. He leapt sideways and angled around to dropkick her.

A shadow beat him to the punch and grabbed the girl again. The music stopped

She shrieked. "This stupid trick again? You can't hold me!"

Naruto looked down to see Shikamaru with his mouth bleeding heavily and his entire chin and neck drenched in blood. He nodded up at them. "You've got command Naruto! I'll take care of this reject."

Chouji shook himself from his stupor. He looked down to see his friend's front sodden in his own bodily fluids. "You all right?"

Shikamaru spat out more blood onto his shirt. "I'm fine! Follow Naruto and go!"

Naruto nodded mutely and eyed the monstrous looking girl one last time. Before she'd been almost pretty but now…not so much. So this was the end result of Orochimaru's curse. The budding seal master in him was already analyzing the effects and seal combinations that could create this at a breakneck pace.

He motioned for Chouji and Shino. "Let's go!"

Tayuya screamed after them but Naruto didn't bother looking back. Shikamaru was another left behind. Along with Neji, Kiba. Along with Sakura.

He'd have to depend on them not to die. The mission went on.

**One Mile South**

Jirobu was heady and high on chakra. The two boys trapped and the others that'd escaped were pittances compared to the prize he'd captured. This girl inside his jutsu, whoever she was, was a practical fountain of power. Most people he killed in this manner only lasted an hour, maybe two.

It felt like he could be here with days with this girl and not even make a dent. He'd have to kill her the old fashioned way once her companions were dead.

That thought made him sigh unhappily. "What a waste."

A tingling spread up his arms and he frowned and looked down at them. Was he taking in too much chakra too fast?

That's when his vision filled with red. Chakra arced up his arms and it was scarlet and moving like it was being shot from a live wire. Everywhere it touched his skin pain seared him. Distantly he heard the sound of screaming and it took him a minute to realize it was his own, but he was too busy watching his skin boil and blister to care.

And it was spreading. He cut off the jutsu with a pained yelp but the red chakra on him continued to climb, eating and gnawing and burning everything it touched.

A grinding howl rent the air and the dome of earth blasted apart. The feral Inuzuka burst into the sunlight followed by a mirror image of himself that was growling. A white-eyed Hyuga followed in their shadows.

The Hyuga's Byakugan was drilled on the Oto ninja and the boy came running at him on a full tilt sprint."You are within my field of divinitation!"

Jirobu had no idea what that meant but the Hyuga was happy to enlighten him. With blinding speed, palms, chakra, and _pain._ Sixty-four hits hammered Jirobu from all sides with deadly accuracy and a snapped closed tenketsu point.

Jirobu's arms were unsalvageable after that red chakra attack and he could do nothing but take the blows. When it was over his lungs were hemorrhaging, his arms were blistered up to the shoulder, and all the chakra he'd absorbed from them robbed.

The Hyuga smirked but his voice was stone. "You can no longer use your chakra and without medical attention you will die. This fight is over."

Jirobu did not respond to that. He was looking past the Hyuga, past those feral Inuzuka twins to see one of them had lifted a hand to the last member of their squad. From the shattered dome of earth a kunoichi stepped out so powerful it took his breath away.

Her black hair swirled around her as she set a hand delicately on the Inuzuka's outstretched palm and stepped down the debris. But her off hand was what mesmerized him: wreathed in a pulsing red storm of chakra that screamed of his utter annihilation.

Jirobu fully understood now where that attack that had paralyzed him had come from.

Her eyes were far redder than her chakra.

"What are you?" He panted.

The whirlwind of crimson died down. She smiled and it was as beautiful as it was terrible. "You're already dead; quit wasting your breath asking questions."

She took her hand out of the Inuzuka's and looked to the north. "Well boys, we're not that far behind—"

Jirobu wasn't going to take it; he wasn't dying right here while they talked like he was already in the ground. His curse seal burst open and all eyes turned to him as his skin turned red and his muscles swelled. Soon he was towering over the three Konoha ninja and his dying was a distant memory. The power of his curse seal made him beyond un-killable. "I am Orochimaru's elite bodyguard! Don't think this is over!"

"Shit!" The Inuzuka cursed. "He's going monster like that red-haired chick!"

The Hyuga stared at Jirobu in pure fear and the Oto ninja loved it. "H-how? He shouldn't be able to use any chakra!"

The girl was neither surprised nor even slightly afraid. She just rolled her eyes. "Neji, dear, not everyone you fight will be constrained by something as paltry as a few closed tenketsu."

Both boys stared at her incredulously.

"Brilliant plan for us foxy?" The Inuzuka asked hopefully.

She grinned at him. "Always."

Jirobu roared. "SHUT UP!" His hands slammed into the earth and pulled deep and soon he was hauling a bolder the size of a three story building over his head. In his second stage curse seal it was like lifting feathers.

The girl just continued grinning. "You shouldn't have done that."

The ground splintered between his feet. Jirobu looked down just in time to see two shadow clones of the girl with kunai. Unable to move or jump while holding a boulder of that size over his head he could only stand and feel them rip through his Achilles tendons with kunai. They kept cutting up his legs tearing and flaying all the way to the back of his knees.

Blood and rolls of skin splattered to the ground. There was no help coming from his curse seal to heal those wounds fast enough, not enough muscle even _left_ in his legs to get footing to throw the boulder at them. His eyes locked on hers in pure terror when he realized what was about to happen.

She waved at him sweetly. "Ba-bye."

His legs finally buckled and the boulder crushed down. Jirobu knew no more but the sounds of bones breaking, muscle squelching, and fluids splashing hitting the air. Being crushed to death by his own jutsu was not a pleasant way to go.

Kiba let out a low whistle. "You are one stone cold_ bitch_ foxy, and I mean that in the nicest possible way."

Sakura let the last of the Kyuubi's chakra drain out of her. "…thanks. Now we should—"

Two miles away a cloud of smoke and fiery ash roared over the tree line, interrupting her. It looked like the mission was on the move.

She glanced sideways at the explosion dispassionately, gauging the distance. "Someone must have wandered back into the mine field we made. Kiba, go check it out."

He threw her a cheerful salute. "Hell yes, ma'am." And jumped away with Akamaru, still in Kiba's double beast form, following faithfully.

Neji waited in unusual and docile silence. She looked at him curiously. "You're with me."

He nodded and she could swear there was something like respect in his eyes. "Of course. After you Sakura-sama."

Definitely respect. She blinked in surprise but then smiled devilishly and leapt to the trees. Neji followed and they were once again back on the hunt.

**Half a Mile South, Minefield**

Shikamaru was in a bit of a bind. The good news was that ever since Neji had nearly killed Hinata he'd started training seriously and actually had enough stamina to maybe get through this fight. At least, that's what he'd thought until Tayuya had started summoning demon puppets to kill him. That had been a bit of a…setback. A tiring, troublesome _setback._

He had slim options to pick from. There were too many puppets to bind with his shadow and Tayuya was quite willing to come after him the second he stopped moving. And killing the puppets didn't seem to work all that well either as she'd dismiss the injured ones and then re-summon them untouched.

Shikamaru was coming to the unfortunate conclusion the puppets were a necessary evil and killing Tayuya was fast becoming the only option to win this fight. It was the-getting-near-enough-to-kill-her that was the problem.

Then he'd remembered the minefield was still mostly intact behind them and he'd circled wide and led her right into it. So now here he was coated in ash, standing in pitch black smoke, still vomiting up blood worried he had an internal injury, and waiting for the smoke to clear.

Was she dead?

A massive fist dropped from the sky. He bent at the waist to avoid the blow and the ugly puppet made of flesh and what smelled like clay sailed past him. She wasn't dead, not yet.

"Come out, come out wherever you are." She cooed through the smoke. "Don't you want to play what color is your blood?

Shikamaru set himself up on a higher branch and coated in soot and blood like he was, he blended in quite well. Now he would wait.

Tayuya kept calling through the smoke. "This is no fun chunin-chan, come out here so I can melt the skin right off your bones!" The flute music began again and this time instead of covering his ears, Shikamaru frowned and blocked his eardrums with chakra.

He could still feel the sensation of sound but he'd no longer be able to _really_ hear it. He didn't care to test what kind of genjutsu could be made with music.

And now he waited to either kill or die.

How…troublesome.

**Six Miles North**

"Think we're still being followed?" Kidomaru asked casually.

Sakon rolled his eyes. "Only if Tayuya fucked up and let one of those Konoha brats past her."

"True." Kidomaru murmured. "Maybe if—WATCH OUT!"

That was all that saved Sakon from ending up with a dozen kunai in his back. As it was he was grazed by a few and had to spin around wildly to block the rest.

A blond boy jumped down from the trees with a kunai spinning between his fingers. For a life and death chase his demeanor was completely and utterly calm. Sakon had the feeling either this boy was really strong, really stupid, or _really_ psychotic.

The blond stopped spinning the kunai. "My name's Uzumaki Naruto and I'm going to kill you today."

Sakon reassessed the boy to completely stupid and raised his own weapon. "Wanna bet?"

"Sure." Naruto grinned. "Are we just betting with your life here or do you have some money on you too?"

Sakon bristled and flung his kunai. "This isn't a joke!"

The blade buried itself hilt deep in the blonds' chest. Sakon laughed. "Is that it? You're already dead?"

The blond looked down in mild interest. "Ow." And then he exploded into a fireball that engulfed a quarter mile of forest.

Sakon slammed his eyes shut and braced himself but it was already too late. The explosion alone burned the skin off his chest and sent hot ash searing down his throat and into his lungs. Distantly Sakon felt himself crashing into a mass of webbing, stopping the worst of his fall as he gagged and spat up ash and bile all over himself.

He heard Kidomaru screeching. "What the _hell_ is it with Konoha ninja and blowing shit up?"

Sakon would have dearly loved to know and he once again reassessed the blond, this time to completely psychotic.

His eyelids cracked open and the silver-haired ninja looked around to see himself surrounded by smoldering, pitch black trees. Kidomaru was above him on the web holding Sasuke's barrel and panting. "Can you handle him? We need to get Sasuke-sama out of here immediately."

Sakon wiped the soot off his face. "Go, I'll goddamned _skin_ that Konoha brat."

Kidomaru did not wait to see what happened and fled for the border. Sakon was too absorbed in his rage to care and dropped from the web to the forest floor. "I'm right here, come and get me!"

The ground started shaking. Sakon glanced around uneasily. That's when a giant ball of _person _burst from the trees like a tank and nearly flattened him. Sakon bent out of the way at the last second and his shoulder got banged up as he scraped by.

It was time to pull out the stops and the odd growth in his back was unceremoniously prodded. "Ukon, I need your help." Sakon's brother was always willing to fight.

The tank person shrunk and unfolded to reveal a heavy boy with swirls tattooed on his cheeks. Akimichi. The boy cracked his neck. "Ready to fight?"

"Where's that blond bastard?" Sakon growled, feeling Ukon shifting in his body getting ready to spring on the attack. This stupid boy wouldn't know what hit him.

"Off chasing your teammate with Sasuke." The Akimichi answered. "We're not stupid enough to let them get away."

"But you're stupid enough to face me." Sakon taunted.

The Akimichi cracked his knuckles and flexed his arms. "Someone has to kill you."

Ukon's head emerged from his brother's shoulder, bending unnaturally and leering. "And what about me?"

The Akimichi's eyes went wide. "What in the hell—"

The two bothers leapt on the attack.

**Hokage's Tower, 1:00 PM**

Tsunade hadn't slept since the mission started, not really. Intellectually she knew if anyone could handle this and not die in the process it was Sakura, but some sentimental (and honestly, maybe mothering) part of her worried. The Hokage knew the enemy were just lackeys at best and Sakura had taken on Orochimaru, and after fighting the big man on top all else should pale in comparison.

This should be a _workout_ for Sakura to get some commanding experience under her belt, but the irrational fear remained irrational no matter what Tsunade tried to tell herself.

The woman sighed and rubbed her eyes. At least Sakura being gone had allowed the Kage to get in some nasty politics while her jinchuuriki was out on business. There had been a near riot when Sakura had stared traipsing around in that vest with the Kyuubi on the back, and Tsunade was now in the process of _forcefully_ correcting anyone who objected.

Of course the council had taken advantage of this unpopular stance to attack her further, but Tsunade wasn't going to lose after only a week on the job. Things would have to get worse before they'd get any better.

Drawing poison from a wound was like that.

Shizune knocked on the door and stuck her head in. "I'm sorry Hokage-sama but your request to Suna for assistance couldn't be met. They said all off their forces are currently engaged in missions and cannot aid us."

Tsunade threw down the file she was reading. "So much for that treaty. Figures."

Shizune did not seem fazed by her disappointment. "We have surgery for the Rock Lee case prepared, he's already under and the surgery suite is set, we're only waiting on you."

Tsunade let the paperwork drop. "Go to the hospital and get scrubbed up. I'll be right behind you."

Shizune nodded and vanished and Tsunade looked around one last time. Politics could wait for a few hours, saving a promising genin's career came first.

**Minefield**

It all happened too fast. His plan had been perfect and his timing unmatched. Maneuvering Tayuya onto a weakened tree, throwing the kunai that cut the branch, then breaking her flute the second she was off guard.

Without the music her puppets had vanished and Shikamaru had pointblank kicked her in the chest and sent her falling head first down.

Kill or die.

He'd had no other option.

"Shit." He sagged against a tree trunk and finally let his adrenaline run out. His insides felt oddly hollow and the entire back of his throat burned like it'd been cauterized by acid.

Shikamaru wasn't entirely sure, but he thought this was what dying might feel like.

"You giving up already?" A familiar voice asked sweetly.

Panic bolted up his spine and he pivoted around only to black out as something slammed so hard into his throat his neck nearly broke.

When he came to Tayuya had him by the neck and was hauling him off his feet.

Shikamaru knew he was suffocating but frankly there was so much blood in the back of his throat he might actually drown first.

"You're good." She panted and her cursed seal form was long gone, leaving a bedraggled girl bruised from head to toe behind. "But I'm better. You tried to break my neck earlier, remember? I'm gonna return the favor."

Her other hand went to this throat and blackness edged across his eyes.

Kill or die.

Shikamaru guessed he'd be dying today. As the last wisp of air left him and blood flooded his mouth he heard a grinding noise. Tayuya did as well and turned just in time to see a spinning and silver blur.

Kiba came plowing right into her side tearing and snarling. She let out a strangled cry as her entire left side vanished in a bloody mist. She crumpled over and released Shikamaru from her death grip.

The Nara however had no time to celebrate. He still couldn't breathe and he sat there on his knees with his vision entirely black vomiting up blood trying to get his airway clear.

He felt a pair of hands grabbing his shoulders and then someone struck him on the back. Once, twice, thr—the blood cleared out. His stomach hitched and Shikamaru _breathed_.

Kiba was laughing but it was panicky. "Easy there man, I got you." The Inuzuka was pale as a ghost and covered in blood and shredded skin. Tayuya laid next to him hanging like a ragdoll from the branch.

Her mutilated guts hung out limply like macabre streamers.

"You okay Shikamaru?" Kiba panted.

He choked a few times but managed to croak. "Yeah. I'm…yeah." His throat was too damaged for much else.

Kiba grinned and that's when Shikamaru saw the other ninja's teeth were slicked with blood. Kiba chuckled and coughed up some of his own bodily fluids. "That's good, cause this bitch stabbed me." And he pointed to a kunai sticking hilt deep from his side.

Shikamaru managed to catch the genin before he fell off the branch. There wasn't a lot of space and Shikamaru unceremoniously planted his foot on Tayuya's corpse and shoved it off. He heard it crashing through branches to the forest floor as he grabbed gauze from his pack and shoved it into Kiba's side.

"Don't die you moron." The Nara rasped.

Kiba coughed and laid his head on the chunin's knee, content to let him divine the mess that was now his side. Being stabbed in the middle of a spinning ninjutsu technique had done Kiba no favors.

"Well we're done." Kiba murmured.

Shikamaru sighed and felt his throat burn. "Yeah." From plain injury or them dying he didn't know.

"Am I gonna die?" The Inuzuka continued.

The chunin shrugged helplessly. "Probably not."

"That'sa good…" Kiba's eyes became half lidded and Shikamaru was uncomfortably aware of how much blood was soaking against the gauze he was holding.

Their part in this was over. Shikamaru's only worry now was whether they'd survive to tell about it.

**Six Miles North**

**"**Our jutsu is impossible to defeat." Ukon sing-songed, "You're going to die and there's nothing you can do to escape. Are you afraid?"

Everything inside of Chouji _burned _and he wanted nothing more than to throw up and cry and scream. Ukon had his head attached on to Chouji's shoulder. It was disgusting, it was horrifying, it was a parasite and he couldn't _claw it off_—

Chouji sucked in a panicky breath. It had started off bizarrely. The brothers had separated into two beings early on in order to give themselves the two-to-one advantage.

It had forced Chouji in having to go to lengths he'd once feared. The Akimichi's famed Three Food Pill set had come out, and the first one had gone down easy and he'd found himself faster and stronger and so full of energy two opponents seemed easy.

In response Sakon and Ukon had just stepped up their game and gone to the first level of their curse seal. The battle had been short but bitterly violent and Chouji had been forced to take the second pill, the yellow pill, when the pain of the first was catching up with him.

He'd had the upper hand, literally, as he'd turned his fist to the size of a building and nearly crushed his enemy. Then the brothers had joined into one body again and gone to curse seal level two. Their power had been unreal and Chouji had been tossed around like a ragdoll.

Then Ukon had latched onto him and gleefully started killing every cell in his body. Chouji could only scream and claw and die like an animal while it happened. Indignity didn't even begin to cover how he was dying.

As he laid _writhing_ the red pill weighed heavily in his pocket. If he took it he'd die. All of his calories would be converted into chakra for one glorious moment and…he would die. And that frightened him.

But Chouji was dying anyways.

"Oh lookit brother." The head fused to his shoulder tittered. "How high do you think I can make him scream?"

Sakon chuckled. "I don't know, why don't we find out?"

Chouji was already dying. Things were ending here, in this forest, in this clearing either way. And he wouldn't have Shino or Shikamaru or Sakura finding his mutilated corpse and pitying him. They were his friends, he was theirs, and they deserved knowing he'd gone down in a blaze of glory.

Sakura had given him his pride; he wouldn't throw it away now.

He deserved that blaze of glory and he took the pill from his pocket.

"Shit, brother he has another on—"

Chouji swallowed it before they could stop him. For a moment he felt nothing and the overwhelming, mind numbing fear that it was a dud struck him.

Then his insides crushed down and his skin in one lightning burst felt like it was sloughing off. Chouji arched and screamed and that's when the chakra came crashing down. It was more than he'd ever felt, ever seen.

The pain of his body fat all melting down to the barest and leanest of muscle was a pain beyond the best of tortures. It was a pain he had chosen for himself and he stood up.

Ukon was also screaming. "My skin! My skin, you son of a bitch you—"

The parasitic head of Ukon was seared off and Chouji smiled as he heard it scream in agony in its death throes.

Sakon stepped back in fear. "What did you do to my brother?"

Chouji's shoulder was light and free, his cells were surely dying but that was all right. "He was converted to chakra. In my body he's absorbing what I eat, and if I eat a pill that morphs body mass to chakra…"

"YOU BASTARD!" Sakon charged him with his cursed face twisted into a horrifying visage of rage and loss.

Chouji wasn't afraid anymore. Today was his day to die. His chakra stretched out in response to this resolve and it felt like wings. He looked back and chuckled.

They actually were. Butterfly wings.

"Cho." He murmured fondly.

Sakon was still charging but Chouji didn't need anything fancy. He grabbed his enemy by the wrist. "It's over."

He cocked his fist back and sent it rocketing forward at Sakon's chest. His enemy heaved once before his ribcage collapsed in on itself and Chouji felt his hand entering the chest cavity. Ribs burst out his back in a shower of finely misted gore, piercing lungs and heart and liver with horrifyingly lethal force.

Sakon let out one small moan before crumpling. Chouji felt no need to check for a pulse as his enemy's chest was now just _gone_.

A haze of exhaustion engulfed him. His chakra fled him like the fluttering of a thousand wings and like a drunk he stumbled a few steps out of the circle of gore and collapsed against a tree. He slid down and came to rest on the grass. It felt pleasantly cool on his face.

It was weird. Chouji had never really been able to feel his body or blood pumping at all, let alone the delicate things, but right now in the after-throes of the pills he could feel every cell degrading and dying. He could count the minutes until he left this world on one hand.

And that was okay.

This was his choice.

**Eleven Miles North**

Kidomaru had not gotten far on his jaunt to freedom. The blond was fast, faster than any chunin should be, and with Kidomaru carrying the barrel the other boy had easily ran him down.

Backed into a clearing the Oto ninja found himself surrounded on all sides by at least a hundred clones. The amount of chakra that must have taken to make was mindboggling.

And Uzumaki Naruto didn't even look tired. "Give it up."

Kidomaru set the barrel down carefully and gathered webbing into his hands. Catching a hundred might be difficult but…

"Do you think I can't _see_ what you're doing down there?" Naruto snapped.

Kidomaru froze.

The younger ninja rolled his eyes. "Dude, do you even know what your boss sent you up against? I _killed Manda_. Or well, blew off one of his eyes and part of his skull, same difference."

Kidomaru gaped. "You're lying."

The other boy laughed sarcastically. "Really? Orochimaru is actually trying to hide how badly we kicked his ass? Who would have guessed."

"I'm not surrendering to a filthy liar!" Kidomaru threw the webs with a shout.

Naruto sighed. "Your funeral."

That's when the literal sun-blocking hail of kunai came down. It was only quick action by Kidomaru coating himself in rock hard gold-hued web that saved his life. When he broke himself loose from his shell he found a familiar pale form standing next to him.

Kidoamru fell to his knees."Kimimaro-sama?" He gasped in confusion and just stared at the sickly man. "Shouldn't you be back at base in the medbay?"

Kimimaro, tall, pale, severe, white haired, and green eyed answered softly. "I'm moving on will power alone now. You four have failed Orochimaru-sama, you deal with this chunin, I will take Sasuke-sama back."

Kidomaru nodded wordlessly and handed the barrel over.

From the forest they heard the sound of applause. Naruto spoke dryly. "How touching, really. Now can we please get back to the killing so I can grab Sasuke and go home already?"

Kimimaro wordlessly leapt away, moving so fast Kidomaru missed him and Naruto imperceptibly frowned.

"Forget what I said." Naruto murmured. "I don't have time to kill you."

The blond pulled a three pronged kunai and threw it so hard Kidomaru heard the air split apart. And in a burst of yellow he and his clones were gone. Kidomaru gaped.

He'd just been left out of the fight. Kimimaro would _kill_ him for this.

"Don't worry." A new voice spoke up. "If you were worrying about who will end you, I am happy to fill the job."

Kidomaru glared up at the trees and a pale boy gazed dispassionately back.

"Who the fuck are you?" Kidomaru snarled.

The boy pushed up his sunglasses. "Aburame Shino, and since Naruto-san is absent I'm here to kill you today."

**Five Miles South**

Chouji was hallucinating, he knew that. There was something he owed Sakura, something he needed to tell her, and as long as he was dying he'd be the one to do it. They'd been keeping this secret from her out of fear for themselves.

Well Chouji had nothing left to fear.

He hallucinated her coming back because that was what he wanted the most.

Then his hallucination included Neji and Chouji began to doubt he was just dreaming it up. He spat up some blood. "Sakura?"

"Yeah?" She answered and her voice was tighter than he'd ever heard. That's when he saw her hands flaring green over his chest.

He gazed down at them in dazed interest. "What are you doing?"

"Healing massive cell death from chakra overload." She wiped her forehead and he saw that she was covered in sweat. "I've had this, so I can fix this. I've had it so…hang on Chouji. You're not going to die."

Neji's voice sounded very far away. "Sakura-sama should I…?"

"Go." She answered flatly. "Help whoever you can find."

Neji gave a quite nod before vanishing, going after others still farther ahead.

Sakura flitted her hands quickly across his body, repairing dead and dying cells and replenishing his chakra. Chouji stared up at her and the sky behind her was so blue and her eyes were greener than he'd ever remembered.

His tongue felt bloated in his mouth. "How are the others?"

She ran a hand through her hair, leaving blood and sweat smeared behind. "I don't know, I sent Kiba back to check a disturbance in the minefield, and Neji, Shino, and Naruto are obviously still up ahead."

"Shikamaru?" He rasped.

She shook her head. "I don't know."

This mission had been a mess from the get go, and he could see the stirrings of guilt already building in her eyes.

"It's all right." He coughed. "We knew the stakes so…it's all right."

"No it's not." She swiped at her eyes. "It's not all right for you guys to die because I got careless and held back by some loser ninja with an earth jutsu."

He had something he owed her and he fought through the fog in his brain. "You don't have to blame yourself for everything."

"I don't blame myself for everything." She chided gently, moving her chakra enhanced fingers over his lungs. She frowned heavily when she did. The chakra over him intensified.

His mouth felt dry. "No, listen, I know how much everyone…the village…blamed you for stuff when we were kids. And I want you to know—no—we all want you to know it wasn't your fault! There was a reason…"

She sat back from him slowly, her hands going dim. Her eyes were fathomless and her voice flat. "What are you talking about?"

"After the invasion." He swallowed heavily. "Hinata saw your chakra really well and Shikamaru started figuring some stuff out, and it took us months digging around but we figured it out. There's this law that says anybody who talks about it will be executed but I'm already dying so you know—"

"Chouji…" She did not stop him, not really.

He couldn't read her so he just said it. "They made you a jinchuuriki. Kyuubi no Kitisune." She looked away and he interpreted it as denial. "No, listen! It all fits! You were born that night and the chakra is inside you and Hinata saw it, and you have a seal and the things people call you…they blame you but we know better!"

"Chouji-kun." She took his hand in hers and held it tightly. She looked close to tears. "And…and what did you guys think?"

And in this moment Chouji, as worthless as he'd felt all his life and as much self-loathing as he had for himself, had never felt so vital. "We love you! Everything that happened…all of it, even the hospital stuff they put you through…it wasn't your fault! And we talked about it and Hinata said even if you were the Kyuubi after all we loved you anyways."

She was definitely crying and she doubled over onto him. "Goddamnit!"

He held her. "It's okay."

"Fucking irony." Tears were dampening his shirt and her voice was tear-choked. "On the mission when I was gone Jiraiya-sama told me what I was. And Naruto freaked out and Jiraiya looked at me like I'd blow up, and Tsunade at first just saw me as a—I just can't—goddamnit I wanted to tell everyone and be done with it but there was that stupid law! And you guys knew about it and didn't care…and here I was holding back and getting you all killed 'cause I thought you didn't know."

In all the years he'd known her Sakura had always been cool and collected and yet touched by some kind of haunting sadness none of their friends could name. She'd always stood apart from them, always a bit more alone, always drifting between them smiling softly, but always down to her core marred by some unspoken melancholy.

There was a distance there made from pain they didn't understand. But in this one moment that distance was gone and Chouji was holding his friend and having all those disjointed years of loss cried out on him.

It shouldn't have been the happiest moment of his life so far, but it was. Chouji out of everyone in the world, had done something for her when he'd learned the truth: his only reaction had been unconditional love.

Jiraiya had always known, Naruto had been tied too deeply to the situation to have such a selfless reaction, but Chouji had done so and it would be a moment Sakura would never forget.

Surprisingly his chest felt a lot better. "Hey, Sakura?"

She sat up gingerly.

He smiled at her and lifted a hand to her face. "They'll need you up ahead. I'm good here, okay?"

She rested her cheek against his palm and held his hand with hers. Then with slow, beautiful clarity, her eyes bled from jade to crimson. It was like watching ink being cast in water.

Her smile was touched by hardness. "How does it look?"

Kyuubi eyes.

Chouji suddenly understood all the stories, all the fears, and all the hatred's his village collectively harbored for those blood-hued eyes.

His smile was touched by truth. "Beautiful."

That was all she needed. One of her hands touched his chest, flaringly brilliantly, and his body loosened. He drifted off to sleep no longer dying as she turned and unsheathed her sword.

The glimmer of that shining blade was the last thing he saw as she walked away.

**Eleven Miles North**

Kidomaru strung his bow again and fired. The golden shaft thrummed through the air and struck flesh.

'Shino' merely exploded into a cloud of bugs.

Kidomaru let out a curse and fell back on the defensive, already notching his bow for the next strike. This fight was turning out far from how he would have liked it. His webs meant nothing to the Aburame and his chakra eating bugs, and Kidomaru's spiders once they'd been summoned had taken one look at Shino and then refused to help one way or another.

It was mortifying.

A shadow circled his feet. Kidoamru looked up to see Shino dropping down on his head. The bow cracked and the arrow loosed, and once again the Shino in front of him exploded into a cloud of beetles.

Kidomaru shouted. "You can't keep pulling this trick forever!"

The shadow stayed over him and Kidomaru looked up and he realized the cloud was still descending on him. A flurry of webbing poured onto his skin trying to construct armor before it was too late. And it was, bugs were already burrowing into his pores and biting him and feasting on his chakra. Some were even tunneling under his skin.

His curse seal activated on instinct alone in a flood of black lines."Damn you!"

He didn't have much time left, at the rate those bugs were eating his chakra he'd be finished in minutes. He tossed the bow and in each of his six hands gold webbing spun into swords.

Shino stood across from him in the clearing, unmoved by the display.

It was time to do or die and Kidomaru let out his battle cry and charged.

**Sixteen Miles North**

Naruto flung himself to the next tree and sent a hail of three pronged kunai ahead of him. It had been a nightmare chasing this ninja of Orochimaru's, but if nothing else Naruto was persistent. Hirashin flung him ahead and suddenly he was on the edge of the tree line.

Grinning in delight he watched his target run in a full out sprint across the field below him.

Naruto was about to catch up.

He weighed the next kunai, adjusted his trajectory one last time, and released. The kunai anchored and Naruto grabbed his chakra and tied it to the kunai and pulled. It was like blinking and a split second later he was ten feet ahead of the pale enemy and blocking the way.

And his enemy seemed entirely unperturbed by his arrival. In fact Naruto had the feeling he could have showed up on fire and this Kimimaro wouldn't have even batted an eye.

The pale man spoke flatly. "Get out of my way to Orochimaru-sama or I will kill you."

"Listen, offer me cookies or something and we might talk, but death threats just don't cut it for a guy like me." Naruto buffed his nails on his shirt. "Now are we gonna do this death match thing or not?"

Kimimaro set the barrel down beside him and with an eerily horrifying level of calm, he shoved his fingers into his own shoulder up to the knuckle.

Naruto could not help but gape.

The pale man pulled his hand back and out with it came a long and undeniably milky white length of bone.

Naruto gagged.

Kimimaro offered no banter as he sprung on the attack. Naruto, who was long used to dodging Sakura when she was working out her kenjutsu with her katana, easily maneuvered around the blows and started reading the style.

Naruto got a pensive look on his face as he continued to dodge. "Dude you suck at this, sincerely."

The response was another shoulder-gouging-grab. Now Kimimaro had two swords.

Naruto sighed. "This is gonna turn into a _thing_ with you, isn't it?"

His enemy spun into a deadly attack and now Naruto was fully engaged, pulling his own blade for defense. Bone met steel and sparks flew. Naruto was unhappy to hear the metallic and distinct sound of steel cracking.

This wouldn't end well.

Both remained oblivious and yards away strands of dark smoke began to emit from the barrel, the seals on it hissing and disintegrating.

It began to shake violently and inside its occupant woke from his drug induced slumber. In a hiss of air the cover loosened, and within the murky confines of the barrel a pair of bloodshot Sharingan eyes opened.

They began to spin, and for the first time in weeks Uchiha Sasuke started laughing.

* * *

Edit: rewirting for this chapter included the new scence with the Kyuubi and Sakura at the begining, streamlining all battles and shifting the timing around, all injuries were much worse this time around and all deaths a lot more violent, and the biggest change this chapter was the entire overhaul of the Chouji/Sakura conversation about her being a jinchuuriki. Sakura was actaully emotional about her friends accepting her, Chouji actually explained how they knew about it, and them knowing was foreshadowed so it didn't come out of left field. A brief fight scence with Shino and Kidomaru was slipped in. Also Neji's personality was given a bit of a touch up, and it was adressed that him brutally attacking Hinata like he did in the prelimnaries has social consequences for how others act around him.


	14. Blindness

Disclaimer: I don't own anything anywhere in here…except Sakura being psychotic, but I'm not sure if you can _own_ a character interpretation.

* * *

**Ten Miles North**

Sakura did not pause long as she checked Neji's path. He had made it clear as day, obviously aware she'd be right behind him, and it was like following a blinking neon saying: _people to kill this way_.

Despite the fact that sometimes she still wanted to _strangle_ Neji and bash his skull open on the ground while she did it, she was beginning to like the glum Hyuga. Not that Hinata wouldn't remain her most favorite Hyuga of all time, but Sakura _could_ have more than one in her collection.

Even if he was kind of a jackass.

Her nose twitched as a new but not unfamiliar scent pervaded the woods. Metallic, bitter, and coppery. It was getting stronger by the minute and she closed her eyes, feeling a tight knot of apprehension in her guts.

Blood. There was so much blood spilled in these woods. Was she about to walk upon another dying body of a friend? Their corpse?

Her stomach lurched as she managed to pick up another scent. Bugs, their guts, the distress signal cast out by their pheromones.

_No._

Pushing her legs to their limits the world blurred around her. Her muscles were straining but she could not yet wreath herself in the Kyuubi's chakra to compensate, if she needed to heal someone she'd require full access to her human reserves. She knew well how the Kyuubi's chakra would rot anything it touched but her.

And even she would _burn_ on it given the time.

She cleared the trees and into a small glade. Blood was spattered everywhere, there were dismembered arms just lying around, and in the center of that circle of gore was a mangled figure. The face and the skin had been seemingly peeled off and bugs were running over the body in frenzied confusion.

"Fuck." Horror climbed up the back of her throat hot and thick. Only two things would cause Shino's bugs to move in a frenzy like that: chakra depletion or death.

A branch snapped behind her and in one fluid movement her katana was loose and snapping back—

She stopped the tip of the blade a centimeter short of Shino's gashed chest and blood spattered jacket. He grabbed her shoulder and his sunglasses were gone, and she saw the pure exhaustion in his brown eyes.

He sagged down and she cradled him to the ground.

"Goddamnit." She placed a chakra imbued hand on his chest. "Could you guys _try_ not to die on me?"

The collar of his jacket had been ripped off and he gave her a woozy grin that was very un-Shino like. "Sorry…got careless."

Her other hand went to his forehead. She sighed. "You have a concussion. Careless is right."

He shrugged against her and then winced in pain. "Sorry." He repeated. "I got my colony on him and thought it'd be over. I let him get in range just to play with him in the death throes and he activated the second level of his seal. It _killed_ so many of my colony…" He trailed off into pained silence.

Sakura let him mourn his bugs. He was Aburame and she perfectly understood that about him. When one of his bugs, just one, had been crushed by a particularly cruel classmate when they were children Shino had nearly cried.

Chouji had punched the other kid cold though, so things had worked themselves out on that score.

She looked to the mangled, skinned body in the clearing. She could not even begin to imagine what Shino had done in response, but the end result was right in front of her. That's when she noticed a pale, still attached arm sticking out of the dirt.

It was Neji unconscious and bruised.

"What happened to him?" She asked slowly. She reached her senses out and found Neji was depleted of chakra as well but sleeping it off.

"I was a bit…overwrought when half my colony died." Shino answered flatly. "I was lucky that Neji arrived and stepped in for a moment. Unfortunately, just because that Oto ninja's spider summons would not touch me did not mean the same reticence extended to Neji."

Even when he had a concussion his vocabulary was still better than hers. Depressing. She put a soothing hand back on his forehead. "And?"

"Neji used kaiten a few times and he managed to seal off most of the enemy's tenketsu as well, by that point he was exhausted and I stepped back in." Shino offered no more.

A skinned body was ten feet away from her, Sakura could connect the dots. The chakra left her hands. "You'll live."

He nodded, winced, and laid down on the grass. His bugs that had been wandering in confusion over the kill immediately turned around and filed neatly back to him. He gathered them up and murmured things she couldn't understand.

"Sleep it off!" She shouted back as she left the glade.

She left a soldier pill in Neji's hand for when he woke up. The mission was still going and she had no more time to waste. They were getting closer to the border for every hour that passed and with no one was dead she had no excuse to dally.

She wouldn't fail this mission.

She sprinted into the trees but this time she could not go full bore. Neji's clear trail had ended and now she was following the telltale but incredibly faint signs of Naruto's passing. She had to fight the urge to get angry that Naruto had gotten so good. Good enough she actually had to slow down to make sure she wasn't misreading things.

It was frustrating and her pupils dilated out before reforming into slits again. She stopped looking and breathed deeply. Naruto's scent was a familiar comfort and the trail became as clear as if it was blazing.

A burst of malevolent chakra towered in the distance and it took her a moment to place it. A cursed seal was activating. It was one she had already been around for to see the effects of once.

Uchiha Sasuke was awake and on the move.

"So much for being kidnapped." She murmured under her breath. The Kyuubi's chakra throbbed in time with her heart. Pleasure, malice, bloodlust. It was a euphoric combination and she ran her tongue along the edge of her teeth in anticipation.

With Sasuke's chakra to lock onto she dropped into a full-on sprint, and the only thing going faster than her body was her mind.

Sasuke had turned traitor all right and the only question now was what she was going to do about it. Murder him, cut off his legs and drag him back, break every bone in his body, throw him down and set him on fire…

The possibilities were endless.

**Unknown Location**

Naruto watched in increasing agitation as another dozen of his clones were ripped to pieces by bones. He didn't have time to watch their demise as he ducked sideways, narrowly avoiding another bone fired from Kimimaro's mouth (and he didn't want to know if it was spine or rib or even a femur, it was still disgusting).

He back flipped to land a couple yards away, once again forced out of killing distance.

For all intents and purposes Naruto was a close quarters fighter. His use of Hirashin mislead many into thinking he was long range, but the truth was the famous jutsu was just his way of getting up close and personal before stabbing, blowing up, and or shoving a rasengan into somebody.

The problem was Kimimaro was a close range specialist too, and that's where things started to get messy.

Naruto grabbed another kunai, spun it on his finger once, and threw it. It pierced between Kimimaro's feet and one step of Hirashin later Naruto had his hands planted on the ground and his heel slamming under his enemy's chin.

The give of Kimimaro's jaw shattering was pleasant to feel just as long as it took for Kimimaro to eject the broken shards from his flesh like kunai. Naruto twisted at an impossible angle to dodge and rolled sideways.

He sat on his knees for a long moment just watching Kimimaro re-grow his jaw like nothing was wrong at all. This fight was starting to get aggravating.

"I am getting tired of this." The Oto ninja announced.

Naruto raised an eyebrow. "You took the words right out of my mouth. How about we finish this?"

The pale man shifted into a new stance. Bones pierced out from his palms, knees, elbows, and shoulders. "Let's."

The chunin felt like throwing a tantrum. Could this guy put out any more marrow than he already had? "You've got to be kidding me."

He wasn't. The pale man leapt and twisted into an acrobatic maneuver that had a sweeping slash angled for Naruto's chest. The blond backpedalled and avoided a bone through the heart, only to nearly walk into the knee with the spike. Out of reflex Naruto kicked his enemy in the chest and used the blow as a springboard to get away.

He landed a few yards back and Kimimaro came after him like a rabid dog that had tasted blood. He quickly realized he needed to slow this guy down, and fast.

Another three slashes were barely avoided and Naruto latched mentally on to a nearby kunai and used Hirashin. He landed twenty feet away and his hands flipped through seals. He slammed his palms on the ground and felt himself rise upwards as the earth bucked. Kimimaro charged but it was too late, Naruto was kneeling on the head of a dragon made of earth and his chakra was thick on the air.

The creature opened its maw and spewed out a torrent of mud and rock with explosive force. Kimimaro barley had time to bring up his arms before he was sent airborne.

His body skipped a few times, the bones in his arms and legs dragging on the ground and slowing him until he stopped in a sizable crater. Both of his elbows were now lodged into the ground and Kimimaro pulled hard to get loose.

Naruto was already moving in for the kill when a sickening chakra washed the field. "Aw fuck." He recognized that chakra.

He didn't need to see but he turned anyways to watch the barrel splinter apart in a torrent of smoke. Sasuke slowly emerged and his skin was an odd shade of gray, and his eyes were black and yellow and yet still in their Sharingan shape.

Sasuke just smirked at him, his skin and eyes turning to normal, and fled.

"Get back here you son of a bitch!" He already had a Hirashin kunai out and aimed to take Sasuke down. When he got there he'd _cut_ out that idiot's Achilles tendons.

He only got three steps into the throw before something grabbed his ankle. Right, still in a fight here. Sometimes he forgot in all the excitement.

A milky white blade came up at him, intent on piercing his jaw and burying up into his brain. With his ankle pinned there was no getting away and he twisted and caught the blow on the side of his chest. A stream of blood splashed down his torso but Naruto only grimaced and he kicked his enemy square in the face.

Kimimaro's face crumpled under the blow and Naruto pushed off and Hirashined away. Doing so in such quick succession ripped his side further and he landed in agony clutching his stomach. There was blood everywhere now and Naruto looked up to see the pale man rearranging the bones in his face back to working order.

There was no stopping this guy. His kunai wouldn't cut the bone, the bones wouldn't stay broken, and now Naruto was probably bleeding to death. This was fucking lovely.

Sakura would never let him live this down.

"Forget this." He spat. Chakra gathered in his hands and a tempest kicked up and twisted through the field. Slowly he crushed it down into his palm, down and down until he was holding the whole goddamned sky in his hand. "Rasengan."

Kimimaro stared at the jutsu in something that was almost awe. "You cannot touch me with that."

"Watch me." There was so much of his chakra in the air he only had to form the _thought _of his clones to pull them from the ether.

They swarmed out and Naruto followed behind them. The first one died on Kimiaro's elbow, the second on his knee, the third shot though by a projectile rib. The clones piled on and Kimimaro splintered bones outward from himself like a porcupine.

But the clones had done their job and for a moment he was motionless.

Naruto plunged the rage of chakra and the sky straight into his chest. Kimimaro reinforced the plating of bone over his ribs even as Naruto kept pushing, grinding, and cutting down.

The blonds' hand snapped out, grabbing the back of his enemy's head by the hair and yanking back. He kept cutting and stared into Kimimaro's eyes with unyielding _fury. _And this time the older shinobi screamed.

There was no pain on earth like having your bones grinding to dust. The first mist of blood spattered Naruto's face and he merely tightened his grip and dug in his feet and pushed. "Wind cuts bone, asshole."

The hurricane of wind finished its annihilating path through the bone and shredded into the soft flesh of his innards. Organs, bone, and blood spattered across the ground in front of himself a gory arc. Kimimaro could only watch the blood pour out of his chest.

Naruto was soaked and the Oto ninja had never seen such frozen blue eyes. "Lay down and die, I'm done with you."

Naruto let go of the hand in his hair and Kimimaro slumped to his knees, keeled over, and died. He never used his curse seal once. He'd waited too long.

"Bastard." Naruto panted. He stumbled far enough he wouldn't have to lay in the gore before he collapsed. Hands slick with blood, some his, most of it not, he fought with the pack on his back and pulled out a blood pill.

He swallowed it whole and closed his eyes. Maybe he wouldn't bleed to death out here. Yet.

"Son of a bitch." A familiar voice cursed.

He opened his eyes. A crimson-eyed Sakura was kneeling over him and fussing over his wound. "This is the third fight I've walked in on the tail end of. It's like you guys just can't wait to get yourselves injured before I get here."

"I do try." He assured, quite content to lie down and let her hands wander over him. Even if it was in the healing sense and not the fun kind.

She patched the wound with unusual speed. "Careful, if you move too much you'll reopen it." And she stood up and was already on the move.

"Wait!" He shouted after her, "Sasuke…"

"Is loose. I know." She finished for him and looked back over her shoulder. Those wounds of her eyes sent chills down his spine. "I'll bring him back."

Naruto did not ask if that would be alive or dead. He only thought of those eyes when they'd looked at Orochimaru in sheer hatred, thought of those eyes when she'd faced down Gaara without any fear, thought of those eyes when she'd sat astride a man's chest in the Forest of Death and strangled him so slowly…

They were the Kyuubi's eyes, he knew that now.

And that did nothing to assure him.

**Konoha Hospital, Surgical Suite 4, 5:33 PM**

Tsunade pulled the mask off her face and tossed it in the trash. She made her way wearily to one the many sinks ringing the prep area. Her hips rested against cooled steel and she doused her hands in water.

Above her a single window let in the dying blue light of a pale dusk, and it shimmered in the water and the blood ringing the drain. Tsunade watched the water swirl away, carrying the bloody mess of a surgery with it, and yet her mind drifted somewhere else.

Sakura had not yet returned, none of her squad had. The mission went on.

Tsunade hated it.

She turned off the tap. Her hands had long been cleaned and now her skin was just chilled. The hazard disposal was open and Tsunade tossed her scrubs and wearily changed back into her street clothes. She couldn't get out of the prep area fast enough.

She pushed open the doors and nearly ran over two Jonin standing outside.

Maito Gai and Hatake Kakashi. Two men she could have lived without dealing with. Ever.

Without grievous bodily injury being involved, of course.

"Hokage-sama, how is Lee doing?" Gai's hands were wringing. In some distant, still compassionate part of her brain Tsunade knew the man was a good sensei terribly worried for his student.

In her discontented state compassion was just a word she had no use for. "He'll live. Give him a month of rehab and you can have him back on-squad. Now if you two would excuse me…"

Gai was too busy crying and leaping in joy to notice or care, Kakashi however stayed right on her heels.

"Hokage-sama." He spoke.

She did not stop.

"Hokage-sama."

She answered sharply. "I have no time for you Hatake. If you have a report give it to the mission handlers. I'm busy." Maybe if she ignored him hard enough he'd just go away. Wasn't that a lovely thought?

He kept talking. "There have been rumors that Sasuke defected and a team was sent after him. These rumors say Sakura is leading the team. I request to go after them, Sasuke is my student…"

"You have no idea Hatake." Tsunade answered archly.

"No idea of what?" He asked slowly.

In one move she stepped into her hospital office, let Kakashi follow in behind her, and slammed the door shut. "How close I am to murdering you where you stand."

He froze and took a measured step back from her. "What?"

"You're pathetic." She snarled. "And worse than that incompetent. Let me make this clear: Sakura is quite possibly the most precious ninja in this village right now."

"I know she is a jinchuuriki but—" He backpedalled.

"Not that." She interrupted coldly. "That girl is like…a child to me. And here you are, the man who failed her, slandering her and making demands of me. "

His face went bone white and she saw the incomprehension there.

"You are a pathetic husk of a man Hatake, and I know you could never wrap your head around why I love her." Tsunade sat herself behind her desk. Her body moved with deadly, battle ready grace. It spoke of the fact she could be across the space between them in the blink of an eye and have his heart stopped.

"That is…" Kakashi struggled for words and she let him. "Not relevant to what I ask. Sakura will kill Sasuke, and no one you sent with her on that squad has the spine to stop her if she does."

Tsunade answered softly, as softly as blades sliding into his spine. "And you bring this to me as if it comes as a surprise. Your student, former student, has likely left this village of his own free will. He signed his own death warrant and Sakura will fill it."

"He's the last Uchiha!" Kakashi shouted. "And things have been…"

"What?" She crooned dangerously. "Difficult for him? Life sucks and then you die Hatake, and frankly compared to some of his teammates, Sasuke has had it easy."

"Some of his teammates have driven him out." He growled back.

Her smile was mocking. "His choices are his own and so are his punishments. No one forced Uchiha Sasuke into anything."

He swallowed.

"I could have you executed for this insubordination." She told him absently.

"Will you?" He asked flatly.

"No." She smiled. "Not yet. Your request is granted."

His visible eye went wide. "What?"

Her smile was razors. "It's already been over a day since they left, so go after them, not that it will change anything."

"Then why?" He asked sharply.

Her head tilted, honey-hue eyes shining darkly. There was no Sanin crueler than Tsunade and Orochimaru and Jiraiya would both admit to that.

"So you can see the ruin of your mistakes."

**Valley of the End, 5:59 PM**

Sasuke skidded to a stop at the bottom of the valley. His Sharingan eyes scanned the opposite wall, already picking his course to freedom. The border was a few miles away and his new life would begin on the other side.

Uchiha Sasuke would be powerful and free and no teammates, loser sensei's, or weak villages would stand in his way.

Shuriken rained down on him like hail. His eyes traced the path of them and he spun out of the storm. He landed on weathered stone on the riverbank he'd just crossed, and he turned to see his way blocked.

Sakura was leaning against the cliff face, a smirk on her face and her eyes shining like blood. She no longer wore the scarlet ringed eyes but ones fully bled through, and her pupils were that of an animal.

"End of the road Sasuke." She pushed off the wall, moving forward like a predator. And Sasuke knew he was her prey.

"Get out of my way Sakura." His voice was steady but inwardly his stomach was knotting. He knew nothing of her power, nothing of her skill, and her eyes were wrong in ways he couldn't even begin to name.

His curse seal unfurled and flooded him with power and suddenly his fear was a distant memory. He would test his mettle on her.

"If you're going to kill me Sasuke, try already." Her katana hung loosely in her hand. "I want to see if you're even worth salvation."

Fire ignited in him and Sasuke roared. "I DON'T NEED SALVATION!"

Her katana flickered, catching a ray of the dimming sun and sending it searing into his eyes. It was all the distraction she needed.

He brought up his forearm to shield his face and caught sight of Sakura already through a dozen hand seals.

He brought his hands to his mouth and exhaled, not bothering to name his own jutsu. Flame poured from his mouth and collided with Sakura head on. He grinned insanely for a few moments. "That's it!"

The fire did not burn out but instead turned brighter. The fire roared skywards in a tempest of white hot light, leaving Sakura standing on the river calmly without a burn in sight. The wind buffeted him with hot ash.

"I'll admit, that wasn't half bad of you. Holding the jutsu in during that entire conversation just to get an edge? Sly." She raised a careless hand towards the river. "But against a monster like me that's not _nearly_ good enough."

The wind picked up and two huge dragons rose from the turbulent waves. It was the same jutsu Naruto had used against him on the hospital roof, but this time Sakura did it with no hand seals, no sign of strain. The dragons were the size of sky scrapers.

Sasuke barely had time to dodge before they were upon him. The first one barley missed but the second crashed into his chest sending him sailing into the cliff. An impact crater splinted outwards from where he hit and blood spattered from his mouth.

The entire shore was now a foot deep in water and he sank into the murk, choking on blood.

A few of his ribs were cracked, some broken.

He grabbed his cursed seal and dug deeper and he was rewarded with so much chakra his very sight seemed to expand out. "No! I'll beat you with this power!" He felt his very body changing under him, his skin growing thick as scales, his hair growing long, something fleshy and webbed ripping from his back. Sasuke did not realize it but he'd activated the second level of his seal.

It was the best he had ever felt. Invincible, powerful, untouchable, _whole._ He had been waiting his whole life for this and any thoughts of him having made a mistake were gone. He was on the path of an avenger and the way was finally clear.

He circled around Sakura's waiting form and she watched on in utter apathy.

"Absolute power corrupts absolutely. You get strong and you think you're god, you get strong and you think you can escape your sins." The sun had set and her katana weaved through the shadows. "You get strong and you never realize you're willingly skipping down the same path as your brother."

His rage flared hotter than the sun. "Shut up! You don't know anything about him or me!"

"Quick to temper aren't we?" Sakura smirked but it was harsh and bitter. "You may be happily running down his path but you are nothing like him. Itachi never showed his rage, never showed his fear, never showed his weakness like you do."

He launched off the shore to where she stood on the water. He threw a punch that would have snapped her neck if it struck. The Sakura he hit flickered out, nothing but genjutsu.

"Up here." And a foot slammed into his face, sending him tumbling into the water on which he had been balancing.

He burst back to the surface but she was once again motionless, not pressing the attack.

"Come at me!" He screamed.

She did not move an inch and her crimson eyes bored into him. "Just what are you searching for Sasuke?"

"Power!" He snarled and was already gathering his chakra for the next attack. "Power to kill Itachi!"

"Is that all?" She cooed.

This fire jutsu burned so hot the flames were blue. The water surged up around her like a shield and the valley was doused into darkness as steam billowed up.

He slid across the water sideways before finding new position and freezing. His Sharingan could see nothing in this fog. He would wait to strike, patiently.

Sakura kept speaking and her voice seemed to be everywhere. "Orochimaru will never give you the power to kill Itachi. You're a fool to think differently."

"Liar!" He shouted at the steam.

She chuckled and it was like razors being dragged down his back. "You are going to Otogakure to be Orochimaru's glorified _meat suit_. He will wear you and your eyes and pluck out your soul. You will be less than dead Sasuke. And he will go about his work of _not_ killing Itachi because he is and always will be too weak to even touch your brother."

"That's all bullshit!" He screamed back. "He promised me power, I don't care if I have to sacrifice my body and soul to get it, but I will kill Itachi!"

"Except you won't. Are you that blind Sasuke? You're trusting Orochimaru's word that he will give you your desire, his _word_. Really? God Sasuke, you are beyond pathetic."

All thoughts of patience went out the window and he plunged into the steam. He fired jutsu in every direction and she just laughed. A hurricane gale flooded the valley and carried the steam away. Sasuke found himself alone on the water and Sakura was on the shore sitting delicately, her legs crossed. "Are you done throwing your tantrum yet?"

A chidori ignited in his palm but the lightning was black as sin and the sound of it was thousands of screams. "Die."

She stood up to meet his attack. "You are entirely out of control."

He leapt and for one moment his Sharingan and his curse seal and his chakra were in perfect alignment. The chidori would pierce her heart.

She blurred and suddenly his face was being smashed into stone and his wrist was bent up behind him. Her knee was in his back and she was holding his wrist, still with the chidori in it, against him and letting it burn his back.

He coughed and choked and let the jutsu short out.

"I tried to do this the easy way Sasuke. I really did. I offered you to train with us, I took care of you when you were hurt, and hell, I was fucking _gentle_ with your little revenge complex." She mocked him. "But you and your Sharingan eyes were just _too_ superior for me, so I guess we get to do this the hard way."

The growths on his back, his wings, flexed under his control. With a shout he slammed them against her chest, knocking Sakura from his back. He spun and already had another chidori ignited to kill her when he'd come full circle. "My Sharingan is far superior to you!"

"Your crutch is nothing to me." She was already fifty feet away, looking entirely unimpressed and sheathing her katana. "But if this is how you want it, fine, I'll show you."

She touched her wrists and then her legs. He watched in muted alarm as gravity seals appeared and deactivated at her touch. All this time she had been—

A leg slammed into his gut. Spit flew from his mouth and he swung the chidori blindly, but instead a fist caught him right in the center of the back. He flinched in pain only to be struck full in the face with her heel. He was blown off his feet and all his concentration on his jutsu was lost.

He barley flew five feet before she was above him and slamming her legs into his stomach. He was flung head over heels into the water and it shot up his open mouth and burned down as he choked on it.

He kicked to the surface and as soon as his head cleared she was grabbing him by the collar and lifting him.

She froze for one moment, fist cocked back, smiling. Her eyes were the color of his own blood. "Can you keep up?"

Her fist cracked him across the face and his temple scraped against rock and sand abraded his shoulders. He'd hit the river bank and hard, and he laid half in and half out of the water panting. His curse form slipped away from him even as he tried desperately to hold onto it.

Water sloshed as Sakura allowed herself to drop into the shallows of the river. "You're still too slow. Your Sharingan may see me but your body is so _weak_…"

He tried to crawl away from her advance. "Shut up."

"You will never be strong enough to kill Itachi like this."

"SHUT UP!"

"No." She stopped and blood and water swirled around her in the tide. His blood. "You need to hear this from somebody. You are so blind Sasuke that your Sharingan won't let you see what is right in front of you. Orochimaru, Itachi, me. That isn't what matters here Sasuke, but you."

"Don't…" Grit had jammed behind his tongue and clotted with his blood. "Don't you dare put yourself on their level."

She chuckled. "And why not? Less than two weeks ago I made Orochimaru run from me like a beaten dog, I nearly _killed_ him."

"Liar." He rasped.

"Suit yourself." She strode out of the shallows and onto the shore. "I suppose if you didn't believe that, you'd be even less inclined to believe that Itachi trained me as a child."

His jaw locked and his eyes bulged. "What?"

"There are things that must be acquired, destroyed. And some of those paths run through you." She looked to him with fathomless eyes. "That is what Itachi told me when we first met. Frankly Sasuke, I knew him better than you ever did."

The enormity of that fact rocked him to his core, blew his objections away, peeled the sky apart and showed him that hell was raining down. "Why you! Why is it always you Sakura?"

"Once upon a time there was a great Hero and he protected the people of his village with his life. And god Sasuke, did they love that man for it." Her voice had gone throaty and distant.

"I didn't come here for fairytales." He spat.

Her eyes cut to him and for the first time her killing intent reared up. The world died. The sun died. Light itself died. All of him was crushed down to one tiny point of sweat drenched fear and there was no air left to breathe…

Her killing intent left.

The water flowing around him felt so cool. His body was burning in fear. He couldn't stop shivering.

He gasped. "What the fuck."

"This isn't a fairytale." She answered dispassionately. "This is only a record of our nightmare."

He sucked in air and let it go, over and over. The fear would not leave him and her words clawed into him like venom.

"And then came the monster, the Beast of legends, and it laid waste to all it touched. And they could. Not. Kill. It." Her words dripped with an unfathomable truth, a resplendent pain. A reality brilliantly outlined in suffering and hate.

He sucked in another breath, fear so thick inside him it was another living thing.

"But the Hero loved his village so much that he went before that Beast and called down the Death God himself. The Hero sealed that monster with the hand of the Death into a living sacrifice, and for the price of this boon he gave his life." It was a story he felt like he already knew, somewhere deep and instinctual.

And yet he knew nothing at all.

She lifted her hand and red chakra rose from her palm, twisting like flame. "The sacrifice lived on and the village hated it for in it they saw the death of their hero. In that sacrifice they saw their own cowardice, their own failures, their own _weakness_ that let their hero die for them."

The chakra in her hand turned to a writhing storm. "But no matter how many times they tried to kill it the sacrifice lived on. One day in that sacrifice's life paved with bloodshed and ruin, a Prince of the village saw her and wanted her as a weapon for himself."

She crushed her hand and the chakra snuffed out. "The sacrifice became a weapon but not the Prince's. And then that little sacrifice was left behind when Prince killed his family and went to seek the power hidden in the shadows of the world. The sacrifice remained. Always remained."

She looked to the darkening clouds and Sasuke thought that; maybe, in the ashen sky she sought salvation. When her gaze came back down though there was nothing but damnation for the both of them. "But the Hero had a son. The Prince had a brother."

And the horror of the nightmare became clear. Sasuke choked on it. "No…"

"Uzumaki Naruto and Uchiha Sasuke." Her smile was razors. "I thought I might find something in you two, maybe some meaning in this whole nightmare, but that's not the moral of our fairytale Sasuke."

"Then what is?" He shouted.

"There is no moral." She drew her katana and it sliced the water. "There is no ultimate path, no perfect power, no righteous man left. It's all...arbitrary. We're here and all there is suffering and death and we can't take it back. But there are things I can still do here despite that, and you aren't strong enough for any of them."

The katana drew closer and in the reflection of the blade and the water there was only her eyes. "What kind of monster are you? What kind of sacrifice?"

"Jinchuuriki. Vessel of the Kyuubi no Kitsune." The blade lifted. "And you really are nothing to me, I realize that now. There is no deeper truth to find if I possess you."

"No." Sasuke tried to get to his feet but the water had left him weak and there was no chakra left. "NO! I can't die yet!"

Her foot planted in his stomach and pinned him down. "Maybe it's time I gave purpose instead of searching for it in others." The tip of her blade was an eyelash away from him.

"Nononono—" The words spilled out and all of his life, his awareness, was centered on that blade. "I don't want to die Sakura. Please— "

"I'm not going to kill you Sasuke." And she smiled at him so gently it took his breath away. "I'm going to hurt you in ways far worse than that."

The katana slid into his eye. For one moment he could still see with one eye, see the blade sticking out of his other eye, and see Sakura above him still smiling gently.

Then she flicked her wrist and twisted.

Sasuke screamed as he had never screamed. His world was slashed down to nothing but blinding red and inky blackness and _pain_. Blood spattered down his face and he clawed for his eyes, knowing, knowing, knowing there was nothing left—

She pulled out the katana and stepped off him. He vomited all over himself. Blood ran down his face in a sticky torrent and he was crying and sobbing and still throwing up—

"God Sasuke." She sat down and took him into her arms. "I will hurt you in ways you can't even begin to imagine."

**Fifteen Miles South**

A groan escaped his lips and slowly, painfully, Neji pulled himself up into a sitting position. He blinked and took in the shadowy forest around him. It was eerily quiet, still, silent. As if all the animals had long since fled and would never return.

He touched his temple and winced as a chakra headache pierced his skull. To his surprise he found a soldier pill in his hand and somehow, he knew Sakura had left it there. He swallowed it and immediately felt almost human.

He took another glance around and judged that it was getting close to nightfall. That meant he'd been out cold for at least four hours, maybe longer.

A shudder overtook him and he looked around wildly for the enemy. The memory of spiders falling from the trees like rain would never leave him…

The smell hit him next and he caught a glimpse of a body with the face ripped clean off. _Then_ Neji remembered what had happened and he had to swallow down bile. That had been Shino's work right at the end. The Aburame in his rage had been one of the most unforgiving and vicious bastards Neji had ever witnessed.

Neji had known Hinata was dating Shino and had kept it to himself for a rainy day to use against her though Hiashi. Now Neji would take that secret to his grave if he had to.

He would never cross Aburame Shino after the things he'd seen today.

"You're up."

Neji stiffened and looked over to see Shino propped against a tree.

"…indeed." He finally answered. It was a very uncomfortable feeling being afraid of someone a year younger.

"Good, I was not carrying you." Shino stood slowly and dusted himself off. His entire front was caked with dried blood and skin.

Neji's fear was entirely justified.

He stood up as well. "Where do we go?"

"We are useless to Sakura right now." Shino answered succinctly. "We shall trace back our route and see if the others need medical attention."

Neji could only nod. "Lead the way."

**Valley of the End**

He pressed his hand to his eyes and tried to stop the flow of blood from beneath the lids. It dripped between his fingers and another wave of nausea wracked him. He felt Sakura's hands touching his face and turning his chin sideways as he threw up again.

They were certainly both covered in blood and bile now and Sasuke couldn't find anything in him to care.

The pain was too much to handle, too much to be conscious for, and yet Sakura would not let him go under. He wanted to rail accusations but the pain was talking. "God—fuck—Sakura please, it hurts…"

"I know." Her cool hand covered his hands and eyes, and he felt chakra gently washing against him. "It'll be okay."

He choked. "Okay? My eyes are gone, my bloodline—NOTHING is okay. I can never kill Itachi…"

"Maybe, maybe not." She pulled his back against her chest and let him rest his head against her shoulder. His hands slid weakly from his eyes and she clamped her hand to hold in the blood and keep her soothing chakra there. He did not fight her; taking away this mind-numbing pain was worth losing his bloated pride.

"I'm blind." The horrified realization struck him. "You made me blind!"

"How about an exchange?" She asked calmly.

"There is nothing you can give me to replace my eyes!" He grabbed her knee and dug his nails in until his hand was bloody. She let him.

She sighed. "I said an exchange, not a gift-back Sasuke."

He slammed his head back. She neatly caught his head before he could break her nose, still holding her opposite hand over his eyes, and set his head back against her collarbone. "None of that Sasuke or the pain _will _come back."

He spluttered. "What kind of monster are you?"

"A very horrible one who now has legitimate claim on your soul." She replied sardonically.

He swallowed. In the blackness of his world he was reminded again who had put him in this position and how easily she had done it.

"What's the exchange?" Getting the words out was like chewing glass.

He felt his eyelids starting to reconstitute under her medical chakra. She murmured against his ear. "You're my creature now Sasuke. You'll fight who I fight, go where I go, and be my _precious_ teammate. It'll be just like before except…better."

"And…" His tongue felt thick. "What do I get?"

She hummed. "Power. I'm an S-class killer Sasuke and I can make you one too. When the time comes and Itachi appears we'll fight him together."

"I'm blind." He responded harshly. "I'm practically crippled for a ninja. Don't pretend that you can fix thi—"

"Oh Sasuke." She lifted her hand and the pain came roaring back. "You won't understand it now, but tonight I gave you a power beyond your wildest dreams."

His spine arched and she was gone from behind him. He rolled around on the ground screaming, spattering blood everywhere, slamming his head against the rocks just to get away from the pain—

She just sighed somewhere above him. "Strength and blood and madness, it's all so tangled in you Uchiha. You've been thinking too much with those eyes of yours, I won't have something of mine leaning on such a debilitating crutch…"

A soft hand came back down. He relaxed on the stones, not caring that he had mutilated himself and was now bleeding all over.

She patted his forehead. "Rule one Sasuke: never doubt."

**Thirty Miles South**

Hatake Kakashi followed his summoned dogs, listening to them barking and running in the fading twilight of the forest. Pushing himself to move faster he found himself in a burned out part of the forest and it looked like a battle zone. He had the sickening suspicion it was exactly that.

Clearing a blown out tree he spotted two figures collapsed on a limb. Landing beside them he sent his pack of his dogs fanning out to re-aquire the trail and took a quick assessment of the situation.

Kiba was unconscious and had left a sizeable puddle of dry blood on the branch. Shikamaru however was conscious and staring at Kakashi with glittering eyes. "So help arrives." He rasped. "Too late as usual."

Kakashi frowned. Shikamaru's entire chin and neck was dark with a dried black mess, and it took him a moment to recognize it as blood.

"How are you doing?" He asked instead.

Shikamaru spat up something dark. "Shitty. I've been holding in Kiba's guts for the past few hours, it ain't exactly a picnic out here."

Kakashi pulled out a flare. "Medical squads got sent out as I left. I'll call them in, can you hold on until then?"

Shikamaru rolled his eyes. "I'll manage somehow I'm sure."

Kakashi sighed and ran a hand through his hair. He hoped that was the blood loss talking, but somehow he doubted it.

He pulled a metallic cylinder, set the wick on fire, and sent a flare spiraling into the air. The entire forest for a mile was bathed in a haunting green light. Shikamaru watched it all silently, his eyes impossibly dark.

"Which way did they go?" Kakashi asked.

Shikamaru pointed north. The jonin had already wasted enough time and jumped.

**Unknown Location**

Neji bent over Chouji's still form and checked for a pulse. Chouji cracked an eye open. "I'm not dead man, stop poking my neck."

It was only years of emotional training that stopped Neji from jumping out of his skin.

Shino walked over and offered a hand up. Chouji took it and got up unsteadily, and both boys quickly realized the third genin was at least fifty pounds lighter since they'd last seen him.

Shino hissed. "You didn't."

Chouji smiled. "I did."

Shino covered his face and Neji couldn't tell if he was relieved or exasperated. "Why aren't you dead?"

Chouji grinned wider. "Sakura came along and put me back together."

Shino nodded. "Of course."

"And I…" Chouji looked embarrassed. "I told her about…that."

"What." Shino said flatly. It was no question, just pure, horrified statement.

The Akimichi shrugged. "In my defense I _thought_ I was dying."

Neji had stopped following the conversation and had no idea what was going on. They seemed in no hurry to enlighten him.

"And?" The Aburame asked.

"She already knew."

Shino relaxed and closed his eyes tightly. "Figures."

Chouji looked immensely uncomfortable. "She did get kind of weepy though. I think…well…she didn't expect us to be totally cool with it, you know?"

He was following even less now and Neji's eyes ping-ponged between them in confusion.

"We'll just have to tell her ourselves until she's okay with it." Shino turned away. "Let's go, we still need to find the others."

Chouji nodded and Neji chose not to pry.

Just then someone leapt above through the trees. It was Hatake Kakashi. He shouted at them as he passed by. "Medics are about a ten miles back, have fun with that!" And he was gone.

Chouji stared up for a long moment. "…what a freaking asshole."

"For telling us where the medics are?" Neji asked uncertainly.

"No, just in general." Chouji shrugged. Shino looked to be in complete agreement. "Come on, I bet the medics have the others."

At least they knew they were going in the right direction.

**Unknown Location**

"Damn it..." Naruto stared up at the dark sky cradling his side. It'd been hours now and no one had come from behind and Sakura still hadn't returned with either Sasuke or Sasuke's body. He worried for Sakura marginally, but most of his fears were for the rest of the squad. Had they died?

It was not a pleasant scenario to contemplate.

There had been chakra to the north for awhile, Sakura's highly controlled nova and Sasuke's wild massive _filthy_ new chakra from his curse seal. Both had gone out hours ago and nothing had come to him since.

His mind ran. Had she died, had Sasuke, had they both?

Or Sakura was torturing Sasuke within an inch of his life and had lost track of time. It was the sort of thing she'd do.

He was ready to permanently give up and resign himself to the fact that he was going to lay on his back for the rest of eternity, when the noise of dogs barking came to his ears.

Turning his head sideways he flinched as a group off dogs jumped over and around him. When he reopened his eyes Kakashi was standing over him. Naruto pointed to himself. "I don't suppose…"

Kakashi reached down, got an arm under his back, and hauled him to his feet. Naruto winced and held his side tighter, not wanting his wound to burst without a medic around. "Thanks. So what brings you to this neck of the woods?"

"Where are they?" Kakashi asked impatiently.

Naruto scoffed. "Ma, ma, so impatient." Kakashi looked ready to hit him so Naruto decided he wouldn't delay too much. "By they I assume you mean Sasuke and Sakura. They're still farther north but their fight ended awhile ago, so I'm not sure what's going on down there."

Kakashi moved past him and got two steps only to be faced with Sasuke and Sakura standing a few feet away. Sasuke's upper head was bandaged including his eyes and Kakashi was horrified to see his front was covered with blood and dry vomit.

Sakura had his arm around her shoulders and seemed to currently be supporting most if not all of his weight.

"Sasuke…" Kakashi breathed.

Sakura looked un-amused. "Don't sound so surprised. You're acting like you expected him to be dea—" Her eyebrows shot up. "You did. You totally thought I'd kill him!" She accused.

"In Kakashi's defense." Naruto offered. "I totally thought the same thing."

Sakura looked him and he could tell she was fighting hard not to smile. "Traitor."

"Just…" Kakashi looked like he was dealing with a particularly delicate explosive. "Put him down. I'll take him from here."

"No." She answered simply.

Kakashi paused. "What?"

"Sasuke stays with me and that's how it's gonna be. Out of the way." She hitched her hand through his belt and started pulling Sasuke along with her.

The jonin stepped in her way. "Sakura you just mauled him. He needs medical attention…"

"Which I'm getting for him." She sniffed.

For the first time Sasuke spoke up. "I don't belong to you Hatake. Get out of our way."

Naruto was delighted to watch Kakashi look a bit punch drunk. "Sasuke, less than two days ago you—"

"Hated her? Yeah, I still do." His head lolled a bit. "And right now I'm so high on painkillers I can't feel my feet. I'm sure this conversation will be just as engaging in, oh…never from now, so go away."

Naruto laughed so hard he had to bite down on his fist to stop.

"Sasuke…" Kakashi for once had nothing to argue. He struggled for something to say. "What's under those bandages?"

"Oh, that." Sasuke sound incredibly unconcerned. Naruto was beginning to believe him about the being-high part. "My eyes are…" His head titled back in Sakura's direction. "Are they just gone?"

She nodded. "I believe the technical term would be _gouged_, but that's close enough."

His head reeled back to the jonin. "Yeah, my eyes are gone, that's what's under the bandages. Happy?"

"What did you do?" Kakashi advanced on Sakura and Naruto maneuvered himself between them.

"I think Sasuke already covered that." She answered flippantly. "Now you're just being obstinate."

He took another step forward and Naruto felt Sakura's killing intent slice through to him to Kakashi. Naruto danced out of the way and saw her eyes had gone back to a boiling red. She bit out in a guttural snarl. "Get. Out. Of. My. Way."

"You heard her." Sasuke waved his hand dismissively in Kakashi's general area. Naruto was beginning to like his high-on-drugs teammate.

Something in Kakashi thought better of getting in her way and he stepped aside. The hatred in his eyes was clear to them all, even Sasuke who couldn't see it. Naruto gave Kakashi one last glance before walking over to the two. He gave Sakura a peck on the cheek and put his arm under Sasuke's other side.

"All together then." He grunted.

Sakura's voice was distant. "Too right."

They moved past and Kakashi remained behind struggling with the realization that today he really had lost all of his students. Tsunade had told him he'd face the ruination of his mistakes coming out here. He thought that'd be Sasuke's corpse.

Instead it was the last Uchiha robbed of his eyes and turning on him like a rabid dog. Kakashi had lost everyone.

**Five Miles South**

"There won't be an execution, the worst they'll do to you is slap you on the wrist with a probationary period." Sakura pulled Sasuke over a tree root. "As far as Orochimaru is be concerned you're a lost cause. Without your eyes, well…you're nothing to him."

"Cheerful." Sasuke answered, the drugs still doing most of the talking.

It really had been a great idea to bring enough along with her to put down a horse. And here she'd thought she'd use them just to bring him back unconscious, this was _so_ much more fun.

"You already thought this out." Naruto accused.

"Since I heard Sasuke left the village. What about it?" She shot back.

Naruto grinned. "If Sasuke wasn't between us I'd start making out with you."

Sasuke made a gagging sound.

Sakura nudged him. "Are you gonna throw up again or are you just being an asshole?"

"I'm considering my options."

Both Naruto and Sakura snorted at that.

"Can we keep him high all the time? High-Sasuke is fun." Naruto begged.

She rolled her eyes. "No."

"Damn."

"So…" Sasuke sounded serious, or as serious as he could be roaring-high out of his skull. "Naruto becomes Hokage."

"Yep." Naruto agreed cheerfully.

"Sakura becomes…" The Uchiha's bloodstained face turned to her.

"Kickass top kunoichi." She supplied.

"Sakura becomes a kickass top kunoichi." He continued on as if he hadn't asked. "And I kill Itachi and…then what?"

She and Naruto shared a glance.

He raised an eyebrow. She shrugged. "I don't know, you become ANBU commander. Top jonin? Sky's the limit here."

Sasuke trailed off mumbling. "Huh."

She had a feeling he wouldn't remember this conversation in a few hours. She was completely all right with that.

They were about to become the team she'd wanted since the beginning, and even if she hadn't gotten the chance to really _lose it_ with the Kyuubi's chakra, her first command had been a complete success.

Naruto grinned at her. She grinned back.

The world was okay.

* * *

Edit: Changes we've got in this chapter from the original is Naruto and Kimimaro's fight getting cleaned up and streamlined and the entire Tsunade and Kakashi conversation was redone to have Tsunade pretty much ripping Kakashi a new one. The most massive change was the fight in the valley between Sakura and Sasuke, their dialogue was improved to _show_ just how Sakura is twisting him apart, Sasuke actaully has some emotional depth, the fight was a lot less disjointed, the entire logic of the scence was cleaned up, and this time when Sakura was bearing down on him Sasuke actually begged for his life. Beyond that we had some Neji and Shino interaction slipped in, along with a conversation between Chouji and Shino adressing the fact Sakura knows that they know she's a jinchuuriki, and more Sakura and Sasuke stuff was added in to show just how psychotic controlling Sakura can be at her cruelest. Also to show just how thouroughly Sasuke has been torn down. Last, Sasuke suddenly becoming amiable at the end which in the original version was really out of place, was expalined in the rewrite that Sasuke is really _really _high on painkillers whne it happens. And a high Sasuke is a happy Sasuke.


	15. Hollow Sky

Disclaimer: I find my lack of ownership disturbing. And traumatizing.

* * *

**Unknown Location, Fire Country**

Sasuke collapsed on the stretcher with a groan, finally succumbing to a long day of pain and fear and enough drugs to kill a small child. Sakura hovered for a minute, fussing over him as the medics tied him down to the stretcher. When the final straps were clipped together two ninja picked it up and moved full speed to the village, and the other medics went back to attend to their other patients.

She slid up behind Naruto and kissed him on the back of the neck. "Thanks love."

"For what?" He spun her around and kissed her again.

He winced as his chest pulled. She rolled her eyes and sat him on another stretcher. "For backing me up on Sasuke."

A medic came over and immediately started tending to Naruto's chest. Sakura watched to see if she could pick any medical jutsu up she didn't know.

Naruto kept talking. "No problem. I still don't like him, but I'm not going to bitch at you for _not_ whacking the guy."

She kissed his cheek and cuddled up to him on the stretcher. "Your logic is flawless as always. And by flawless I mean incomprehensible."

"So success." He kissed her back. "So how about—ow!"

He looked over his shoulder. "Which one of you sons of bitches threw a rock at me?"

"Stop making out!" Chouji shouted back.

Sakura did not stop laughing the rest of the way to the village.

**Konoha, Main Gate**

Tsunade paced. She was not panicking, she was not afraid, she was merely pacing.

That was it. Really.

Tsunade sighed. She didn't even believe her own lies anymore.

"If you're trying to wear a groove into the road, you're succeeding at it admirably my Lady." Shizune called out.

She shot her assistant a glare. Shizune shut up.

The medical squad appeared on the horizon. Uchiha Sasuke was first, chained to a stretcher and out cold. Tsunade gave him a cursory once over. His eyes were gone. "My my. I suppose I should just be glad he's not back in a body bag."

Shizune peeled the bandages on his mutilated eyes back, took a glance, and winced. "Silver linings is right. At least Sakura-san didn't take his guts out like this."

Tsunade waved the stretcher on to the hospital. Her heart went to her throat as she spotted more stretchers being carefully handled by the medics coming up. How many of the squad had gone down?

It took every ounce of will power to not run up to them and check if Sakura was among them. Tsunade was the Hokage and she could never show weakness, even when she wanted to.

The next three incapacitated ninja turned out to be the Nara, Inuzuka, and Aburame. All were some kind of conscious and they gave her short reports before the medics carried them onwards. As far as they all knew Sakura had gone on fine.

Tsunade's heart got a bit lighter.

The next two were an Akimichi and a surly Hyuga. Both were also semi-conscious and they relayed to her everyone else behind was fine.

Tsunade finally felt all the tension leave that had taken residence up in her heart for the past two days. The worst was finally over. No one but the enemy was coming back in body bags.

Ten minutes later Sakura found herself thinking it would be ironically hilarious if she had managed to survive every fight on the mission only to be hugged to death by Tsunade. It wasn't that she didn't like the physical contact, just…her ribs weren't meant to bend the way they were right now.

She gasped. "Tsunade-hime...I'm...alright!"

Tsunade held her out at arm's length and examined her. "No chakra burns, no overdose?"

"I barely got to use the Kyuubi's chakra at all." She whined. "I'm fine."

Tsunade muttered to herself. "You seem okay...though your chakra is running much lower than I'd like, we should probably get you to the hospital anyways."

Sakura was just not getting out of going to the hospital and letting Tsunade fuss. She pouted. Some small childish part of her liked the loving attention, the more mature part appreciated it, and the monstrous part of her abhorred it.

Tsunade pulled her along like a disobedient child and Sakura in turned hooked her hand through Naruto's belt. He yelped indignantly and got dragged along. Shizune followed along dutifully and Naruto seemed happy to turn to the woman and play out every fight over the last twenty-four hours in extreme detail.

Shizune started looking pretty green towards the end of it.

"Hime, can I at least check on everybody first?" Sakura asked. Whined. Probably both.

She felt a like a five year old.

Tsunade gave her an appraising glance. "Fine, but then you're going in for a full physical."

There went all of her desire to cheer. Even when she won against Tsunade she lost. She sighed. "Okay. Let's go see Sasuke first; I did a number on him…"

**Konoha Hospital**

It was not every night that four clan heirs, a traitor, and a churlish Hyuga were carried in on stretchers. The surprise was short lived and Inuzuka Kiba and Akimichi Chouji and Nara Shikamaru were all immediately rushed to operating rooms.

Shikamaru for throat damage that kept closing his airway at random with no apparent cause, Chouji to finish healing his damaged cellular structure, and Kiba had the worst and required surgery to put him back together after having his guts nearly ripped out of his side.

Shino got to sit up on a gurney in the hallway and have his chest stitched up. He was then put in a bed for the night to be treated for chakra exhaustion. He didn't complain.

Hyuga Neji got put in the room right next to him. Neji wanted to complain but decided better of it.

In all the confusion Uchiha Sasuke was placed on a gurney, still unconscious, and wheeled deeper into the hospital by two nondescript orderlies no one would remember when questioned later. As soon as they left the chaos that was the emergency room the two orderlies turned their leisurely stroll into a clipped jog and found an emergency exit that they'd previously de-wired and opened nearly two days ago.

The second they'd heard Uchiha Sasuke had deserted they'd been posted at the hospital, prepared to remove him should he come back alive. Secretly, if only to each other, the two agents had confided that sending jinchuuriki Sakura after him would probably make their posting useless.

That the Uchiha came back alive later surprised them both, not that it slowed their mission any. ROOT never failed no matter their feelings or lack thereof on the matter.

"You got him?" The shorter of the two agents asked.

The taller one lifted the Uchiha up. "Yes. Let's move."

The shorter one opened the emergency door and cautiously stepped out. The air outside was cold and dark and the only sound was the buzz of a malfunctioning street lamp down the block. It cast an eerie play of neon blue on the splintered concrete before shorting out again.

The street went dark.

The shorter one looked back. "All clea—"

His body buckled as someone landed astride his shoulders, grabbed his body tight with their legs, and then used their momentum to flip him forward. The shorter agent was eating concrete in seconds and half of his teeth floated freely broken in his mouth along with blood.

The person who had disabled him stepped off delicately. "Put Sasuke down or you're dead."

It was the jinchuuriki, and despite having emotional training that could put statues to shame, the agent on the ground could honestly admit at the sound of her voice fear had gripped his heart tight. Some instinctual and animal part of him recoiled from her.

His partner backpedaled. "N—"

Only to walk into the Hokage's assistant standing in the doorway. Who then, cheerfully, put three senbon in his shoulder. The Medic lifted another few senbon, all glittering with poison. "Put him down now or whoever you work for will get you back in a body bag."

The shorter agent tensed and rose slightly from the ground. They could not be captured at any cost.

A flash of yellow filled his vision and suddenly Uchiha Sasuke was gone, leaving his taller partner empty handed. "Wha—"

Across the street, leaning on a roof, was Uzumaki Naruto with the Uchiha slung over his shoulder. The chunin waved.

This mission had fallen apart too quickly and the agent now knew, with no uncertainty, Tsunade was likely closing in fast and this mission was blown. He eased out a scroll and opened it. The jinchuuriki reeled on him but it was too late.

Ink exploded out like a bomb.

The jinchuuriki spluttered and covered her face and the agent slipped through the ink, grabbed his partner, and fled.

When it cleared Sakura's entire front was drenched and she felt apocalyptic. "I am going to _murder_ someone for this."

Shizune, now that the danger had passed, lost her cool as ice composure. "Hurry and get inside, both of you. This kind of breech…"

"Is bad, I know that." Sakura wiped some ink from her face and nodded Naruto over. "We'll just have to deal with it, I guess Sasuke isn't as off the radar as I'd hoped."

Naruto landed with a heavy thud as Sasuke's extra weight made any attempts at subtly moot. He sounded anxious. "Think they were more of Orochimaru's guys?"

They all stepped inside and Shizune rewired the alarm on the door.

Sakura frowned. "Sadly enough no. They must have been waiting here since our mission went out. Orochimaru is good but not fatalistic enough to think his entire squad would fail and Sasuke would get brought back here. And considering they stayed in Tsunade's hospital without getting their cover blown…"

Naruto swore. "Inside job. Fuck. I hate that shit."

Shizune stood up. "I need to go inform Tsunade-sama about what happened immediately, of all the times to get called back to surgery…but first we're going downstairs, all three of you are spending tonight in the max security wing."

The two chunin groaned. Today was just turning into one of those days and with a resigned air about them Naruto and Sakura complied. After maneuvering three staircases and a dozen hospital personnel without actually showing their faces, they reached the basement without anymore kidnap attempts.

Sakura was greeted with the same dim florescent lights as before, the same hall that led to iron doors, and the same plate glass window thick enough she could throw a chair at them and not make a dent. Hell, it looked like the same ANBU were still on guard.

The last time she'd been here had been with her holding Jiraiya's hand and watching Sarutobi have a machine breathe for him. It was not a pleasant memory.

Shizune locked them in and departed. The ANBU guarding outside did not move muscle as they passed but Sakura saw Shizune relay orders to them as she left. Whatever the medic said made them stand up straighter.

The wing had plenty of beds open; none of them occupied, and after a bit of awkward shuffling Sasuke was shoved off on one of them. Sakura began immediate medical treatment from what she did know: I.V. for fluids, more pain killers down his throat, and cleaning out the twisted wounds over his eyes.

It wasn't exactly top notch medical treatment but it'd keep Sasuke alive and relatively comfortable until a security sweep was run over the entire hospital staff. Until then Sakura would trust no one to touch Sasuke. She felt somewhat sorry for Tsunade; it'd be a long night all around.

Things had been deteriorating in a political sense rapidly since Tsunade became Hokage, but inside jobs with this level of sheer nerve were an unexpected and nasty surprise. Sakura knew five months without a Hokage would weaken the position, but enough that their own people were brazen enough to be running counter operations?

Sakura was going to have to go knee deep into the political muck. It looked like her days on the frontlines were over. Hopefully not forever, but the Kyuubi's plan…

He stirred in her, his chakra running smoothly like fingers through her. It was not a pleasant thing but it didn't hurt either.

He murmured in her ear. _And here you thought all your dreams had come true, you shouldn't be so conceited wretch._

Her jaw tightened and she bowed her head. She whispered under her breath. "I won't be careless like this again; just because I have Sasuke doesn't mean I get to keep him without a fight."

_That new pet is the least of your worries. _The sensation of his claws raked down her back. _You were right to realize the time has come to immerse yourself into the politics of this village. You have gathered your base of support child; it is time you put them to use._

A chill slipped through her and for a moment she felt as if she stood on the edge of a windswept chasm deeper than the ocean and hollow as the dark. It was a vast and stunning realization, and with that earth shattering jolt she knew the first phase of their plan had finally finished after seven years. Her allies had been gathered: the next phase had begun.

She rode the adrenaline rush and her grin was razors. "I understand."

_Good, just don't forget what happens next my darling jinchuuriki. _He withdrew to the depths but his presence clung to her, warming her, burning her. The Kyuubi was the world to her.

She turned and found Naruto lounging on the next hospital bed. She was on top of him in a flash.

"And to what do I owe this?" He asked brightly, wrapping his arms around her and meeting her in a violent kiss.

He looked rather surprised by her ferocity. She purred. "Good things are happening Naruto, trust me."

He didn't object and in a matter of moments he was an active and enthusiastic participant in her celebration.

**Emergency Room, Hospital, 3:00 AM**

Tsunade hated having ANBU in her hospital, but she hated traitors even more so she let the first one slide. It was galling, she had left Sakura alone for five minutes and the girl managed to walk in on and foil a kidnapping attempt on Uchiha Sasuke only an hour after he was recovered.

Jiraiya had said violence and trouble followed Sakura around like a bad kunai, but witnessing it first hand was migraine-inducing.

And now she had squads of ANBU sulking around her hospital digging through records and vetting her entire staff. It was hard enough running a hospital, and the worst part was she was Hokage and _knew_ every bit of this madness was necessary.

If they couldn't keep their hospital clean of the enemy, Tsunade might as well give up and dissolve Konoha right now.

She had long realized what Sakura and Naruto had concluded in the heat of the moment: the kidnapping attempt was an inside job, and heads would roll once Tsunade figured out who was responsible.

Or better for her blood pressure, she'd just rip those heads off. Justified murder did wonders for her stress levels.

But in the mean time Tsunade had patients to care for and a post-op checkup to do. Akimichi Chouji had survived due to a messy but efficient patch job Sakura had done in the field, but his recovery from both that patch and the surgery to remove it and then repair the damage would likely span days if not weeks. One didn't nearly kill all of their bodily cells by converting calories straight to chakra and get off lightly.

Tsunade stepped into the room and lifted her head at the sound of someone hyperventilating. The Akimichi was having another drug-induced fit. She watched him shuddering and retching for a few seconds before hitting the call button.

Seconds later a team of nurses and medics were swarming the room while Tsunade watched on dispassionately. That was right about when she noticed a pale and blonde form hovering in the doorway.

"Are you going to stand there all night?" Tsunade asked.

The girl, pale and willowy, regarded her nervously and stepped in. By the blue eyes and build alone, Tsunade immediately recognized her as a Yamanaka.

"Is…" Her blue eyes were swimming in tears. "Is Chouji gonna be all right?"

"What's your name?" Tsunade asked back.

The girl swallowed. "Yamanaka Ino. Chouji is my teammate, my…only teammate right now."

"I see." It was the sort of pain Tsunade had come to see too often. "On his previous mission Chouji took all three of the Akimichi food pills."

A sharp gasp greeted this.

The nurses and medics began to file out the door and Ino inched in farther, passing Tsunade to go stand by her teammate's bed. "And he'll be…"

"Fine." The older woman finished with a gentle smile. "Your teammate is very lucky. His squad leader Sakura had firsthand experience with massive cellular death and she was able to patch him long enough for him to get to the medic squads under his own power." Tsunade couldn't keep the tinge of pride out of her voice, but really, for a miracle like that Sakura deserved every accolade.

Tsunade had entertained aspirations of making Sakura her apprentice before, but seeing this kind of on-the-fly medic work with no training cinched it. With some real teaching under her belt Sakura could easily become the next legend in the field.

Ino sighed in relief and sagged onto the bed. "Sakura again, huh?" She smoothed down Chouji's hair and the look on her face was so tender Tsunade felt like a voyeur for just seeing it. "We really have some catching up to do to her, don't we Chouji?"

Ino's voice hitched and she buried her face into the sheets. "God Chouji, I was just gone for a little while! You're not supposed to die and leave me alone on the team, Shikamaru already left as a chunin and now you're trying to leave in a body bag?"

Tsunade wordlessly excused herself from the room. Those tears and pains were the kind no one was really meant to see. They were self-inflicted ones, born of self-loathing and doubt and fear.

And by Tsunade's estimation Ino had a lot of that pain to work through. The Hokage left Chouji in a coma and Ino alone and crying, and sadly it was the kindest thing she could do for them.

**Unknown Location, Rice Country**

A tray of glass vials smashed against the wall, sending out a torrent of colorful poisons and antidotes that ate away at the stone walls in a hiss of steam.

Kabuto stood by indifferently as Orochimaru raged through his private lab destroying everything he touched. Right now Kabuto was doing his best to act invisible, and getting in the way definitely wouldn't help that goal.

"That little demon bitch!" Orochimaru seethed. "Is one jinchuuriki that hard to shake, that hard to kill?"

Kabuto wisely decided not to mention that Orochimaru had not been able to kill that very jinchuuriki despite his best efforts. That kind of comment would just get the medic killed, and Kabuto was quite attached to his life thank you very much.

Another delicate piece of equipment was smashed against the wall. "And Sasuke was taken back! They could at least have died slowly enough to slow that bitch down, but no!"

That jinchuuriki slowed for no one. They both knew that.

"Fools! I'm surrounded by useless fools." Orochimaru collapsed into a chair, and his new face and new body seemed out of sync with the act. It was a graceless thing to watch.

Orochimaru's voice pitched lower, the rage leaving as quickly as it came. "Are you sure Kabuto, all of my Sound Four dead?"

"Indeed." Kabuto nodded slowly, not particularly wanting to be the bearer of bad news. Orochimaru had the annoying habit of killing the messenger. "Even Kimimaro was…ineffective."

"Her?" The Sanin hissed.

"No, her Uzumaki pet did Kimimaro in." And that alone was a bigger blow. It was one thing to be killed by the jinchuuriki, but by one of her entourage? There were dangerous children sprouting up all over Konoha and the jinchuuriki had seemingly surrounded herself with all of them.

"And we are certain Sasuke was taken back?" Orochimaru sighed.

Kabuto lowered his head. Not so much out of deference as much as a fear direct eye contact might get him killed. "Yes Orochimaru-sama, our trackers were sent into the border earlier tonight. We collected no bodies but examination of the battlegrounds told us enough. Our people are dead and Sasuke was taken back by the jinchuuriki herself."

This time broken glass. It would take weeks to track down another instrument as delicate as that one. Kabuto sighed at the loss.

Orochimaru seated himself again, this time totally calm. Detached. "Not all is lost, we will just find another way to retrieve Sasuke-kun. In the meantime send out that _bitch'_s picture to all our forces, assassination squads, everyone. Whoever kills her on sight will be paid in kingdoms of gold."

Kabuto nodded deferentially but inwardly shifted uneasily. Orochimaru had been too busy raging and putting himself in a new body to attend to the finer details of their network, but rumors were already streaming in. One rumor was gaining strength above all others: that in bringing Uchiha Sasuke back the jinchuuriki had taken a step of unimaginable brutality.

A step of unimaginable devastation.

Kabuto could simply withhold the information and hope that it was false, but if it turned out true and his master found out that he had known…there wouldn't be enough of Kabuto left to fill a test tube.

He had to pick his poison and swallow it. "Orochimaru-sama there is an unfortunate…rumor concerning Sasuke-kun."

The Sanin's chakra flowed out, filling the room like a toxin and seething into every crevice. It was worse than drowning, worse than suffocating, it was a snake constricting him and readying its fangs filled with poison…

"And what is that rumor, Kabuto?" Orochimaru practically hissed.

Reluctantly, Kabuto opened his mouth to speak the words that might kill him. "It was said that the jinchuuriki cut out his eyes and mutilated them beyond repair."

The air went still with death.

"You have two days." The weight of the executioner's axe rested on his neck and Orochimaru held it. "Two days to find if this rumor is true Kabuto, any less and you will know what it is to feel _pain._"

Kabuto ran. It took him sprinting up ten staircases before he could breathe again. He cursed the fact he had ever laid eyes on that jinchuuriki. Head's would roll for this revelation, and Kabuto could only hope his wouldn't be one of them.

**Konoha Hospital, Maximum Security**

Sasuke woke feeling like acid was being poured down his face. He couldn't quite place where he was, time and space and distance having all become meaningless since that fight in the valley. He laid still feeling sheets under him and concluding he was in a bed somewhere, wherever he was.

The sensation of being _woken_ but not _waking up_ lingered, and something bright and shining flickered just on the edges of his senses. He turned at the light-but-not-light and something in the back of his mouth tasted like chakra.

It was a familiar one.

"Sakura."

"Good man." The bed sunk down, and her voice sounded like she was smiling. "Just because you're blind doesn't mean you can't _see_."

The light-not-light grew brighter and though it had no shade or substance it felt _redder_. "That's you." He blurted.

"That's me." She assured.

Then the nausea hit and he doubled over on the bed retching. Her hand came to rest on the back of his neck and her chakra injected down his spine, settling into his stomach before he could start throwing up something that wasn't there to throw up. "Easy there Sasuke, I pulled back the drugs for a minute so we could talk. Give me five minutes and then you can spend the rest of the day high as a kite."

That sounded very appealing right now, and he had to hold himself back from blurting to agree. "What do you want?" Politeness had never been his strong suit.

She snorted. "To the point as always. Let me give you a sitrep then: we're in the max security at the hospital right now and we spent the night after some agents tried to snatch you. Odds are it was an inside job, and ANBU just finished clearing the rest of the staff ten minutes ago. We'll be leaving here soon."

"Someone tried to kidnap me." He paused and considered that. "_Again?_"

"You're a popular man Sasuke." He could hear the smirk. "You'll be heading up for surgery on your eyes to clean up the worst of it and I'll be sitting in on that to…not to be crass about this, keep an eye on you."

His chuckle was a bitter rasp. "Of course."

"You're a precious commodity at the moment." She finished wryly. "That's all I needed to tell you, you'll be back under in a minute."

The bed rose and the light-not-light of her chakra faded back into the dark. Something tight and fearful crawled up his throat. "Sakura."

Her voice came back. "Yeah?"

His fists clenched but the words slipped out. "Keep your chakra bright for me."

Her voice softened. "Whatever you need."

The redness of her flared vivid again and he relaxed back into the bed, orienting himself on her. "So when does my training start?"

"One thing at a time." A needle slid into his arm and something cool injected into his veins, moments later her voice seemed to come from somewhere very far away. "We're not going to get ahead of ourselves just yet."

**Hokage Tower, 8:00 AM**

Tsunade wasn't startled by much anymore. Missing ninja jump out to kill her? Big deal, when she'd been out on the road that'd been a daily occurrence. Assassination attempts by the council? Hell she'd be disappointed if they didn't try. So when she found Jiraiya sitting alone in her dark and locked office it didn't even faze her.

Maybe if Orochimaru proclaimed his undying love for her she'd be surprised, but since the odds of that happening were astronomically impossible she didn't have to worry. Too much.

"I thought you were out on a long Intel run." Tsunade asked dryly.

Jiraiya sighed and he looked more tired than she'd ever seen him. "So did I. I had a bead on Orochimaru when that whole Sasuke debacle went down. When the kid and the entire squad they sent out didn't show Orochimaru switched bodies, as of late last night our dear old teammate has full use of his arms again."

Tsunade cursed. "Damnnit. I was hoping…"

"Sakura gave us nearly half a year of him being crippled; we shouldn't have expected that gift to last forever." He ran a harried hand up his face.

Tsunade could only sigh and nod. "Figures. Any other bad news you want to bear as long as you're here?"

He grinned viciously. She winced. She shouldn't have asked, hadn't she learned not to invite bad luck on herself yet?

"The council has called for emergency gathering as of an hour ago. Their spy networks are good I must admit, but mine are better. Long story short Danzo is the one who initiated contact with the other members and now they're all up in arms." He hefted a scroll at her.

She caught it with a sigh and unfurled to read. The request was as clear as day. "Any idea what they're planning?"

He frowned. "I can't give you specifics but the entirety of Team Seven is being whispered about and the vultures are circling."

"If it's not one thing it's another." She threw the scroll away in disgust. "If you're done ruining my day I have work to do."

He gave a cheeky grin. "I love you too."

She threw a stapler at him but he just jumped out an open window cackling. Well, she felt marginally better now, Jiraiya did always know how to cheer her up. She cracked her knuckles and sat back in her chair, she was about to go into the first major political battle of her tenure as Hokage and she needed to mentally prepare for all avenues they could attack.

Tsunade hated losing when it really counted.

**Next Morning, Hospital**

Yamanaka Ino had once been a vapid little girl. Beauty and cute clothes and cuter boys had been all that had mattered to her. She had whiled away her days shopping instead of training, gossiping instead of gathering Intel, and chasing after Sasuke instead of bettering herself.

The skills of her family had carried her though the Academy and when she had been placed on a team, that lack of effort and blind confidence had remained.

Then the Chunin Exam had come along and nothing was the same. Shikamaru had been still lazy and unwilling to be of any help, and during the written test Chouji had placed all his trust in her to carry them through.

And Ino had done just that and Chouji had hugged her afterwards and swung her around like they were kids again. Shikamaru had even grumbled out a complement. Ino had been quite smug with herself and a little more willing to try the whole teamwork thing.

Then they'd been sent into the Forest of Death and for the first time in her life Ino had known gut-wrenching, bodily-paralyzing, and sweat soaked fear. At one point during that horrible Exam their team had hidden from a team from Ame trying to murder them, and she still remembered cowering and shaking and nearly crying.

And she had known down in her very cells if she had jus trained harder none of that would have happened.

Chouji had grabbed her and pulled her in tight to his chest and covered her head. Ino had pressed her face into shoulder, not objecting, and spent fifteen of the most terrifying minutes of her life with her eyes screwed shut clinging to her teammate.

She had become closer with Chouji after that, and that had only been compounded when the worst part of the Exam happened to her: her preliminary match with Sakura.

It had been humiliating. Sakura, the supposed dead last right next to Shikamaru, had _played_ with her and then poisoned her. Ino had been forced to bargain out of the fight just to get the antidote.

When the preliminaries were over Ino had gone out to have a good cry. Chouji had followed her and she'd ended up bawling on his shoulder. Her teammate though was just as troubled after seeing what Neji had done to his long time friend Hinata, and when Ino had finished crying they'd talked out his own fears and self-loathing for watching what had happened in whispers.

They'd become even closer and Ino had started to forget cute clothes and gossip and even the name Uchiha Sasuke.

A month had passed and she had trained with Chouji and Shikamaru to help them prepare for the Finals, and she had done so without much jealousy. They deserved it, she didn't, and Ino accepted that.

She had been cheering them on from the stands when the invasion started. She was right in the middle of the crowd when Oto ninja were slaughtering people left and right and there were nights she still dreamed of being crushed in by screaming civilians and having blood sprayed on her as they died.

But ever since the Forest Ino had gone nowhere without a pack of kunai handy, and she'd never been more grateful.

She'd been tangling for her life with a chunin with a nasty looking sword when the ninja had frozen, paralyzed by shadow jutsu, and Chouji had come dropping in like a meteor and bashed the enemy's skull across the floor.

Her team had grabbed her and run and they'd hooked up with Team Eight on highest floor and got in a defensive formation. They'd had front row seats for Sakura summoning a demon fox in the middle of the village and then riding it as it killed a three headed snake.

All of the genin there, Sakura's friends or not, had been humbled and awed by the display. But Sakura's friends had seen something in that and become secretive and worried. Ino hadn't questioned it and in the following five months she had trained everyday with Chouji and Shikamaru until her hands bled.

Ino had once been a vapid little girl. She wasn't anymore.

She woke slowly, lifting her head from where she had dropped on the hospital bed late last night. She could feel people standing behind her watching. The kunai slipped into her hand easily.

"What?" She asked sharply and turned.

Hyuga Hinata and Aburame Shino were behind her, wrapped arm in arm, regarding her with intense gazes. And being looked at by Hinata's eyes like that, even with her Byakugan inactivate, was off-putting.

"It's nothing." Hinata replied airily.

Ino knew that was a lie but did not voice it. "Chouji's fine if that's what you were wondering." She just wanted them to leave and let her have Chouji for herself for awhile, everyone had friends and tight bonds in this graduating class of theirs except her.

She only had Chouji now. Shikamaru had been promoted, not that they'd ever been really all that close, and Ino's once wide pool of social acquaintances had dropped down to just one boy.

"We came for more than that." Shino looked around the room as if searching something.

Chouji spoke up behind her. "What's up Shino?"

She turned on him and hugged him tight. He spluttered. "Hey Ino, what—"

She held on. "Damnnit Chouji, quit worrying me so much." She sat up and punched him in the shoulder. Not that hard though.

He rubbed his shoulder with a wry grin. "Sorry Ino. Won't happen again."

"It better not." She sniffed.

Shikamaru slipped into the room and joined the semicircle already formed by Hinata and Shino. Their former teammate grinned, his chunin vest riding high on his shoulders. "Up and at 'em big guy, we've got a friend to find."

Chouji threw the blankets off and swung his legs over the edge. "What's going on?"

"Somebody…" Shino gave Chouji a look Ino couldn't decipher. "Decided to tell Sakura about _that_."

"In my defense I _thought I was dying_." Chouji insisted.

Ino stiffened and turned on him. "What was that?"

He looked guilty. "Nothing. Point is, mistakes were made, things were said, and Sakura already knew."

Hinata sighed. "And we need to find her and talk with her, she must be so angry with us…"

Chouji snorted. "Sakura? Oh please Hinata, I think it might be physically impossible for Sakura to get angry at you. She was cool with it when I told her, okay? She seemed more surprised that _we_ were cool with it."

"Still…" Hinata looked troubled. Ino dearly wished she knew what was going on.

Shino put an arm around his girlfriend's waist and whispered something in her ear. The Hyuga relaxed and turned to kiss him on the cheek.

Shikamaru filled the silence. "If you love birds are done, I haven't been able to find Naruto or Sasuke either so my guess is Sakura's trotting around with them. Let's split up and cover the hospital first before we start looking anywhere exotic."

Ino interrupted. "What's going on?"

"Can't tell you, not exactly. Not until we straighten things out with Sakura at least." Chouji patted her back. Tremors emanated from the spot he touched. Ino's face flushed hot. She was too busy thinking about his hand to really question them any further.

"I can help you search the hospital at least." Ino offered. She wasn't letting them steal Chouji away from her that easily.

Chouji grinned at her. "Awesome. Me and Ino will check the cafeteria then!"

He grabbed her hand and she immediately got the message. They bolted out of the room.

Shikamaru shouted after them. "At least make an effort to _check_ the place before you start eating!"

**Hokage's Tower, 9:13 AM**

Three teenagers laid sprawled across her couches. One of them sleeping, one of them drifting in thought, and one of them high.

It was quite possibly the most low-key Team Seven had ever been.

Tsunade was glad for that, because whatever happened next would require all the patience they had.

"You holding the fort Sakura?" The older woman asked, pulling out her ceremonial robes as she did. If she had to go to this meeting she was going in with a big reminder just who was the Hokage around here.

Sakura stopped drifting in thought long enough to answer. "Yeah, I've got it." Her hands kept running through Naruto's hair and the boy slept on quite contentedly splayed across her lap.

Sasuke laid on the couch next to them, unnaturally interested in the texture of the cushions under him to care about much else. His head was heavily bandaged post-op, and Tsunade did not even want to contemplate how many drugs were swimming in that boy's system to put such a peaceful look on his face.

"Good. Jiraiya is…around, and I have enough ANBU stationed around the building to conquer a small country, so just relax until I get back." She threw on the outer robe, a gauzy thing of white and crimson, and checked herself in the mirror one last time.

She could see Sakura's reflection over her shoulder and the jinchuuriki looked pensive. "The council wants something."

Tsunade sighed. Sakura was far too perceptive. "They do."

Sakura's head turned back out the window to look at the blue sky soaring above. The sunlight drenched her eyes. "Something about us, Team Seven and all."

Tsunade gave a noncommittal jerk of her head. "I'll tell you when I figure it out, rest Sakura. I'll take care of all three of you. I promise."

Sakura's head came back around and her smile was all the warmth of summer. "Thank you Hime."

Tsunade hated losing when it really counted. Her eyes steeled. "You're welcome." And she stepped out the door.

Naruto opened his eyes and they were bluer than the sky and far more empty. "This is going to get messy, isn't it?"

The warmth in Sakura's demeanor vanished. "Yes. But whether we'll let them do it is an entirely different matter."

**Hokage Tower, Council Chambers, 9:30 AM**

Talk died down as Tsunade entered the room. It was not her most dramatic entrance to date, but her presence filled the room with the unyielding certainty of an ocean tide, and it was clear she feared no one in this room.

The men and women sitting around the table gave her nods, vocal greetings, or just icy glares, and silence quickly ensued.

"We have been gathered here because of an emergency summons of the Council due to...recent events." Events that were obvious of course, Tsunade wasn't that stupid not to know what this was about. "What does the Council wish to come of this _hurried _meeting?"

Danzo tapped his cane on the floor lightly but did not speak. The man could always be depended on not to do his own dirty work.

Homura spoke and Tsunade took careful note of that. "It has come to our attention that two days ago one of our own ninja was kidnapped by Orochimaru's agents."

Tsunade gave no acknowledgment of those words, and she fought hard not to sneer.

The required theatrical gasps filled the room, as if everyone didn't already know, and Tsunade had to fight hard not to roll her eyes at the farce of it all. "And?" She asked coyly.

Homura looked nonplussed for a moment. "We would…request to know what was done."

This was maneuvering towards something, and Tsunade decided to stop dragging out the pain and force their point. "A squad of three chunin and four genin was sent out to intercept and retrieve. As of yesterday afternoon the kidnapped ninja was retrieved and the entire squad returned alive. All enemy agents were neutralized with prejudice."

Koharu took up the reins. "You did not mention the retrieved ninja, the last carrier of Sharingan Uchiha Sasuke, returned _without his eyes_!"

Uproar greeted this. Tsunade let it stretch for five minutes before slamming her fist on the conference table. Her killing intent lanced the air and silence descended like a shroud. "If you are done acting like children yes, Uchiha Sasuke returned with extensive damage to his ocular area."

Hyuga Hiashi spoke. "Were his eyes harvested by Orochimaru?" The Hyuga were always concerned with that sort of thing, but by the stoniness of his face she could tell he already knew the answer. Orochimaru had played no part in Sasuke's eyes being lost.

Tsunade was starting to see where this was going. She answered archly. "No. The damage sustained by Uchiha Sasuke destroyed all of his Sharingan. Surgery was done this morning to repair what could be repaired, but it was found there was nothing to be done for him and his eyelids have been permanently sealed shut."

Danzo raised his voice for the first time and Tsunade knew this political match was really getting started. "Then who was it that destroyed Uchiha Sasuke's eyes?"

They all knew, she could see it in their fiery eyes, smell it on the air, hear it in the depth of their silence. Tsunade welcomed it with a smirk. "Jinchuuriki Sakura."

The next uproar was more subdued but far more furious. This one she let last only thirty seconds. She spoke dispassionately, injecting her voice with scorn. "Once again, the next person to interrupt me will have their tongue surgically removed without anesthetic."

That brought silence.

"For those of you here who were ninja…" She sent a withering glare to the civilian members. "We all know fights are never without their risks. Uchiha Sasuke attempted to desert and jinchuuriki Sakura put her life on the line to bring him back alive, that he came back in less than…mint condition, is an unfortunate consequence and no more."

"Hardly." Danzo scoffed. "Either this was done by that jinchuuriki with an appalling amount of malice aforethought…or that monster is spiraling so far out of control she ripped out the eyes of the last Sharingan user we possess with no thought to the consequences. Neither option reflects well on your pet Tsunade."

Her lips curled back but before she could answer, Nara Shikaku spoke. "I took a look into that child's Academy records, and while I commend Jiraiya for his teaching skill even he cannot account for the sheer leap that child has showed in skill between her graduation and now. I can only conclude she manipulated her standing and test scores in the Academy since the beginning. That jinchuuriki is showing herself dangerous in ways we never could have foreseen. She is a threat."

Tsunade had to fight hard not to laugh or punch someone for that. In ways they couldn't have foreseen? Sakura had been raised in an environment steeped in hatred and lies, was it any surprise she now returned the favor?

Hardly.

"I know quite well what jinchuuriki Sakura is capable of." She answered coolly. "The only ones blind enough not to notice are the members of this illustrious body before me."

If looks could kill Tsunade would be a dozen times dead, but she wasn't so she just smiled blandly. "If you're done wasting time I have work to do."

Danzo slammed his cane hard against the floor. "Not yet. We cannot have that jinchuuriki running around leading missions outside the village when she has shown herself to be manipulative and violent and willing to hide things from her superiors. Our ninja can't be led by her, and with Akatsuki in the wings she and everyone else will be safest if she remains confined and supervised in the Village."

Whispers greeted his words and muttered agreements gained steam.

Koharu moved in for the kill. Danzo never got his hands bloody. "As the jinchuuriki will remain here her team must obviously be dealt with. Uchiha Sasuke should enter house arrest for at least a minimum of two years before being…reconditioned. Uzumaki Naruto of course should continue his training with Jiraiya outside the village."

Divide and conquer. How quaint.

"I see you have long considered this." Tsunade shot back. Some face paled, others hardened. She smiled thinly. "You have given me much to consider, we will reconvene in an hour to make anything final."

She swept out of the room and she could already hear the plots already brewing in the room behind her. She waited until she was long out of sight before letting her fists clench and her face twist into an ugly sneer.

They wanted her to limit and contain Sakura, sacrifice Sasuke, and remove Naruto so he couldn't do a thing to stop it. But behind that another threat had hung on the air, one much more sinister.

If she didn't do this it would be all out political war for the rest of her tenure. More spies, more counter operations, more usurpation wherever she turned. Unless she sacrificed Team Seven of course, then they'd play along with her instead of spitting in her face.

They should have known better than to threaten a Sanin. Many of her enemies had put targets on their backs today, and Tsunade would not rest until each and every one of them paid for it.

She moved like a hurricane through the building back to her office, and when she shoved the doors they smashed into the walls.

Naruto woke like a shot, Sakura glanced over impassively, and Sasuke raised his face from the couch.

"Not well my Lady?" Sakura offered.

Tsunade fell behind her desk and covered her face. They sat in silence for ten long minutes before the older woman regarded the jinchuuriki with dark eyes. "To make a long story short you're maiming of Sasuke has given them the excuse to go after you. They want to confine you to the village, send Naruto away with Jiraiya, and put Sasuke under house arrest before Danzo no doubt _reconditions_ him."

"That sucks." Sasuke answered flippantly.

Naruto turned livid and made a few aborted attempts to speak, only for his rage to choke him.

Sakura glanced at Sasuke fondly for a moment before replying. "That's about what I expected."

Naruto finally found his voice. "Jiraiya can go wherever he wants, but I'm staying here with my team. End of discussion."

"That's fine Naruto." Tsunade answered tightly. "I promised I'd protect you three and that's what I'll do—"

Sakura interrupted. "But at what price?"

The Hokage felt her stomach sink. "Sakura, I'm more than willing…"

The jinchuuriki just shook her head. "Deny them everything and the Council will attack you at every corner. Even you my Lady cannot run this village with most of the clans, Danzo's network, and the civilians trying to undermine you. They will badger and harass you until the village is on the brink and they will destroy us just to spite you, and they know you would step down before letting this village fall. We must give them one of these things, a boon of sorts so they'll pull back thinking they've won."

Sasuke raised himself up on his elbows. "So my reconditioning, huh?"

She regarded him like a particularly stupid child. "Don't turn into a martyr on me now Sasuke. No, let them confine me to the village."

Tsunade had always known Sakura possessed maturity far beyond her years, but to see it laid so bare was painful. Sakura was willing to sacrifice a career in the field in order to keep her team together and Sasuke safe.

Tsunade grappled with it. "You don't have to do this."

Naruto turned on Sakura angrily. "She's right! You don't have to be the one who always gives things up! We can find another way."

"You're saying this like a little confinement is going to kill me." She smiled wryly. "To be honest I don't mind being kept around the village, I can actually see my friends for a change and I'll always be close by to keep any and all threats off Tsunade-hime's back. Besides, Sasuke is going to need rehabilitation and then training for the foreseeable future and no outside missions will give us plenty of time to get him up to snuff."

"…I hate it when you're right." Naruto sighed.

She just smiled and held his hand tightly. Sasuke got up slowly, stumbled to their couch, and fell on Sakura's other side. She took his hand as well.

"It's not like this will last forever." Sakura looked at them with clear and serene eyes. "A lot of my friends are Clan kids that will have seats on the council by their majority. I'll put in a few years of good behavior in the meantime and you can swing a vote later to get the confinement lifted."

Tsunade nodded. Sakura was determined and more importantly she was right, and the Hokage would support her in this even if it made her stomach turn. "In that case you'll need something to pass the time. As of…oh, now, you're officially my apprentice. Congratulations."

Sakura beamed. "Thank you Hime."

The older woman continued. "And how do you feel about being an ambassador?"

Sakura blinked. "Say again?"

Tsunade continued on with a conspiratorial grin. "Let's just say Danzo has one of his agents as the ambassador to Suna and I have the feeling that's half the reason why our relations went so sour with them. There's rumor of a new up and coming Kazekage that's going to take the throne in a few months and you know him."

Sakura looked shell-shocked. Slowly it turned to sheer delight. "But the only Suna ninja I know is Gaara."

"The one and only." Tsunade said cheerfully. "And we'll need a new ambassador for when he comes to the village to negotiate reparations."

Sakura cooed in delight. "Sign me up."

Tsunade did just that and then dismissed the team from her office. They left hand in hand, though Sasuke did so more out of needing a lead than affection. Even as she watched them go, the Hokage did not realize she was witnessing the beginning of what would become the most deadly squad ever to come out of Konoha.

This was the eve of loss and the beginning of legend, and Tsunade returned to the council chamber to deliver the verdict. The council may have won this battle but they had jus stepped into one hell of a war.

And it would be a war Tsunade would win.

**Konoha, 10:37 PM**

There were no stars in the sky, no moon to light her path, nothing but arching blackness as far as the eye could see.

Sakura stared into the sky and her only company was the wind. The Hokage's monument was always a place of quiet but tonight it felt like desolation, and her eyes fell from the sky to the Village sprawled out below.

Lights winked up at her merrily and people streamed across the streets. Even from here she could hear the murmur of their voices on the wind. This would be her prison for what might be years and she looked at it with a prisoner's eyes.

Testing the walls and looking for escape.

"This is what I chose." That made it slightly more bearable, a bit easier to swallow. She couldn't affect the politics of the village running around in the field. Her place was here and it was necessary.

The Kyuubi has asked it of her.

She reclined back on cooled stone and looked into the sky. It was hollow and sightless, empty. No path yet lit to follow.

She was reading too much into this and she huffed and flopped over onto her stomach.

She'd spent the day packing up Sasuke's apartment and settling him in a unit in her and Naruto's building. They'd then blind-proofed the place and left Sasuke high on the couch with a bag of chips and threats to stay put.

The various drugs he was under wouldn't wear off for at least two days so he hadn't objected. She and Naruto had spent the rest of the afternoon making-out, grappling when her frustration got the better of her, and for once just relaxing.

Then she'd left Naruto sleeping in the apartment and had wandered here alone. Sometime during the day the vote had passed and the decree had been made: jinchuuriki Sakura would not set foot outside of Konoha again.

Tsunade had promised her, on the sly, in a year or two she could probably sneak out for missions when she was out of the spotlight. Two years might as well have been eternity right then.

"There you are." A familiar voice called out.

She opened her eyes. "Shikamaru. What are you…?"

He flopped down next to her. "I came to see you of course. Damn it, we've been looking for you since this morning, you could at least tell us where you'd wandered off before doing it."

She chuckled sadly. "Sorry 'bout that. I just needed some…quiet."

"Yeah." He sucked in a pained breath. "I heard about what happened with the Council Sakura. I'm sorry that my dad…"

"The sins of your father aren't yours." She put a hand on his knee. "It's enough that you're here now, all right?"

He looked sheepish. "I'm not really alone."

Within minutes Hinata, Shino, and Chouji joined them on the monument. They took seats around her and for a few minutes there was content silence. It'd been so long since they'd been together with the air cleared of secrets.

"So is there anything you want to ask me?" Sakura offered. They all knew what the questions would be about. It wasn't everyday your best friend turned out to be a jinchuuriki.

"Does it hurt?" Hinata asked softly.

"No. The only time being a jinchuuriki has ever hurt me was when I flipped out on his chakra and that was my own damn fault." Sakura assured.

Shino frowned. "Him?"

"I've seen him up close and personal." She couldn't help but grin. "And yeah its awe inspiring and terrifying as fucking hell being up close to him, but I've gotten used to it. Him, Kyuubi, Demon King, I'm not too picky about titles unless I'm face to face and asking for some chakra."

Shikamaru stared at her like she was a particularly vexing puzzle. "What's the demon like, really?"

"Honestly?" They all nodded and she shrugged. "This is probably sacrilege but he's proud and bitchy and, well…the closest thing I've seen to god. And he's a big proponent of the yay-violence school of thought, so we got along pretty well."

"You're not afraid of it—him?" Shino asked.

"Abstractly no." She shrugged. "Viscerally, yeah, I still want to crawl into myself and die when he really gets into a rage. But the only times I've really been afraid for my life were from…uh…outside forces."

Hinata moved up behind her and patted her leg. Sakura laid her head down on her friend's lap and Hinata asked her. "We know that your childhood…wasn't like ours. Was it—I mean—was it that bad?"

Sakura let her eyes flutter shut. Too many emotions rose at that question and the chief among them was unadulterated hate. Sakura never wanted to show those hateful eyes to Hinata. Her voice dropped low. "Worse than you could possibly imagine."

They all breathed in sharply and for a time their questions stopped. Sakura waited a long while before opening her eyes again. The sky was still pitch black and Sakura was sick of it being hollow.

If there were no stars Sakura would light them. If there was no moon Sakura would raise one.

She got up and moved to the edge of the cliff and her friends rose behind her. The wind whipped through them and they stood a respectful distance back as she stared across the village.

If there was no justice in the world Sakura would grab those very stars and bring them crashing to earth.

"I am what I am." Her body was outlined in the radiance of the village below and her voice was the wind. "And nothing anybody can do will change that."

"We love you Sakura, all of us." Hinata said and the boys nodded with her. "What can we do to help?"

And at this Sakura grinned a wild, self-assured grin. "Become the best damn shinobi you can be. I'll lead the way."

They moved up to join her on the ledge. Shikamaru voiced their thoughts as they teetered on the edge. "And what then?"

She threw her arms wide. "We set this world on fire."

* * *

Edit: The last of the massive chapter rewrites, and what we have chagned here was Jiraiya got cut out of one scence and didn't arrive until later, Shizune actaully got some lines, the kidnapping attempt on Sasuke was redone (anybody recognize Sai in that?), there being a big Plan Sakura's following was made clearer, Tsunade's conversation with Ino was reritten and Ino got a massive and earlier dose of charaterization so her attitude after the time skip will make more sense. Orochimaru's angry-rant was made better, Sasuke spent most of this chapter high, and the scence with the council was revamped to actually show the politics going on and not just random arbitrary Sakura-hate like it was in the original. Last a whole new scence was added in with Sakura on the Hokage's monument with her friends, as the jinchuuriki revealing plot line is now resolved for everybody. Also, mostly to illustrate the blind loyalty Sakura inspires and hint at just what kind of damage that loyalty will cause.


	16. Sea of Fire

**Warning**. This starts after a time ski, just so you're not caught off guard. All the main characters are all now in the 15 to 16 age range(Naruto and Sakura shy of 16 by roughly three motnhs) give or take when their birthday is, so with that for reference here we go.

Disclaimer: I didn't own this the first…oh 15 chapters or so, so I kind of doubt I own Naruto now.

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**Konoha,** **Two Years, Nine Months Later **

Her eyes fluttered open and for a minute Sakura laid in bed just breathing. Her pupils dilated, black surrounded by pale jade, and for the moment all was right with the world. Sakura pushed herself up in bed trying to not disturb the person sleeping next to her. One of his arms was still lying across her stomach and she rolled her eyes and smiled.

Getting out of bed wouldn't be easy, but is never was.

She rose slowly and her black hair cascaded across her shoulders. It was longer now, almost too long for a kunoichi, but considering she'd spend nearly three years in-village it wasn't like it mattered. Nobody had to know that she left Konoha in the dark of night for missions outside. Not that there weren't rumors saying just that but no one could ever prove them, least of all the council.

Her long hair was a luxury afforded to her because she was the most violent and powerful jinchuuriki on the continent. No enemy ever got close enough to her to grab her hair, let alone anything else unless that _close enough_ involved her shoving a kunai between their ribs.

The dark strands brushed along the fox tattoo on her arm. It stood out as a brilliant reminder on herskin and every day she looked at and was still floored by what it meant. Jinchuuriki. Favored child of the Kyuubi no Kitsune.

Only companion of the Demon King.

She stretched and heard the satisfying crack of her back loosening. Her feet touched the cool floor and she slithered her way out from under the sheets. She only had on lingerie; black, lace, and revealing lingerie.

She liked it well enough. Naruto _loved_ it.

She grabbed a silk bath robe from a chair and before she could slide it on she caught a glimpse of herself in a mirror. Puberty had been kind to her.

Everything about Sakura was sharp and lithe and tight. She was not curves and womanly softness but harsh planes and arched limbs. She had shot up a few inches and while she would never be considered tall, there was a graceful and willowy quality to her that made her seem so.

Or it was her legs, her long pale legs and her too short skirts.

It was totally her legs.

She threw on the robe. It settled around her shoulders and down to her thighs and she opened the door softly. And yet, even now, she couldn't help glancing back one more time at the other occupant of the bed.

Naruto's blond hair was spiked wildly on his pillow, longer than it used to be but only by a few inches. It didn't stick straight out any more much to Naruto's joy, and it hung wild around his face even when he went through the effort of combing it.

Puberty had certainly changed him him. His face had become more angular and his hard features more pronounced. Not to mention his shoulders had widened out considerably and he now towered over her at six foot three.

The days of her being taller than her boyfriend were long over and Sakura was quite enjoying it.

Her eyes drifted to his chest. Muscular and lean, and she'd spent many nights learning the contours of it with her lips and tongue…

She was never going to leave the bedroom if she kept this up.

Sakura ghosted out of the room feeling an uncomfortable _tightness_ lingering between her thighs. They were both three months shy of sixteen and they had gotten up to some _kinky_ things behind closed doors, but they hadn't gotten too far. For reasons neither of them would discuss, they hadn't yet had…well…

Sakura's face flamed and she slapped her forehead.

They hadn't had sex yet. There. It was out there.

His issues. Hers. She didn't know what kept holding them back, but here they were with enough sexual tension to choke Jiraiya and her still waking up with her underwear on.

And some morning, at some point, she was probably just going to molest him and get it over with. And it'd be _awesome._

Not that she was acting like a teenager about this but…

She totally was.

She shook her head she stepped into the kitchen. Coffee was the first order of business and just as she had the water on boil a sharp tapping came from the front door. Right on time.

The hallway was dark and she opened the front door and smiled at the person on the other side.

"Morning Sasuke." She tried not to yawn.

Sasuke nodded and shut the door behind him, following her back down the hall without pause. He knew this place by heart now, and the days of him stumbling into tables or into walls had long since ended.

Not that she hadn't taken pictures to make the memories last, of course.

In the kitchen she poured their coffee into two mugs and passed one over. Her first sip sent her tiredness and morning chills melting away into nothing.

Dear god, the world would be a horrible, horrible place without coffee.

The sun was finally beginning to rise and cast orange hued rays across her kitchen. In the warm light she couldn't help examining the person across from her. Sasuke had come so far since his failed desertion three years ago, and anyone who'd once known him wouldn't recognize him.

He wore a black Jonin vest with dark clothing underneath it. His gear was nothing special but that was to be expected. Sasuke was a creature of blindness now and being unremarkable suited him just fine. His hair had grown longer to the point he tied it back. From time to time she would see Konoha shinobi start when they caught a glimpse of him. With his hair so long and puberty angling his already delicate bone structure, he could be easily mistaken for Itachi.

If not for one thing.

His headband was tied over his eyes. For reasons she didn't care to know, Sasuke abhorred letting others see his scars. Sakura had been the one to carve them and in the years since she had, much to her surprise, come to like Sasuke intensely on a social level. And sometimes when she'd catch a glimpse of those scars she'd almost feel remorse.

The remorse came rarely, if it really did at all. That's where the unremarkable parts of him stopped. Against the wall, almost carelessly rested was Sasuke's main weapon.

The scythe was long and tall, the blade curved wickedly with seals running from handle to tip. The seals were gifts from Naruto making it unbreakable, able to channel dual chakra natures, and honestly just make it look _nasty_.

His weapon and near ruthless nature on missions had earned Sasuke a nickname. In Konoha he was still known as the last Uchiha that fell from grace, but in the bingo books of every other village he was simply The Reaper.

_The Reaper_.

She had made her own harbinger of death.

Right after his probation had finished and Sakura had given him the training regimen from hell, Sasuke had been promoted by Tsunade to chunin so that he could join her and Naruto in the Jonin exams. Their passing had been sinfully easy. Sakura had been ready for the promotion since she was nine and Naruto since he was thirteen. But waiting a few years for her teammates hadn't killed her. Hell, it had even been worth it just for getting absolutely wipe the floor with the other contenders.

They'd made everyone else look so bad they'd been the only ones promoted.

And Sasuke hadn't been the only one earning a nickname out in the world.

_Demoness._

She hadn't stayed hidden for long. Rumors, assassination attempts, and her face plastered in every bingo book had soon become the norm for her life. The world knew the Kyuubi no Kitsune lived on and to ever other village's horror he lived in a psychotic jinchuuriki who could topple cities.

Not to mention every village knew she was supposedly under lock and key in Konoha, and yet every once and awhile they'd catch glimpse of her deep in enemy territory leaving a path of corpses behind her. It had created such a paranoid storm Konoha was doing better than it had in decades.

No one dared moved near the village knowing she was there.

And yet, sometimes, she _wasn't_. And that's what scared them the most.

But Sakura hadn't spent the years riding on her reputation. He training with Tsunade had taught her the ability to stop a heart or fry a brain with single touch, taught her taijutsu she couldn't dream of and poisons that could eat through concrete. She had even developed a new technique that could turn blood to the consistency of water or clot it through the entire body.

Sakura had learned to bring back people from death's door and not so surprisingly she'd became one of the top medics in the village. Her patients usually had to be sedated before she could work on them, it's not like people trusted her any more now, but she didn't mind.

Medical jutsu was _fun_.

But still when push came to shove, she could still unleash the fury of a demon and no matter what medical jutsu she learned no one forgot that.

_Bloody Maelstrom_.

Naruto had his own reputation and one that finally stood outside his father's shadow. He was now feared and loathed on his own merits and Naruto reveled in it. After gaining use of his elemental affinity of wind, he used it almost constantly and without hand seals. He could make blades of wind with the flick of his wrist and coupled with the Hirashin, he could land in the middle of a battle field and slice everyone apart in a twenty foot radius.

He had been known to kick start storms that would tear people apart and stop even kunai in their tracks. Naruto left a hurricane of blood wherever he went and his codename was whispered in fear.

Together the three of them had become something like siblings. They were bonds forged in blood and pain and the blackest of operations across the Elemental nations. Sakura had given Sasuke the power she'd promised and Sasuke had given his loyalty in return, and in each other they saw kindred spirits and monsters and it had all melded together.

Somewhere out there in a trench, in the dark, kneeling in stagnant water and bodily fluids she had grabbed Sasuke's shoulder and given him a piece of her heart.

In an inferno of fire and blood with their backs to the wall Naruto had given Sasuke his hand in friendship and Sasuke had accepted.

The rest as they say, was history.

And they would go down in history as legends. As the Death Squad.

It was a title given to them by their own shinobi, the older shinobi and the ones who hated her. It was meant as an insult and their team wore it like a badge of pride. It was a persona that Tsunade cultivated. At some point Sakura became more feared than hated and damn it felt _good_.

Of course their lives weren't all bloodshed and ruin. At least, hers wasn't. When Naruto and Sasuke were off traipsing the country on more official missions, she was working as a diplomat and stretching her political legs.

She was knowledgeable and respectful, polite and sweet. Nobles loved her and fellow diplomats respected her. Frankly her reputation was better outside the village than in, and that irony was not lost on her.

What made it truly worthwhile was the fact that she got to see Gaara on a regular basis. What she had done to him during the invasion had changed him, sometimes he almost smiled, and sometimes he almost laughed. He wasn't insane anymore, probably a sociopath, but not insane.

Once all political matters were said and done they would talk for hours, filling the other with secrets only they could understand. He was the only other jinchuuriki she knew and there was a bond between them deeper than love or blood or anything else.

A bond built in darkness and tempered by pain.

Gaara was the greatest Kazekage in generations and she was proud to call him her friend. Her comrade.

As she mused Sasuke didn't say a word. Silence was their natural state and she appreciated that Sasuke didn't bother trying to fill it.

Her coffee cup clattered on the table and she pushed off her chair and got up. Wordlessly, she refilled Sasuke's cup before breezing by him back to the bedroom.

She heard his deep voice over her shoulder. "Going to wake him up?" His voice had dropped two deep and _raspy_ octaves since their childhood, and the sound of it made her shiver.

She pulled open the door and winked. "Well you know Naruto won't get up on his own, not without being _encouraged_."

Sasuke nodded sagely but a smirk was on his lips. "Don't take too long Sakura, you were in there almost twenty minutes yesterday _encouraging_ him in bed—I mean, _out_ of bed."

She chuckled. "Bastard."

"And proud of it." He raised his cup in salute.

She snorted and opened the bedroom door the rest of the way, stepped in, and locked it.

**Hokage's Tower, 6:03 AM**

Tsunade opened her eyes slowly as she heard someone pounding at the door. She twitched and knocked over a stack of files that immediately crashed to the floor. The Hokage groaned.

It was too goddamned early in the morning for this.

A sake bottle bumped her elbow (or her elbow bumped it, she wasn't copping to it) and teetered dangerously close to the edge. It was also too goddamned early for a hangover.

She shouted at the door. "I heard you the first time, now just wait for a few freaking minutes!"

Drinking binge. Had she been celebrating this time or mourning? Did it matter?

She looked over and realized her office wasn't empty; Jiraiya was lying on her office couch a few feet away sleeping with a bottle of sake in his hand. That didn't answer any of her questions.

Sighing tiredly, the Hokage flashed some medical chakra through her system and burned away all the excess alcohol. Suppressing her headache with another wave of chakra took the edge off, and she felt sufficiently human enough to operate.

Tapping Jiraiya on the head to wake him, she slid open the office doors to accept a scroll. Rolling it open she heard her fellow Sanin moan from the couch about a headache.

She ignored him, Jiraiya bitching about a hangover was something she'd witnessed so many times she could recite his rant verbatim, and she continued to read the rush delivery. It was from an ANBU stationed outside of Kiri, a dangerous post at the best of times considering the country had been in a full-on state of upheaval for a decade. Her eyes widened with every passing sentence.

Her hand slammed the intercom and her voice was steel. "Summon my whole staff and get the tactical unit in here. We have a problem."

Shizune's answer was strained. "I understand." Her long time companion could hear the worry in her voice no matter how much Tsunade tried to hide it.

The past three years had been almost, _almost_ peaceful. It looks like that was about to end for good.

The balance of power between the nations was splintering.

**Apartment Complex, 6:16 AM**

"Naruto…" Sakura cooed, a lazy grin on her face. It was half seductive and half predatory and with practiced ease she moved on to the bed and hovered over her boyfriend.

Naruto's eyes were closed but he was awake. He had been fully aware since she had left bed to make coffee and let Sasuke in the apartment, but this was all part of the game and his eyes remained closed.

He knew that she knew he was awake, but that was the fun of it. It had become a game between the two of them since she'd had to coax him out of bed one cold morning two years ago. When he learned not moving would get her attention…that's when the game had first begun. He wouldn't get out of bed until she managed to get him to move. She could use her hands, her mouth, or anything at her disposal. At first she could have him jumping her in about thirty seconds, but he had gained more self control and their time together in bed went longer and longer.

She smiled down at him still feigning sleep, and her voice dropped a throaty octave. "Come on baby, I've been waiting forever now..."

She watched him carefully, not a twitch.

Damn. Too much to ask for.

She ran a finger down his jaw and then his neck and she paused along the way to trace every single scar. He had far too many. Life of a shinobi had not been kind to him but Sakura liked the scars and Naruto liked the way her fingers would move over them. Sometimes she would wonder about some of the scars he came back with, and whether they were _really_ accidents.

The fact that she didn't have any scars of her own probably fueled her kink, but she didn't dwell on it.

She traced another scar down his chest and kissed his neck. Her lips trailed along his jugular, pausing for a moment to feel his pulse. It was rapid but not quite where she wanted it yet.

She'd have his blood boiling soon enough.

"You're gonna leave me all alone to this Naruto?" She asked coyly and with ease straddled his waist and bent down to kiss him again.

Her hair trailed along his skin and she almost, _almost_ felt him shift. She grinned and slid a hand into his hair. Her tracing of his scars had stopped and she was now totally and completely focused on his throat. She took her sweet time progressing up his neck to his face, and she could feel his blood throbbing and his muscles working under her lips.

Her hand in his hair trailed down to his neck and then to his shoulder and she stopped being delicate and dug her nails in. He jolted and she kissed the side of his mouth, languidly, and with a flick of her tongue pulled back.

Her thighs shifted lower and that's what probably did him in.

Naruto switched their positions so fast her head spun and she found herself pinned under him chest to chest. His knee was jammed between her legs and his hands rested on her thighs, and she smiled up at him coyly and wiggled just a bit.

His breath hitched.

"Morning babe." She purred. The hand on her thigh moved up, snaring her arms and shoving her wrists above her head. She let him, grinning victoriously all the while.

Her tongue flickered across her lips and she never stopped looking at him. "I win."

He gave a feral grin and kissed her fiercely. As far as he was concerned there was no loser in this game, not when he had his girlfriend seducing him out of bed every morning. But he'd never say so out loud 'cause that'd just ruin the game.

When they came out of the bedroom what felt like a lifetime later, Sasuke was still at the table drinking his coffee. "Twenty-four minutes and eighteen seconds. A new record for Naruto."

Naruto twitched. "You counted?"

Sasuke let out an amused chuckle. "Considering you two just leave the blind guy to occupy himself, you should be happy that's _all_ I'm doing out here."

The twitch turned to a full blown shudder. "Oh god, just _shut up_ Sasuke." That didn't stop Naruto from sitting down at the table and pouring himself some coffee, not that much _could_ keep Naruto from his morning caffeine. Sasuke's chuckle turned to laughter.

Sakura couldn't help the fond smile that crossed her face as she joined them.

Sasuke turned to her and palmed off a scroll. "The ANBU are calling."

She frowned and ran her finger along the scroll, noting the Hokage's seal and the rush delivery before breaking it open. Something like this couldn't be good at this hour of the morning, especially considering she was due for work at the Tower in an hour anyways. A notice fluttered to the table informing she needed to be at Tsunade's office ASAP. Along with the entire staff. Along with the tactical unit.

"Fuck." She cursed.

Sasuke perked up. "Mission?"

Her frown deepened. "Something bad, political bad."

"Above our pay grade then." Naruto replied cheerfully. "I guess we'll just go train today while you handle all that _fun_ political stuff."

She glared at him, it did nothing to help the situation, but it did make her feel better.

"Unless this is like the last time our Lady Hokage called an emergency meeting." Sasuke offered slyly.

Sakura groaned. A few months ago Tsunade's favorite Sake supplier had disappeared or gone AWOL or god knows what, but the entire staff had still had to spend three days looking for the man while avoiding Tsunade going into withdrawal. It had been an unpleasant situation all around and a total epic waste of resources.

But the council had been in a snit for a week when they found out, so Sakura considered it well worth it.

With a sigh she shoved off her chair and moved to the bedroom.

Naruto shouted after her. "Not gonna change out here today?"

"Oh please." She yelled back as she picked through her closet. "You got a show yesterday, count your blessings."

He didn't reply, but she'd swear she could _hear_ him pouting all the way from the kitchen.

Sasuke followed her progress with his head, content not to say anything. He really didn't like talking that much, even with them, and Sakura appreciated his being anti-social to balance out Naruto when he was on a manic streak.

Sakura came back out in three minutes, her hands twisting her hair into an elegant knot that she fastened with a slivery clip. With a flick of her wrist she grabbed a sheathed katana from the stand of weapons they had on the wall, and she swung it to strap along her back with the grace of long practice.

It looked like today was going to turn into one of those important political things, and for the sake of being professional she wore a black Chinese-collared dress with stitching on the sleeves, collar, and bottom in a striking crimson.

It was the sort of outfit that commanded both respect, lust, and mostly…

On the back the stitching curved into the insignia of a nine tailed fox, twisted and vicious.

And mostly fear. Always fear.

Distractedly, she slid on a pair of knee high boots and went over to Naruto to kiss him goodbye before rushing out the door. Naruto had other plans and with a grin and put his hand around the back of her neck and pulled her in for a passionate kiss.

It went on for almost a minute before Sasuke started tapping on his wrist. Sakura shoved Naruto off, Naruto scowled at Sasuke, Sakura thanked Sasuke, Sasuke smirked at Naruto, and all around it was a usual morning for Team Seven.

She was almost out the door before she remembered. She turned on the boys. "Don't kill each other; I won't be there to heal burns, gashes, lacerations, or anything else you'll no doubt inflict on yourselves. So keep it simple, no jutsu."

Naruto and Sasuke looked completely unhappy. Her work here was done.

She fluttered her fingers at them. "Bye boys." And the door shut behind her.

Naruto sighed heavily.

Sasuke snorted. "If it wasn't for me you guys would never get out of the apartment, stop bitching."

The blond whined. "But I had a new jutsu I wanted to try today, and she'd kill me if I accidentally killed you."

"Bullshit." Sasuke answered. "Since when has Sakura not being around stopped you from doing anything?"

A grin split his face and the devil was in it. "True."

Sasuke put his cup down. It was empty anyways, but for some reason that empty coffee cup was a goddamned tragedy at this hour of the morning.

"Quit mourning your coffee." Naruto snapped and stood up. "I'll grab my gear. See you at the field in twenty?"

Sasuke nodded. "Just don't get lost."

**Hokage's Tower, 6:54 AM**

Sakura sat in the back of the crowded room quietly. There was no point in interrupting the nervous bickering, the horrible tension, or the stupid staring matches breaking out all over the room. No one knew what was going on but that didn't stop them from gossiping anyways.

School girls had _nothing_ on ninjas turned bureaucrats.

She crossed her legs and tapped her foot against the wall. Waiting. Patient.

Tsunade made her entrance and the room silenced immediately. Jiraiya was at her shoulder and looked grim.

Hell, their best spy master was back in town? This whatever it was, was bad news.

The Hokage cleared her throat and a few of her assistants scurried to spread a map of Kiri along the wall. Kiri. In a civil war for the past decade Kiri. Killing it's bloodlines left and right Kiri.

_That_ Kiri.

This morning was getting bizarre.

The crowds of staff inched closer, whispering to one another anxiously. Sakura didn't move from her spot at the back, the room was tiered and it was easier just to stay where she was and watching.

Tsunade gestured at the crowd and surprisingly enough, Shikamaru stepped forward. She shouldn't have been surprised considering he was one of the top strategists of the tactical unit, and when throats needed slitting and a five step plan to do it; Shikamaru was the man for the job.

They shared a glance over the crowd and her old friend nodded at her, sharing her bemusement. He knew nothing more about this situation than she did . With no prompting he outlined the military strength of Kiri and the current state of their border, meaning they sometimes killed foreigners who entered and sometimes didn't depending on the day of the week. Or maybe depending on the phase of the moon.

Kiri's psychosis was impossible to predict, at any rate.

He sat down still looking confused.

Sakura was surprised when the Hokage motioned for her to come down. "Sakura."

The room seemed to still and Sakura rose slowly. Her boots hitting tile was the only sound in the room and all eyes were on her. Respect, lust, fear. A persona long cultivated.

She bowed to her leader. "What do you require of me Hokage-sama?"

Tsunade regarded her with fathomless eyes, and Sakura could not read what those eyes meant.

The Hokage spoke crisply. "Relay what you know of Kiri's political situation to the less informed in the room, Jonin Sakura."

The floor was hers and Sakura felt like she was being tested. But for what?

Her eyes frosted and her mind casted back. "Relations with Kirigakure have been strained since their civil war began over a decade ago. Almost no access has been given to our shinobi to enter the surrounding lands to carry out missions or diplomatic treaties, and while reports would like to pretend differently, we all know our own ninja have been cut down there from time to time just because the Kiri ninja were in a pissy mood."

Uncomfortable murmurs greeted this but they all knew the truth. Those murdered ninja had been declared MIA just to avoid war, and the bitterness of that would never fade.

She continued on dispassionately. "The Mizukage has and has always been aggressive and paranoid. He's cut off all ties except for what little trade they need to survive and the country is in poverty and turmoil. The civilians are starving, purges are public policy, and their ninja would turn on each other if given the shadow of a chance. Their forces are amazingly vicious and will go to any cost to complete missions, but this is double edged and of the five great Villages Kiri remains the weakest."

A Village without any semblance of loyalty or even just plain unit cohesion couldn't expect anything more. They'd taken the creedo of the shinobi too far, and gutted themselves of everything as the price.

And she knew the reason. "This can be traced back to the failed coup d'état on the Mizukage by one of the Seven Swordsmen, one Momochi Zabuza. The coup failed obviously, and Zabuza fell off the radar over four years ago when he supposedly killed an entire complex of civilians who worked for Gato enterprises after Gato failed to pay him."

Sakura tried not smirk. She couldn't believe that her and Naruto's handiwork was still accredited to Zabuza after all these years. Not that she'd cop to it, of course.

She dragged her thoughts back from the past. "Long story short the Mizukage is one paranoid son of a bitch and while they've been in a state of civil war for years, they have yet to reach a final conflict. Either the Mizukage purges them into ruin or somebody finally overthrows him. This isn't a matter of if, only when, and someday the idiocy and bloodshed there will end and we'll have either a new Kiri or a power vacuum on our hands."

Sakura fell silent and sensed this was enough. She withdrew to sit by Shikamaru and Tsunade seemed to unfold from herself, her presence washing the room. Pride and beauty. Steel and grace. Tsunade had grown into the role of Hokage and the decades of her exile had washed off her.

She had become something far greater than the medic, the jonin, or the gambling drunk.

The sense of danger only mounted when she spoke. "Jonin Sakura is as always, perceptive. The day she spoke of has already come and gone. Reports from our ANBU in Kiri came earlier this morning and two days ago that the final Coup d'etat was staged on the Mizukage. That man is dead and the faction that killed him has taken over the government. The civil war is over."

All the air seemed to leave the room and Sakura felt like ice had dropped into her guts.

Shikamaru groaned. "Son of a bitch."

**Training Field 23, 9:47 AM**

Sasuke stood perfectly still in the middle of the clearing, his hand gripped around his scythe, waiting patiently.

Patience had been the greatest and most terrible lesson of his life. Sakura had been the one to teach it and Sasuke was sure the scars on his back from that would never fade completely. But he had learned his lesson, and that one simple thing had made him far more deadly than anything weapon or jutsu could. It was a mindset, a state of being, an acceptance to stand still even when he want to run or fight or kill.

His ears were waiting for the faintest sounds, his mutilated eyes and their nerve endings were attuned to the slightest touch of chakra, and his skin remained tensed just to detect the insubstantial shift of air pressures.

In the blink of an eye he swung the scythe around. The shriek of steel on steel grated against his ears, and the shuriken about to plunge into his back bounced away harmlessly.

Right there.

Patience was important but it wasn't everything, and Sasuke brought his hand up to form a seal.

Chakra gathered in his fingers before bursting out in a low pulse. The grass flattened around him and it felt like a gale had just passed through the clearing. Sasuke smirked as he felt the particles in the air line up just right. He flared his chakra and a storm of lightning ignited around him. It traveled down his arms and onto his scythe, and the seals on the blade and handle glowed, capturing the lighting before sending in dizzying arcs down the blade.

That last pulse had let him 'see' his enemy for a few seconds and it was all he needed. He cleaved the air behind him and the lighting arced out with a deafening crack, nearly flash frying the enemy coming up on his back.

He smelled singed hair but not burning skin. Only a glancing blow then. Pity.

"Nice try." He scoffed.

"I see sneaking up on you doesn't work anymore." Naruto answered brightly. Then Sasuke felt the wind pick up and he could _see_ chakra forming blades in the air. Chakra intense enough for him to blind-see clearly was never a good sign.

Naruto brought them down and Sasuke found himself swinging his scythe to cut the air again. Chakra met air and steel, and the seals on the blade glowed. The air smelled like burning ozone as Sasuke finished slashing down, splintering chakra and what felt like a hurricane to either side of him.

He could feel a sweat starting to form on his back. Good. He was finally getting a workout.

He threw out a taunt. "Pity you made my blade impossible to get broken by chakra, or else you might stood a chance."

Naruto just chuckled. "Half the fun Sasuke, half the fun."

The Uchiha grinned, pulled a kunai, and let lightning chakra pour into the blade. He threw it for Naruto's abdomen but the blond twisted out of the way, swinging his momentum in on the attack. Sasuke did not have time to bring his scythe around before Naruto slammed his knee right into his gut.

Sasuke sprawled back, winded. "So lightning isn't going to do it today. Shame." His chakra gathered and this time flames burst around him. The grass beneath his feet caught fire just from the heat and Sasuke grinned as the flame licked his skin, wreathing him in the inferno.

The blade of his scythe turned white hot, pure flame.

Naruto began fluctuating his own chakra idly. "Sakura is going to kill us for this." And a whirlwind kicked up, keeping the flame and smoldering ash at bay.

Sasuke angled his scythe low. With the chakra he was pouring off, Naruto was a supernova sized target. "Forget Sakura."

A rasengan, spinning, churning, maddeningly dizzy, formed in Naruto's palm. It sounded like a hurricane.

Sasuke leapt. The scythe angled down, flame and hell and a star falling to earth.

Naruto pushed up. A screaming storm and blazing sky and all of it crushing down to a single point.

Chakra met chakra, flesh hit steel, and their world exploded into a deafening roar.

**Hokage's Tower, 10:18 AM**

Sakura stared out the window and at the pillar of oily smoke rising in the distance. She would only need one guess on who had just gleefully set about half of Konoha's surrounding forest ablaze.

She was going to kill Naruto and Sasuke when she got her hands on them.

She jerked her head from the window. Ignoring the political disaster forming around her for the past hour wasn't the kind of thing that would help her. Because right now, hours after reports had reached them about the Kiri civl war ending, a request had come in from the faction who had assassinated the Mizuakage. Their request was simple: an audience with the Hokage and Kazekage about new treaties.

Half the room thought it was a trap and the other half was getting giddy just imaging three of the five villages banding together into a unified front. Iwagakura and Kumogakure would finally be at a disadvantage, and for once Konoha's peace might be solidified by more than just uneasy truces and paranoia of where Sakura was at during any given moment.

And there was even a new Mizukage. Except no one knew who it was and the winning faction wasn't talking. Now that new Kage, along with an unknown number of their entourage, wanted to show up on their doorstep and talk about alliances.

It was both too good to be true and completely terrifying. And was, as usual, quickly turning into a nightmare to schedule. Because when politics wasn't enough to give her a headache she had to worry about the logistics of reserving hotel space for an unknown number of guests who may or may not want to kill them.

Being a bureaucrat really sucked sometimes.

Tsunade sat apart from the fray, her chin in her hand, sometimes vetoing arguments but otherwise staying above the brawl unfolding.

It was not until someone from the tactical unit and one of her top aides nearly came to blows that Tsunade spoke. "Sit down and shut up, all of you." The room fell to their seats like chastised children. The Hokage smiled thinly. "Good. Now this request for a meeting was brought our attention by one of our ANBU teams leaving the area when they learned of the assassination. They were intercepted by one of the Undertaker squads."

Gasps greeted this and even Sakura's stomach did an odd flip.

Undertakers. Years ago Zabuza's companion had worn the mask of one of those nightmares, and even with the turmoil and instability that had plagued them for decades those famed assassins of Kiri were still feared.

Tsunade scoffed. "Yes, Undertakers. Get it all out of your systems and we can get back to the report. The Undertakers were led by a young woman, apparently a favored member of this new faction, who told our men that they would be allowed to leave with their information if they delivered a message to us."

There were uneasy murmurs but the room settled.

The lady Hokage acted like she hadn't heard them. "Our ANBU complied and returned here as soon as humanly possible. At the moment we are likely the only ones outside of Kiri who know of the coup. The aforementioned Undertakers, after they let our squads go, went back to killing anyone trying to leave the country. And for now really, we'd like to keep this a secret. I don't need anyone with unfounded fears of invasions or backstabbing spoiling what may be the best political gift we've ever been given."

There were fidgets, grumbles even, and murmurs of how this could just be a repeat of Orochimaru's invasion at the Exam three years ago. Sakura rolled her eyes and stood. "My Lady, if I may?"

If she didn't step in Tsunade might just strangle someone. And while Sakura appreciated a good murder, she knew now wasn't exactly the time to satisfy that desire.

"Please do." The older woman flicked her wrist, handing Sakura the floor for the second time that day.

This time Sakura was prepared for it. "I'll make this short. The elemental nations were only considered stable these years because no one was willing to be the first to move. There are organizations and nations who will take advantage of weakness at any opportunity. We have Akatsuki on one hand, Orochimaru and his Oto village on the other, and Kumo willing to conquer anything that moves. No one touched Kiri because no one could predict how it'd implode, but now it has and the fact is Kiri is vulnerable to all three of those powers and the vultures will circle."

She looked over the crowd appraisingly. All eyes were on her hanging on her every word, and even the murmurs had gone silent. Her lips twisted. "We can all agree Konoha has never been known for its desire to raze and conquest. We are the option, maybe even the _only_ option, Kiri has to protect itself long enough for the new regime to stabilize."

The low murmurs began again but this time they sounded encouraging, even in agreement. It was always a joy when she won with words instead of blades. "I will be the first to admit there's always the possibility of a trap. However if Kiri is going to try something that ridiculously stupid with half their village gutted and no allies, that kind of crazy isn't something we're going to prevent."

Sakura was certain right then if they didn't have an audience Tsunade would have grabbed her and kissed her.

The Hokage inclined her head demurely. "Thank you jonin Sakura."

The jinchuuriki took a gracious bow and sat again. Shikamaru nudged her shoulder and she nudged him back.

The Hokage looked to the crowd. "The meeting is on. We'll step up ANBU patrols outside the village and at the borders during the summit to keep an eye on things, but beyond that we shouldn't let fear of what _might_ happen dictate our actions. You have your jobs so get to them." And with that and a wave of Tsunade's hand, most of the room was dismissed.

When the room was cleared except for Sakura, Tsunade, Jiraiya, and Shikamaru, the Hokage rolled her shoulders tiredly and pulled out a bottle of sake. It had been under the table the whole time.

She should have known.

The older woman raised a glass to them. "Come on kids, nothing takes the sting out like good cup of sake."

Shikamaru shrugged and accepted a cup from the Hokage without comment.

Sakura sat but declined when it was passed to her. Alcohol was a poison and a mild one at best, but because of the Kyuubi it was a physical impossibility for her to get drunk. Hell, she couldn't even get _buzzed_. Her system purged the alcohol far too quickly for that and honestly, alcohol without getting drunk was the equivalent of drinking lighter fluid for fun.

Only amusing the first five minutes, after that it just burned.

Jiraiya took his own glass and drank deeply, and for a minute they all settled around the table lost in their own thoughts.

She turned her eyes to the sage and decided now was as good a time as any. "Hello Jiraiya-sama." Sakura purred. "Have you been in town without telling me? How cruel, after the hours I spent in your arms and you can't even say hello?"

She fluttered her eyelashes at him because Jiraiya always loved it when she flirted with him. It was in their own way, their way of showing affection without getting stupidly emotional over it.

His grin was lecherous. "Fear not Sakura I, Jiraiya and Sage of the Toads, would never leave a beautiful young maiden alone to suffer unfulfilled needs—"

Tsunade elbowed him in the side, stopping their melodramatic reunion short. Sakura was rather disappointed. Melodramatic reunions were the best part of _knowing_ Jiraiya.

"Honestly." Tsunade reached for the bottle to refill her cup but Sakura got there first.

"Let me, my Lady." The playful banter was gone and in its place was a warm sincerity. It was something that Sakura rarely showed.

The woman huffed and rolled her eyes. "Really Sakura, I can pour my own damn sake."

The girl just grinned and gracefully poured out another glass for the woman who might as well have been her mother. Tsunade truly had taken care of her over the years, just as she had promised.

Tsunade nodded her head in thanks, fingers brushing Sakura's softly, and took a sip before speaking. "Sakura, I need you to relay all that has happened today to the Kazekage as quickly as you can. Official channels are too leaky for something this sensitive and I know you have more ways of contacting him then I want to think about."

Sakura nodded and turned to Shikamaru with an innocent smile.

He twitched. "No."

She prodded his side. "Yes."

His frown deepened. "No way in hell."

Her sweet grin turned predatory. "Shikamaru, honey, you should really know better. Hell has _nothing_ on me."

The two Sanin looked between them, bemused.

Shikamaru finally sighed in defeat. "Fine. Whatever. It'll get done."

Neither Tsunade or Jiraiya knew it, but Shikamaru was due to see his girlfriend in two days at an outpost near the border. Sakura called it a long distance booty call, but despite everything somehow and someway Nara Shikamaru had started dating Sabaku no Temari.

Really, the girl from Suna had a thing for Shikamaru ever since he beat her in the finals at the Chunin Exam. It was a weird way for a relationship to start but then again, for all Sakura knew maybe Suna girls appreciated having a guy who could take them in a fight.

And Sabaku no Temari after said booty call, would be returning straight home to her little brother. To Gaara, the one and only Kazekage. The message would reach her fellow jinchuuriki in the safest of hands.

"Anything else you need of me, Hime?" Sakura asked.

Tsunade shared a glance with her teammate but it was the Sage that answered her. "Tell Naruto his training is suspended indefinitely. I need to do some serious Intel gathering before this summit. We only have what, five months?"

Tsunade shook her head. "Try three."

Jiraiya swore. "Fuck, in that case I should have been out of the country yesterday. If my lovely leading lady would excuse me?"

Tsunade was unimpressed. "Just get out of here you lech."

He grinned and inclined his head. "Hime." He reached over and ruffled the jinchuuriki's hair. "Sakura, take care of everyone."

Something in her gaze cooled and her features turned solemn. "You can count on it."

His lips pulled up, slightly, and then he was gone as if he'd never been there. Jiraiya certainly could make a fast exit when he wanted too. He would have been lying dead for peeping in a bathhouse somewhere if he couldn't.

Tsunade ran her finger around the rim of her cup. She had drifted to a place far away from them, and realizing their presence was no longer wanted, the two jonin excused themselves and left.

Tsunade did not even seem to notice their departure. The weight of this situation was now beginning to ride on her shoulders and Sakura knew better than to be a pest when her Kage _really_ got serious.

When they were out of the room Shikamaru looked to her. "What do you think?"

"I think…" Her eyes gleamed with eagerness. "That things are about to get very interesting. And we're gonna get front row seats."

**Training Field 23, 1:34 PM**

Sasuke propped himself against a burning tree trunk and the bark underneath him was still smoldering. Somehow he couldn't quite bring himself to move as his breaths came out in painfully short gasps.

Naruto was in similar straits across the clearing, leaning against his own mangled tree. Everywhere his skin was exposed it was burned. It did nothing to erase the grin off his face. "That. Was. _Awesome_."

"My ribs would beg to differ." The Uchiha groaned.

Naruto snorted and then winced. "Whatever. I vote we find Sakura and get this over with, she'll find out no matter what we do and at least we won't have to wait at the hospital a few hours for a medic."

Sasuke, unfortunately, could see the logic in that. "We should." He pulled himself up and coughed until it felt like his ribs would come out his side.

He feared Sakura's wrath,but really, there was no avoiding it. Might as well man up and take their medicine.

The two jonin began their trek back to the village going far slower than they usually did. They would both claim injuries, but Sasuke knew they were just avoiding getting chewed out for as long as possible.

**Hyuga Compound, Inner Housing, 2:19 PM**

Hyuga Hanabi had spent her entire life trying to be perfect and to avoid any mistake. It had only taken seeing one Branch House member being tortured by their seal when she was young, to think: _I will never be them._

The rest of her life had been dedicated to avoiding that fate. Honestly, Hanabi was a little lazy and could care less about decorum but to be heiress of the Hyuga she needed both. And she would have both, because she was second born.

Hinata was first. Already from the moment she'd come into existence, Hanabi was already behind her sister. And she would have been stuck with that seal before she could walk except for one reason.

Hinata was soft.

And to Hanabi, fighting came to her like breathing.

Those two things had made their father pull back and reconsider, not putting a caged seal on either of his daughters. Hanabi had worked herself to the bone and Hinata had spent most of her life in disgrace and still, Hanabi had not overtaken her sister.

It should have devolved into them hating each other. Hanabi should have ripped out her sister's eyes the first chance she got. And today she'd gotten that chance and instead of attacking her sister, Hanabi had done the stupidest thing of her life.

She had picked her sister over her father, and Hanabi still didn't know why.

In front of her Hinata paced with a cloth smelling strongly of healing ointments pressed to her face. When Hinata lifted it away she touched the ugly gash on her cheek, and her fingers came away caked in blood.

Tears prickled at her older sister's eyes, and yet in her gut Hanabi recognized these tears not as ones of pain but of frustration and _anger_. While Hinata had yet to really cut loose, Hanabi couldn't help but wonder how strong that Hinata would be in a fight.

She sort of wanted to find out.

"Sister…" Hanabi didn't know what to say.

Hinata shushed her. "In a minute Hanabi."

Hinata had become stunning. Statuesque, pale, lavender eyed, curvaceous, and so beautiful it was probably a crime. And seeing that beautiful face of hers cut up put a writhing knot in Hanabi's gut.

Next to her, her cousin Neji looked how she felt: uneasy, angry, and sick. "I'm sorry Hinata-sama."

Hinata's eyes snapped over. "What did I say about apologies, brother?"

He swallowed and yeah, he looked as surprised as Hanabi felt. "Not to take blame for things I can't control. I will remember that, sister."

Hinata being assertive, Neji being conciliatory, and Hanabi wasn't being selfish, it felt like the world was ending.

Hinata stopped her pacing and gave them both a tentative, almost warm smile. "It's alright. I just didn't expect them to…go this far. I'm the one who should be sorry for getting you two caught in the crossfire like this."

Neji sighed. Hanabi frowned. "I can make decisions for myself sister, you dragged me into nothing."

"Of course." Hinata agreed, and somehow Hanabi still felt like her sister hadn't even heard her.

Hinata and Shino had started dating when they were thirteen, Hanabi knew that much, she was good at the whole spying thing and really her sister hadn't been trying to hide it that hard. No one in their family had cared enough to find out though so it had remained the most obvious but still kept secret in the compound.

What she hadn't known was that yesterday, Shino had proposed to her sister. They had gone that night to his family's compound to announce the engagement, and the Aburame were thrilled to bless it and start making arrangements for the wedding.

Hanabi was certain it was more surprise. Beautiful, talented, gorgeous heiresses like Hinata didn't exactly jump to get married into the Aburame family. Sharing your husband with a few thousand bugs? Hanabi would pass, thanks.

Then Hinata had the bright idea to come back that morning and announce the engagement to their own family at breakfast. Stunned would be the kindest word to describe the look on their father's face.

Followed by rage as usual.

And things had gone to hell after that. There was a marriage bylaw in the Hyuga that stated that the first heir to be wed and having or with child would become the clan head. Their father had long planned to use that law against Hinata for when she really did screw up for good by arranging a marriage for Hanabi as soon as she was old enough.

Hanabi would have done nearly anything to not be branded by that caged seal. Except this.

She still had some goddamned pride left in her.

And so when their father demanded Hinata break off the engagement, her beautiful, shy, weak sister had refused bluntly. For a second it had been like staring into the sun and suddenly Hanabi could see Hinata as clan head, and that mind-numbing revelation had nearly driven her to her knees.

Hiashi had flown into a rage and ordered the Branch members there to contain Hinata. They would hold her under lock and key until the engagement broke. He claimed more bylaws and his duties as clan head, and Hinata had stared at him with that blazing look and Hanabi just couldn't breathe.

The Branch members had moved in and Hinata had fought them off like a wildcat, and then Hiashi had stepped in and opened that ugly _horrible_ gash on her face.

That's when Hanabi, still weak kneed and breathless, had thrown herself into the fray screaming. It had taken four Branch members, two main house, and her own father to finally put her down. At some point Neji had jumped in to help only to get his seal activated for his efforts.

Hiashi had threatened to kill Neji if they didn't stand down. Hanabi had already been on the floor, wheezing and spitting. Hinata had frozen and the blazing fury had drained out of her. All that was left was meek little Hinata. They had been dragged away after that, Hanabi screaming and cursing as the three of them were wrestled down the halls and locked away deep in the compound.

After an hour Neji had come to and Hinata was using what little healing supplies she had on herself to stop the bleeding.

And so here they sat and Hanabi wondered what had gone wrong with the plan for her life. It wasn't supposed to end here with her protecting the sister she was supposed to hate and turning her back on what it meant to be Hyuga.

It wasn't supposed to end here, with Hinata sinking to the floor and muffling sobs, or with Neji going to comfort her like he had never done, or with Hanabi hovering wondering what she could do to help.

The room was sealed and Neji couldn't leave. If he did seals on the door would trip the seal on his head and he would die.

Hinata would not leave him, and Hanabi knew they wouldn't get past the guards anyways.

"I'm sorry sister." Hanabi never knew what to say. Especially with her Hyuga mask down, because Hanabi had never showed this part of herself to anyone.

"Me too." Hinata grabbed her hand and held it tight. And suddenly, Hanabi knew she didn't need to say anything at all.

**Konoha, 4:33 PM**

"I—"

"No." Sakura interrupted.

Naruto pouted. "We were just—"

"Still don't want to hear it." She glanced at her two teammates both freshly healed and rolled her eyes. "Really, you just _had_ to set half of Konoha on fire?"

Their silence was answer enough.

Sakura was sure she was mostly annoyed just because they were getting to blow stuff up while she didn't, but she wasn't going to tell them that. If she took no moral high ground in this Sasuke and Naruto would have the rest of Konoha burned down within the week.

And that was just a bit too far ahead of schedule for her tastes.

Sasuke finally spoke up. "Someone's coming."

The chakra signatures were fast moving and familiar, and Sakura crossed her arms and stopped in the middle of the street. Less than a second later Shino, Chouji, and Ino landed in front of them.

Shino's long coat covered most of his head and body but it did nothing to stifle the sound of his insects buzzing angrily beneath his skin.

Chouji had on his heavy armor; broad and red and the kind Akimichi only wore when going into the most bloody of battles. His heavy jaw was clenched tightly, and the easy going boy she knew wasn't there. The jonin he'd become was in his place.

Ino was at his shoulder, beautiful, taut muscle, cornflower blonde hair, and glittering blue eyes. She was also Chouji's girlfriend and the premier student of Morino Ibiki.

Once upon a time Sakura and Ino had taken kunoichi training together when they were fifteen. Sakura was more of a killer than a seductress, and she hadn't continued with the program beyond the initial lessons every kunoichi needed. Ino however had shown an affinity for twisting information out of people. Seduction though was paltry compared to where her real talents lay.

The once ditzy, vain Yamanaka was an absolute _expert_ in physical and mental torture.

Sakura always found it odd when facing Ino, remembering what she'd once been like. Even now Ino still wore a short lavender skirt and shirt, exposing her flat stomach and flawless skin, and soemtimes Sakura would almost forget this girl had a _thing _for torture just as much as she did.

When Ino had started dating Chouji the girl had slowly moved into their social group. Soon there had been girl's day out with her, Sakura, and Hinata. Clothes, boys, makeup, and torture became the norm for their conversation, and somewhere along the way Ino became something of a friend.

All three of her friends stood in front of her obviously agitated, the air boiling with their rage, and Sakura felt her stomach knot and sink. Something had gone horribly wrong. Shino moved up to her.

He spoke flatly. "I need your help."

She nodded. "Name it." Naruto and Sasuke stood silent at her back, waiting.

Shino swallowed and the buzzing under his skin grew louder. "Hinata went to her family this morning to…announce our engagement." Sakura didn't get a chance to squeal or clap. "She never came back. Something is _wrong_."

His fists clenched and Sakura could see the ridges where bugs were scurrying under his flesh. He usually hid that and she knew he was beyond furious.

Something notched in the back of her jaw, and a hot and slippery fury started crawling up the back of her throat.

Hinata.

Sakura wanted to protect that girl so dearly sometimes her heart ached with it. And Hinata was in danger. She didn't have to think twice. "We're going to pick her up. Now."

"And if they refuse?" Shino questioned harshly.

The monster showed its grin. "Then we _force_ it."

Chouji nodded grimly, Ino flexed her hands, Naruto cracked his neck.

"Lead the way." She told Shino and they jumped.

They were less than shadows in the wind as they cut across the village to the Hyuga's front door. No one saw them and even if they did, no one would dare try to stop them with the looks they were wearing.

Sasuke was at her shoulder. "Are we really going to walk into a sea of fire for just one person?" Dragging the Hyuga heiress right out of their compound could get them executed.

Sasuke was a bastard but he was _her_ bastard. She couldn't strangle him.

"And to hell and back again." She spat. The consequences didn't matter, not when it was Hinata at stake.

Sasuke nodded and fell back. Wherever she went he followed. Always.

For Hinata Sakura would rip down the gates of hell itself, and the Hyuga were nothing to that.

* * *

Edit: Cleaned up the grammar, had Sakura fill in more of the back-story over the three odd years we just time skipped, clarified the politics on the Kiri situation, actually gave Hanabi some characterization and spotlight because she's our newest main character, cleaned up and improved descriptions of everyone and cut out some of the useless stuff, and gave Ino a small dose of characterization as well.


	17. Fallen From Grace

Disclaimer: No ownership, no Japanese, no manga. No nothing, just so that's settled.

* * *

**Hyuga Compound, Outer Housing**

The emerald leaves of the ancient tree shifted in the warm breeze, disturbing the peace that had momentarily surrounded the Hyuga compound in the early summer night.

A Hyuga guard of the branch house stood uncertainly beneath the giant boughs. One minute he'd been on patrol and now he was standing here with his head rattling like he had a bad hangover. What had happened?

He was just about to turn around and go back, maybe run, when a strange buzzing came from overhead.

The leaves fell around him as the branches shook and he activated his Byakugan, prepared for the worst. What he wasn't prepared for was the cloud of bugs descending on him in a swirling mass of dark wings and glittering eyes. His mouth opened to scream but the bugs poured in, limbs scratching, choking him. He was consumed by the swarm in seconds. Exactly a minute later the cloud retreated, leaving his unconsciousness and chakra drained body behind.

Six jonin landed around him.

Sakura smirked. "Nice Ino."

The girl preened. "Leading him here was nothing. Shino had the takedown."

The Aburame however just grimaced in their direction, and Sakura knew they should stop wasting time. She signaled and Chouji grabbed the body and they moved on silently.

There was no time to send the alert that the Hyuga compound had been infiltrated.

**Hyuga Compound, Outer Housing, Roof**

"Three unconscious Hyuga from patrols." Sakura tossed down the body she had been carrying. "You want some fries with that Ino?"

Two more joined the pile from Naruto and Sasuke. Ino gave a bubbly smile in return. "I'll take a rain check on the fries, thanks."

Somehow, Sakura had just invited someone out to lunch in the middle of their covert-as-hell operation. Awesome.

She shook her head and looked back at the bodies. One was beginning to form a nasty bruise on the back of his head where he had been hit with the blunt end of a scythe. The other had been smothered into blackout by an abrupt change between air pressure in his lungs and the air outside. It was a miracle Naruto learned to knock someone out without destroying everything in a five mile radius.

Ino hummed to herself and dragged a Hyuga out of the pile who didn't have a caged seal. She flickered through a few hand seals before touched the Hyuga's forehead with her index finger.

She threw Chouji a wink. "Watch my body while I ransack this guy's head?" And then her eyes rolled into the back of her head and she was out cold.

Chouji dutifully caught her and held her across his lap. Superstitiously, Sakura looked around the tiled roof before kneeling down and going through her own hand seals. A genjutsu slid into place. It was one that would fool the Byakugan by disturbing visual input and directing it elsewhere.

But she had to stay still in order for it to work, and if a Hyuga were to make a systematic search it would only delay the inevitable. Right now she was trying to delay the inevitable as long as possible. Once upon a time she'd design this genjutsu to use on Hinata during spars, now she was using it to break twelve different laws and two charters and a half dozen treaties to bust Hinata out. If they were found breaking into the Hyuga compound of all places…

Ino took a shuddering breath and shot up in her own body. Her features were twisted in an icy rage. "This is how it is," She pulled a piece of chalk from her pack and started drawing on the roof tiles. "The Hyuga compound is divided into two sectors, inner and outer. Right now we're on the edge of the outer and have to move to center to find the spot where Hinata, her sister, and her cousin are being held. Apparently Hinata announced her engagement and daddy dearest got pissed and her sister and Neji got dragged into it."

Sakura put half her mind on the genjutsu and the other half on the conversation. "So we're bailing three of them out now?"

Ino nodded. "Yep. Right now they're locked into some kind of room with a complex sealing array in the walls. If they leave a security seal will activate Neji's caged seal, and our favorite surly Hyuga will go dead."

The rage suddenly made a lot more sense and Sakura felt her lips peel off her teeth in a snarl. Hiashi had turned Hinata's kindness around on her like a weapon, and just the thought of it made Sakura's blood boil.

Shino let out a guttural snarl; and it was so low that Sakura wasn't even quite sure if it was him or the Kyuubi plotting something in the back of her head. All the same she shivered. The last time Shino had gotten pissed off was when he'd lost half his colony against an Oto ninja that had kidnapped Sasuke, and she had seen the end result of the dismembered arms and the skinned corpse.

Shino's bad side was not a fun place to be.

"That…complicates things." Shino murmured.

Maybe complicated how long Shino was going to spend torturing Hiashi within an inch of his life, possibly.

Naruto snorted. "Yeah, complicates. We're not gonna be rescuing Hinata and leave her sister and Neji behind. So we bail everybody out now, consequences can wait."

Putting off consequences off until later was something they were _experts_ at.

Sasuke nudged her back. "Hyuga patrols incoming. Time to move."

Sakura curled her fingers around a kunai but kept her voice light. "Let's move this along people, if we get caught Tsunade will have our heads on a platter."

Ino clicked her tongue. "Shame." And began moving through a string of seals before stretching out her fingers like she was holding strings that had to be kept taut. She twitched her fingers and the Hyuga stumbled to their feet like puppets, and Ino moved her hands once more and they stood straight.

Their ivory eyes were dull and glassy in sleep.

It was not an actual puppetry technique but some breed of mind control that surpassed the conscious mind and straight into the neural network. Sakura was impressed. "How…?"

Ino winked. "Trade secret." And with a flutter of her fingers the Hyuga leapt to the walkway below.

Their puppets all landed in front of a startled Hyuga, and Ino orchestrated the show.

"Sorry," Said the main house puppet in the middle. "We thought there was something on the roof, but its all clear now."

The live Hyuga nodded and tried to hide how startled he was. "Of course. Please, uh…carry on then."

As soon as the still conscious Hyuga was gone, and he left pretty fast, all six of them landed around the white eyed puppets. Ino directed them onward and the rest of them kept pace in the shadows. They were soon spread out and covering all avenues.

Sakura only kept half an eye on their progress, her mind was too busy mulling over how to get Neji out of the compound with a caged seal stuck to his forehead. An idea slowly began unfurling in the back of her head and her eyes lit up with a feral gleam.

Oh, this was the perfect opportunity for something she'd been _dying_ to try out.

She quickly slid next to Naruto, frozen along with Ino and Chouji as another patrol passed by. Ino sighed in relief as they went unnoticed and directed the puppets forward again. Shino and Sasuke kept pace along a nearby roof, watchful and dark shadows against the fading sky.

Sakura looped a hand through Naruto's belt and tugged. He leaned back against her and she slid up to whisper in his ear. Her plan took only seconds to outline and Naruto's eyes took on that same feral gleam. He'd been just as eager to try _this _out.

Sakura pulled back and her voice pitched low. "Think you can do that for me?"

"I can and will, with pleasure." He eyed her up and down once and a delicious shudder went along her spine. He noticed. "But if you want to _compensate_ me I'm not objecting."

"We'll see about your compensation _later_." She nudged him forward. "Now be a good boy and try not to get caught."

**Hyuga Compound, Inner Housing**

Hanabi stared around the darkened room silently. It was struggle to keep her eyes open and she found herself blinking and dozing and shooting back awake again. Her legs had fallen asleep hours ago. Hanabi had offered her lap as a pillow for her sister and Hinata had actually taken her up on the offer.

It was the closest the two sisters had ever been…ever.

For the first time Hanabi was beginning to realize being Hyuga had taken more from her than she'd ever realized.

She smoothed down her sister's hair and her fingers dropped to her pants. The cloth was streaked with dried blood. Hanabi didn't mind.

Nearby in the dark she could hear the quiet rhythm of Neji breathing. He'd fallen asleep early on, having his caged seal activated had taken a lot out of him and now Hanabi was the only one awake. The gnawing desperation in her guts intensified.

They were in danger, all of them, though on some gut level Hanabi wasn't afraid for herself. She _was_ terrified for Neji and Hinata though, they were the only people who meant anything to Hanabi in the whole wide world and she couldn't protect them.

And Hanabi couldn't help but think if she'd done something sooner, maybe she could have.

She had seen this moment coming for four years since the Chunin Exam when Hinata had lost to Neji in the preliminaries. Her sister had nearly died because of it (and Neji felt remorse about that, even if it had taken years to do to get there) and Hanabi had known real and gut wrenching fear.

Their father had not visited Hinata once. Hanabi had to hide that she went to see her sister at all, and only when Hinata was sleeping because she'd known her father wouldn't like it. Looking back on it, she wished she had told Hiashi to shove it.

The worst part was in sitting in that hospital room she only had time to think. And if her sister would have died what would have been left? There were no fond memories, no affections, no mementos to hold dear. They were strangers who lived in the same house. Hanabi knew Hinata existed: big sister, heiress, first born. Hinata knew Hanabi existed: baby sister, usurper, born too late.

And that was it. Hanabi knew nothing _about_ her sister. There was nothing between them but blood and their family had proved time and time again that blood bred nothing but hate.

Days later Hanabi had a front row seat for Hinata's return from the hospital and the stinging words Hiashi had thrown at her. For being such a weakling, for losing to a Branch house, for crying, for being in the hospital, for being a failure. The tirade had gone on for almost an hour before Hiashi run out of steam and left, and he had turned on his heel and just left Hinata there.

Dozens of their family had been around to see it and Hanabi knew the humiliation was fully meant to be public and brutal.

Something in Hanabi had died that day, and the rest had twisted and hardened into something bitter.

Hinata had rushed out stifling sobs and Hanabi had followed. Maybe to comfort her, though it never happened. Maybe just to make sure Hinata didn't reopen her wounds and choke on her own blood. Hinata had run to three boys though. An Akimichi, a Nara, and an Aburame. They had rubbed her back and whispered soothing words and let her cry on their shoulders. Hinata had friends.

Hinata. The black sheep, the shy little princess who couldn't even look anyone in the eye. Hinata had friends.

Hanabi had nothing.

And today she had thrown away the one thing she could have had: heiress. If she'd stood at her father's side this time when Hinata had crossed too many lines, Hanabi would have surely been crowned and Hinata the one branded. And she had thrown that one thing she could have had away for a sister she didn't know. All so Hinata wouldn't have to be alone. Though Hanabi knew Hinata wasn't the one alone, she had friends and a fiancé waiting for her out there.

Maybe Hanabi was the one who was clinging. It was a thought that went against everything Hyuga, everything she'd been raised to believe in. The loneliness in her ached.

And here they were.

Her eyes flew open. The sound of footsteps was coming closer.

She reached back for a kunai only to remember her weapons had been taken. "Damn it."

The sound of her voice immediately roused her sister and cousin, and they flew into fighting stances. Hanabi felt her back pulling tight as she stood. Three shadowy figures moved just beyond the rice paper doors and she swallowed her fear down and got ready.

The doors slid open.

Three Hyuga guards were on the other side. The main house member stepped in leaving the branch behind outside. Their seals would activate by crossing the threshold and the reminder of it made Hanabi snarl.

Her family was three kinds of fucked up and she hated it.

Neji moved forward in front of them, protective to the end. She wondered when it was Neji had forgiven them for the sin of their father being born first.

"We won't go quietly." Hinata spoke and she was blazing furious again. Right now Hinata was a kunoichi. Maybe not the cold steel the Hyuga wanted, but somehow the thought of her sister blazing with wrath and pride seemed far better.

The Hyuga froze and then, abruptly, his eyes rolled into the back of his head. He was out cold on the floor in seconds and the two guards by the door were down as well.

Hanabi blinked. "Well." There were no words for this.

They heard the pounding of feet and a shout. "Hey! You can't go in there until Hiashi-sama says to—" Another guard and his partner rounded the doorway only to fall silent at the sight of the three unconscious bodies laying in front of them.

They immediately fell into Jyuken stances. "If you don't make a move we won't have to—" He never got to finish his threat.

Behind them a massive shadow fell on the walkway, buckling it underneath them. Both guards turned in confusion just in time for the shadowy figure, a head taller than all of them, grabbed both of the guards by the hair and smashed their skulls together.

The sickening crunch of bone breaking had Hanabi wincing. The shadow let the guards go and they fell to the ground in heaps. The entire display had been one part awe inspiring and probably another three parts completely fucking terrifying.

Hinata slid out from behind Neji. Her eyes were wide with surprise but her smile was wider. "Chouji-kun?"

The Akimichi smiled and neatly wiped his bloody hands off on one of the unconscious Hyuga's shirts.

Rescue had arrived, Hinata's friends were pulling through. Before she could say anything else two more figures appeared.

"Hey Hina-chan!" A blonde girl said brightly. The girl was stunningly beautiful and it took Hanabi a few seconds to look past that and place her as a Yamanaka. Hinata had more friends than she'd thought.

It was sort of weird picturing her shy sister being close with this cheerful bombshell, but there it was.

Hinata only had eyes for the third person; tall, dark, and creepy, the one and only Aburame Shino. Hinata threw herself into his arms and Hanabi felt a small twinge of jealously when he swept her up and held her like he'd never let go.

Ino tittered happily. "Oh the knight comes to rescue his princess. You gonna kiss?"

Shino shot an exasperated look over Hinata's head. Ino smirked. "That a no?"

Hanabi lost track of the banter as three more people came down from the roof. She had a warning half out when Chouji turned and calmly greeted them. "About time. What, did you get lost back there?"

"Hardly." A smoky, liltingly feminine voice answered. "I just didn't expect you'd start the party without us Chouji."

Hanabi went cold.

Jinchuuriki Sakura. Worst kept secret of the village and she was standing a few feet in front of Hanabi like there was nothing bizarre about this. At her back were the two other members of her squad, her _Death Squad_. Hanabi had heard all the rumors and stories and tales of genocide, and knowing those three had come to bust Hinata out was chilling.

Just what did Hinata have in her that had the most powerful squad in the village willing to risk life and limb for her?

What did Hinata have that she didn't?

"I'm sure there will be other skulls for you to split Sakura." One of the men behind her rasped.

Hanabi felt a tremor of…_something_ shoot through her stomach at the sound of his voice. Thick, hot, slick.

"You say the nicest things Sasuke." The jinchuuriki cooed.

Sasuke. Uchiha Sasuke. Dark hair tied back, his eyes covered by his headband, and a scythe slung over his shoulder. Blood was dripping down the blade and falling to the floor. He didn't seem to notice.

Just the sight of him standing there towering in the background was enough to take her breath away.

The blond man spoke. "Are you sweet talking my girl, Uchiha?"

Sasuke snorted. "Since it involves blood and violence and Sakura…actually yes, yes I am."

Sakura mock preened to the Uchiha and the blond laughed and slung his arm around her waist.

She'd recognize Uzumaki Naruto anywhere, but she had never seen him any closer than a hundred yards away. And up close he was…cold. There was a frosted, vibrant edge to everything he said. He was mockery, all bright manic cheer that was only a veneer for bitter venom.

And it didn't help that he was devastatingly handsome. Devastatingly cruel.

Some lizard part of her brain looked at them and screamed at her to run and run and run and—

She swallowed it down.

Sakura extricated herself from Naruto and moved over to Hinata. Hanabi shuddered when the jinchuuriki touched her sister's hair so _tenderly_ her stomach knotted.

Then suddenly Sakura's fingers were up and flickering green. "Hinata, who cut your face?"

Hinata tried to move back but Shino held her tightly, pushing her back so he could examine her. The ugly wound was visible to them all and the temperature in the room seemed to plummet. Hinata wouldn't answer but Sakura reached forward and her chakra spread over the wound. It closed in seconds leaving only a thin spidery scar behind on her cheek.

"Hinata…" Shino pressed.

Hinata wouldn't look at any of them. Embarrassed, ashamed. Neji wasn't offering any answers and Hanabi couldn't bear the silence any longer.

"It was Hiashi. He didn't take well to Hinata's engagement and..." She made a slashing gesture at her own face. The message was clear.

If just being in the same room with Sakura had made her cold, having the jinchuuriki's eyes settle on her was like stepping out of the cold and into the sun. Hanabi couldn't keep the eye contact and she stared at her feet. Shame made her cheeks burn and she didn't even know why.

"Well aren't you a blunt little thing." Sakura murmured. A hand touched the crown of Hanabi's head and fire scorched down her back while ice climbed up the back of her throat.

It was too overwhelming. The lizard part of her brain was screaming again.

"You know Hinata, I think this might be the first time I've ever seen your sister." The hand withdrew. Hanabi shuddered in relief.

Her sister spoke. "Sakura…"

"I'm going to murder Hiashi someday." Sakura told them all cheerfully.

And Hanabi knew this wasn't a bantering joke. This was a promise. She just didn't know if she wanted it kept.

"Please Sakura, you can't just—" And that Hinata trying to talk sense into the jinchuuriki like Sakura would _actually _listen, made Hanabi suddenly and completely respect her sister.

Hanabi couldn't even look at this devil and Hinata was reasoning with it.

"I know, not tonight." Sakura soothed. Hanabi raised her eyes just in time to see Sakura caress Hinata's scarred cheek. "But he's not getting away with this. Someday Hiashi will pay _dearly_ for his sins."

Naruto coughed into his fist. "Sorry to interrupt this _touching_ moment, but if we want to be out of here before they find the bodies we need to move."

"You didn't kill anybody did you?" Hinata sighed. _Sighed_. And it sounded exasperated.

"None were dead when we left." Sakura answered. That didn't assure Hanabi any.

The jinchuuriki kept talking. "You gave them a quick and dirty mind-wipe though, right Ino?"

"Oh please, you think I'd miss something so basic?" Ino answered cattily, like Sakura had just insulted the color of nail polish she'd picked out instead of asking if they'd remembered to _brain fuck_ the people they may or may not have killed in the past hour.

Her sister must be three kinds of insane just to fit in with these people.

"Just making sure we have all our bases covered." Sakura answered sweetly. Then she turned and the banter and jokes were gone and her eyes were frosted. Just looking into those eyes made Hanabi feel like she was having shards of ice jammed under her fingernails.

"We need to take care of Neji's caged seal before we bail, and we have, oh…twenty minutes before all the missing guards are discovered." She said bluntly.

Neji stiffened. "What do you mean by _take care_ of my seal?"

Sakura and Naruto exchanged grins, and for very obvious reasons Hanabi was now worried for her cousin's safety and or virtue.

Naruto cackled. "A little blood and a little time and you'll have your answer."

Definitely worried.

Sakura signaled to Ino and Chouji and they were already shutting the doors and hiding the bodies.

Neji looked fear stricken, Hinata was back in Shino's arms and ignoring the world, and Hanabi was standing among the Death Squad like this was a daily occurrence.

Today was officially the weirdest day of her life.

**Hyuga Compound, Council Chambers**

Hiashi rose to his feet as the meeting came to a close among quiet murmurs. He barely acknowledged the bows of respect given to him as he left. His mind was elsewhere at the moment, and after a lifetime of having people bowing and scraping at his feet it didn't even register anymore.

His eldest daughter had failed him again. Pathetically weak, sentimental to the point of sacrificing herself, and so incompetent that it still astounded him that she managed to make chunin at all. She had been a thorn in his side for years. Ever since his wife had died he had realized what a waste of potential Hinata was, and no amount of his attention or training had changed that.

Then it had seemed that fate smiled on him with his second daughter, she was strong and dedicated and had a vicious streak a mile wide. He'd though his Hanabi was the quintessential Hyuga and the answer to his prayers. Then the stupid brat had thrown herself into a battle she couldn't win for a sister she hated.

Where all of his children always this stupid?

They'd forced him here, Hinata with her weakness, Hanabi with her fickle loyalty. Their punishment had been decided by the grace of the council. Hinata would be confined to the compound until she denounced and broke off the engagement, and then separated from both her younger sister and cousin.

The three of them together brought out the worst in each other: stupidity, raw emotions, weakness.

Neji was surprisingly in the clear for the moment; he was the best fighter produced by the Hyuga clan in years and he could not be wasted just for petty rebellion. His caged seal also guaranteed such attempts would never be tried again.

Hanabi would be withdrawn from the Academy and for a time trained to the bone from dawn until dusk. When she learned discipline she might be allowed to step back outside this compound's walls. His daughters would not lay eyes on each other for a very long time and he'd keep them separate and warring until one of them had a caged seal carved on their skin.

It was the way of the Hyuga.

He almost missed a guard shouting his name. He turned just in time for a young, panicked Hyuga to skid to a stop in front of him and sketch a hasty bow.

"What is it?" He asked venomously.

The Hyuga shrunk back."Hiashi-sama, a few of our guard patrols have disappeared and not made contact over the past hour. They may be taking an unsanctioned break, but for more than nine to do so at the same time..."

Hiashi cut him off with the wave of his hand and his brow furrowed. Something was wrong here. His face went slack, he knew exactly what.

"Take me to my daughter's holding room." He commanded brusquely, already sweeping past.

The guard had to sprint to catch up."Of course, right this way Hiashi-sama."

Were his daughters about to try something even more stupid than trying to stand against him? Somehow, he knew the answer to that question was going to be yes.

**Hyuga Compound, Inner Housing**

"And you're sure this is going to work?" Neji asked again. Demanded.

Naruto chuckled as he and Sakura continued to draw out the seals on the floor with blood. Neji was sitting in the center shirtless and headband-less, and he looked entirely un-assured by the laughter.

Naruto turned and dabbed his brush into a pan of dark red liquid; it was a mixture of ink, Neji's, Hinata's, his, and Sakura's blood.

"Eh, I'd give this sixty percent, give or take. Don't sweat it Neji." Naruto waved the concern off.

Neji paled. "This is revenge for something, isn't it?"

"Stop being such a drama queen Neji." Sakura huffed and dipped her own brush in the pan. She swept a long a jagged seal across the floor. "And just for the record: I'll never forgive you for the preliminaries."

Neji winced. "I apologized for that, many times."

"And Hinata forgave you." A nasty grin split her face. "I didn't."

"Stop scaring him Sakura." Hinata murmured.

The nasty grin immediately turned soft. "Whatever you say Hinata."

And from her spot curled up against the wall, Hanabi really believed Sakura would do just that.

Naruto scrawled the last seal in the design and leaned back to examine the array for mistakes. He found none and shifted to examine Sakura's side of the seal as well.

Sakura batted at him. "I can check my own seal work."

He caught her hand and kissed the palm. "What, you don't want my eyes on what your hands are doing? You know the last time you told me that—"

She elbowed him, hard. "One more word and you don't get to look _or_ touch."

Naruto flinched. Somewhere from the back of the room, from watching the doors, Sasuke chuckled. It sounded like sandpaper dragging on gravel. "Whipped."

"Shut up you." Naruto shot back.

Sakura put her brush down and cracked her knuckles. "Look Neji, after working on Orochimaru's cursed seal yours will be a cakewalk."

Naruto mopped up some blood as he spoke. "It took us a year and a half to get the suppression seal just right for Sasuke. And trust me, halfway through our research your seal was a de-stress puzzle between weaving sequences."

Sasuke nodded in agreement from the wall he was leaning on, and continued to scan the area without missing a beat.

"Do I even want to know why you put a suppression seal on your teammate?" Hinata asked.

Sasuke, without prompting, turned and pulled down the collar of his shirt and vest revealing extensive and wicked looking black supression sequences going down his entire back from a three comma seal on his left shoulder. Without any more elaboration he dropped his hand and leaned back on the wall, leaving everyone staring at him stupidly.

"And the bastard still hasn't thanked us for it." Naruto mocked. "What else is new?"

Sakura rolled her eyes. Her fingers brushed the seals and chakra danced between her fingers and the blood. "The caged seal relies on natural electricity of the body being passively gathered and unleashed on the brain in short bursts. If kept up long enough the brain will shut down causing cascading organ failure, and, you know…death. This seal we're putting on you will redirect it when it's activated and allow the electricity to dissipate harmlessly along the array."

"What she said." Naruto chirped. Their hands fell onto the seal and they began siphoning chakra into it.

Naruto smirked. "But if you want to know the gritty details this seal is made of blood from a Hyuga without a seal, the one being sealed, my blood as the sealer, and Sakura's blood as a medium between all of it. Beause of a certain condition she has, well…Sakura's blood is awesome like that. It eats seals, which oddly enough makes it great for suppression matrixes, but there you go."

No one had really followed that outside of Sakura, but everyone nodded like they had.

Hanabi had picked up something odd in that phrasing."Condition?"

Sakura hiked up her shirt to reveal the seal on her stomach was pulsing with chakra. "The Kyuubi has been trying to get the seal off my stomach for ages. He made my blood seal acid, not that it's gotten him anything, but I have to give him points for creative effort."

She shouldn't have asked. Having a Demon King being addressed like Sakura was awarding him points for a particularly neat trick was…off-putting.

The seal began to glow a brilliant white and Hanabi forgot all about demons and jinchuuriki. The white pulled back, chakra flaring, only to sink deeper to a sinister red. In a flash of burning light the seals on the floor began to vibrate and shot up in a swirling tangle.

They seared up onto Neji's skin and he arched and his mouth flew open in a soundless scream. The fire was running up his back and over his shoulders and clawing up his face. The chakra began to spill nack as the seals stabilized and burned in around his eyes and across his forehead and down the back of his neck.

They dulled and cooled and Neji slumped down. The Hyuga breathed in shallowly, face down on the floor.

Sakura and Naruto moved over him and helped him up slowly, each examining his forehead and back.

"What?" Neji spat.

Naruto nodded to no one. "Good." And threw Neji his shirt.

With a burst of chakra and pulling water out of the air, Sakura wiped the floor clean of any smeared blood or burnt ink.

Hinata's eyes shot open from her position at the door, and the veins around her Byakugan flared. "My father's coming here." She hissed. An alarm couldn't have sounded any clearer than her words.

That sent them all scrambling. A few moments later the doors slammed open revealing a furious Hyuga Hiashi.

"What is this?" He shouted.

All nine of them froze.

**Two Minutes Previous, Hyuga Compound**

Hiashi's head shot up as he felt a wave of chakra. A wave of chakra in the middle of his compound that felt like a volcano going off. In an instant he was sprinting down the walkways with the guard on his heels. They both came to a halt in front of the door.

Without a second thought Hiashi grabbed the handle and slammed it open, shattering it to pieces as he did. His white eyes widened in fury as he looked in.

"What is this?" He shouted furiously at the guard.

The room beyond was empty.

**Surrounding Roof**

Hanabi panted, half into a panic attack as she watched her father have a meltdown only a few yards below her. Sasuke had a hand on her head and was holding her head down as they all lay there on their stomachs, silent and not breathing.

Praying.

They had barely managed to get out and separate out onto the roof. Hanabi had nearly been left behind until the Uchiha had hauled her over his shoulder and dragged her with him. He was tall and scary as hell, but Hanabi already sort of liked him.

Sakura had then brought down some kind of genjutsu on them just as her father and a guard rounded the corner. Any another time it would have been hilarious to see her father, the man who never showed _anything_, freak the fuck out over their escape. But this wasn't funny, it was a terrifying mess and Hanabi was now only a passenger in it and along for the ride.

Her life had never been entirely in her control but this was the first time everything was out of her hands. For once in her life she was completely and utterly dependant on others, and all she could do was pray they didn't fail her.

A minute passed, maybe the longest minute of her life before both her father and the guard left to sound the alarm. They had scanned the area but her father had been in such a rage and the guard so scared senseless they had been led astray by the genjutsu.

As soon as Hiashi was out of earshot a hand was on the small of her back and hiking up her shirt. Hanabi didn't even get the chance to squawk indignantly before Uchiha once again had her off her feet and thrown over his shoulder.

And they were running. Across tiles roofs, cutting through the wind, rushing under the stars. There was no moon out this night and they were shadows in shadows. Hanabi was a strong fighter but this kind of stealth and being less than a whisper, even from her sister, awed her.

And she was being carried by a blind guy at neck break pace across open roofs, and he was jumping and lading like there was nothing weird about it.

Hanabi had fallen in with a pack of monsters.

"Hurry." Someone hissed and it sounded like the breeze.

Sasuke sped up and she dug her hands into his vest and hung on. Totally dependent. As terrifying as it was there was some part of her that was assured, like she could cling to this jonin forever and he would never ever let her fall.

Hanabi had never had that from…anyone.

Sakura glanced back at them, as if making sure Hanabi was still along on the ride. She did not see the two Hyuga jumping up to stop them.

There wasn't enough time to scream a warning. Sakura caught her eye and winked and then proceeded to doge a jyuken strike to the heart and grab both men by the throat and _crush_. They fell like ragdolls; Hanabi couldn't tell if they were dead.

If this wasn't covert she had the feeling half her family would now be choking in their own blood courtesy of Sakura. It was a humbling thought.

Ino landed by both and tapped their foreheads. They must be alive or else the blonde wouldn't have bothered. They would wake and not remember the last few hours of their life, or possibly days, Ino didn't seem like the type to care about specifics like that.

Eleven more Hyuga tried to bar their path but were easily disposed of like they were genin. Sakura got half, Naruto took two, Sasuke didn't both since he had her over his shoulder, Shino and Hinata each ahd one apiece, and Chouji mopped the last two. Ino cheerfully followed in the wake of their violence erasing memories.

Then there was a burst of light and they were clear of the compound, falling and flying onto the well lit city streets. They'd made it.

Hanabi almost had a second panic attack right then and there.

They hit an intersection in moments. Chouji grabbed Ino's hand. "We'll head to our parents. Lay low everybody, let's not try contact each other for at least a week."

Ino fluttered her fingers and then they were gone.

Neji rolled his shoulders, still wincing under his new seals. "I'll crash with a teammate. If you need me find Tenten, I'll be around." He wasn't one for long goodbyes and was gone before the words finished reverberating in the air.

Shino and Hinata linked hands as well. "We need to go." Shino murmured.

And Hanabi abruptly realized her sister was leaving her behind. She jerked around and Sasuke obligingly dropped her down.

"Hinata…?" The plead, or maybe the question, hurt to speak.

Hinata pulled her into a hug. It was the first one in a long while. "I'm sorry Hanabi. Shino's family will be the first place father looks. They can keep me on clan laws and technicalities as Shino's fiancé, but we can't do the same for you. If I take you with me he'll have you back by tomorrow morning."

"I knew that." No she didn't, but she lied because she wouldn't show this hurt to anyone. "I just meant…be careful. I didn't help you out just to get you recaptured or something, you know?"

She hoped they believed her.

Hinata kissed her forehead and saw right through her. "Of course Hanabi. Someday when this is all over, you'll always have a place in my home. I'm sorry it took this long for me to say it."

Hanabi was sorry too, but she wasn't sure why.

"Sakura…?" Hinata looked over her head.

Hanabi was being left in the care of the jinchuuriki who scared the hell out of her. Joy.

Sakura smiled again, that gentle smile that was just for Hinata. "Don't worry, we'll take care of her and keep her out of sight. Go."

The knot of tension in her loosened marginally. Sakura was scary, but sometimes there was something almost gentle to her. Hanabi could almost forget she was standing right next to a jinchuuriki.

"I'll hold you to that." Hinata answered. It sounded as immovable as stone and Hanabi felt some small thrill at that.

Then they were gone and she was all alone and feeling very small.

Sakura beckoned her. "Come on, we can't stay here."

They started running again. It took only two blocks for Hanabi to fall behind and Sasuke to come back and snatch her up. It was humiliating and just a tiny bit nice, so she didn't kick him in the shin for it. When they stopped again they were standing in a narrow alley, voices and light pouring in from some distant street where Konoha nightlife went on unabated. The surrealism of it turned her stomach.

"What are we going to do with you?" Sakura questioned, looking at her like she was some new toy she didn't know quite what to do with.

Sasuke dropped her down and Naruto eyed her up. Like he would a broken kunai. "Think we could shove her off on Konohamaru? They're about the same age I think…"

Hanabi felt insulted, not insulted enough to trek out on her own, but insulted nonetheless. She wasn't some object just to be given away, not some trashy trinket with no worth.

She was Hyuga—

Scratch that. She was Hanabi and while she wasn't an heiress or even a genin yet, she was damn well worth more.

Sakura rolled her eyes at Naruto. "Maru still lives with his uncle and grandfather. His former Hokage grandfather, do you think he'd shelter her against Hyuga wishes? She'd be back on the Hyuga's doorstep in five minutes of us taking her there."

At least that stupid idea had been shot down. Hanabi glared at Naruto but she seemed to be far below his notice.

Sakura ticked off on her fingers. "Well she can't stay with Ino, Choji, or Shikamaru. They all either live with their parents or girlfriends and they're all clan anyways so it wouldn't help any. She can't stay with me or Naruto, that's just…no. Tsunade-hime will only let us get away with this if we maintain the illusion of not being involved, and bringing Hanabi to her would break that pretty fast. Shizune works too closely with Hime to be of any help and Jiraiya, good lord, Hinata would skin me if she found out I sent her to live with him. And I can't ship her off to Suna to stay with Gaara 'cause that'd break a dozen international treaties so…damn it."

If nothing else, Hanabi was surprised how much thought Sakura had put into this for the ten odd minutes she'd known about it.

Then, abruptly, Sakura's head turned sideways. "Sasuke..." She crooned.

Both Hanabi and Sasuke shivered.

"What?" He asked slowly.

Naruto was chuckling and trying to stifle it. He knew what was coming.

"I'm thinking we'll have Hanabi crash with you a few days. Honestly, you're _you_, no one would ever expect her to stay there." Sakura titled her head, considering. "And it's only until we can get something better together. You have a couch."

Sasuke spluttered. "My having a couch has _no_ bearing on whether or not she stays with me. I'm not a freakin' babysitter for stray Hyuga's."

Hanabi wondered if she could punch him and get away with it.

Sakura's bright pitch immediately dropped to a sinister drawl. "Let me put it this way: Hinata told me to take care of Hanabi and I will do _whatever_ Hinata asks of me. Now knowing that and knowing me, how do you like your chances?"

The dark haired jonin swallowed. "Fine. She can have my couch."

And that was how Hyuga Hanabi ended up living with Uchiha Sasuke.

**Hokage's Tower, 11:36 PM**

"All three of them vanished and took down over twenty different patrols; there's no possible way they escaped alone and unaided. I except full cooperation on retrieving wayward members of my family Hokage-sama." Hiashi snarled. It was a demand, no doubt about that.

Tsunade toyed with her pen and sent him an icy glance that could have frozen hell a few times over,and sent Orochimaru fleeing for cover.

Hiashi was too wrapped in Obey-me mode to notice.

The paperwork from the _incident_, as she called it, was already pilling up. Tsunade intertwined her fingers delicately and her voice came out with a mocking lilt. "You will be careful about this Hiashi. You come in here demanding things of my office as if you're wishes mean _anything _to me. I am the Hokage and you are…" She waved her hand dismissively. "A man with a temper and ill timing."

He puffed up like an angry bird and her smile in return was practically blistering.

She continued on with a voice sweet as honey. "Be that as it may, I have just received notification from the Aburame twenty minutes ago that they took in Hinata because her family was deemed unfit after they attacked and imprisoned her. As fiancé to their heir they have legitmate claim and I have granted it. Anything you'd like to add now Hiashi?"

Maybe his blood pressure would skyrocket enough to pop his skull open. A woman could hope.

"Hinata broke a family law, it was unfortunate that she began to struggle and injured herself." Hiashi answered blandly.

She raised an eyebrow. "Bull. Shit."

He colored a dusky red. It was the first time she'd ever seen a Hyuga simultaneously furious and embarrassed. She wished she had a camera so she could record and frame this moment for all time. Maybe put it over the back of her desk?

"It still stands…" He snarled.

"Nothing stands. Hinata is with the Aburame and if I see another Hyuga near there I will take it out of your hide. Circumstances around this entire situation are very…unclear, and with your reticence to reveal anything more there will be no action taken. Hyuga Neji is outside the village on a mission already."

That was a lie, but Hiashi didn't have to know that. By tomorrow it would be true though, just to get the boy under the radar and then slip him back in when things cooled down and the Hyuga stopped looking.

"And my other daughter?" Hiashi bit out.

She toyed with her pen, picturing driving it through his pompous throat and into his voice box. Some of this violent fantasy carried into her voice. "And what of her? Do you really want to test my patience tonight Hiashi?"

One small step back. Barely noticeable. But Tsunade noticed and she smirked. The Hyuga snareled again and gave a curt nod. "Nothing Hokage-_sama_." The honorific was spat like a curse. "I will take my leave."

He tried to storm out but it was a wounded retreat after getting his ass handed to him. Tsunade let out a throaty chuckle.

"Sakura." She called, "I know you're hiding back there."

Sakura poked her head out form the most private of her offices, smiling sheepishly. She swept into the room and perched herself on the edge of Tsunade's desk. "My Lady?"

"Don't my Lady me." Tsuande glared at her but not that harshly. "Next time you're going to nearly start a civil war breaking into a compound and kidnapping it's heiresses, tell me _beforehand_."

Sakura's eyes were cool but filled with mirth. "And you would have let us?"

Tsunade bit down on her tongue to stop her immediate response, but Sakura saw right through her. "You would have had us under lock and key in seconds of hearing it, and Hinata would have been left to rot under the tender _m__ercies_ of her family. That is not something I will ever stomach."

"This one time I'll look the other way." Tsunade felt her voice deepen, turn harder. "But if you do something this stupid again I'll have you chained in the basement of ANBU headquarters for a year."

"Duly noted." Sakura rose gracefully. "If it's any consolation we killed no one, no one saw us, and all three Hyuga are safe and cared for. This is the best this situation could have turned out considering…everything. I'm sorry it came to this. Good evening my Lady."

The jinchuuriki bowed out, leaving Tsunade alone to paperwork coordinating the summit in three months. It already felt like she'd been slogging through the preparations and agonizing over the politics for years.

Where was Jiraiya the one night she needed a drinking partner? The sake would have to wait, this summit might just be the legacy of peace she could leave behind for this village.

**Three Months Later, Apartment Complex, 6:00 AM**

The skies were cloudy and overcast, covering any of the wavering dawn from the east. It was pitch black at dawn but Uchiha Sasuke still woke. His inner clock was not affected by light or darkness or day or night. He couldn't see either, and he'd stopped caring that he couldn't a long time ago.

He propped himself up on one elbow and shoved the blankets off his legs. He cracked his neck and threw on a shirt as he exited his bedroom. He had fallen asleep in a pair of cargo pants, now wrinkled from sleeping at an awkward angle, and barefoot he moved towards the bathroom.

On the way there he passed by the couch covered in a puffy white comforter. The white blanket moved and shifted around as he flipped on the shower, stripped, and stepped in. The comforter was still shifting when Sasuke came fifteen minutes later toweling his hair and wearing a fresh set of clothes.

His scarred eyelids stood out clearly on his face, oddly menacing in the dim orange light from the digital clock over the stove. As he walked by the couch again the blanket moved one last time and slid to the floor, revealing a tired girl rubbing her eyes beneath it.

Those ashen eyes turned to him. She looked at him blearily before reaching her arms out, waving them a bit so he'd hear the motion. "Food?"

Hanabi was completely useless in the morning. The Hyuga had never let her sleep in or relax, let her laze in bed, or anything that normal. And the second she'd gotten the chance she had turned into an absolute invalid zombie.

He sighed. "It's ten feet from here to the kitchen, less actually."

She waved her arms again, letting out an annoyed and sleepy moan. "Please."

He indulged her. He felt like a moron while doing it too, but he scooped her up in his arms and let her rest her weight on his hip.

She latched around his neck like she owned it and it took him five minutes to pry her off again and set her on the kitchen counter. He shoved an apple in her hand before going to divine the toaster and whether it felt up to any toasting. Some days it didn't.

There would be no time this morning to get their customary coffee up at Naruto's and Sakura's apartment, same building, some floors up. The preparations for the summit had been completed and the delegates from both Suna and Kiri would be arriving today.

Sakura had been bouncing off the walls out of her mind for the past week. Being the ambassador that would greet both Kage's, along with all the paper work she had done to get ready for it, had driven his fearless leader _more_ insane than usual.

Sasuke loved not having a desk job.

Hanabi ate the apple with her eyes closed and swung her feet rhythmically against the counter top. He could hear the gentle rustle of her clothes and skin as she did. It was an oddly soothing sound.

The toaster felt up to making toast, so that's what he made. Ten minutes later he had his own sort of breakfast swallowed and a piece of buttered toast shoved in Hanabi's mouth. She ate it happily as he picked her up and unceremoniously dropped her back on the couch in the other room.

"Dress." He ordered and left.

When he came back minutes later he was fully geared with his scythe strapped to his back. The whsiper of rustling from her sounded different, so either she was changed or halfway there.

He handed her a shuriken and kunai pouch and barely waited for her to strap them on before handing her two more weapons. Wakizashis. They were short, polished to a silver sheen, and were the length of her fingers tips to her elbows.

Somehow, along the way their temporary arrangement had never ended and it seemed Hanabi was stuck with him. At some point he got over the awkwardness of it, dragged her to a training session, and gave her a pair of blades and taught her how to use them.

Sasuke knew nothing about Jyuken or Byakugan techniques, and he'd honestly forgotten how his own Sharingan even worked when he still had it. But he knew things that would put her on the advantage against any Hyuga that wanted to screw with her, so he taught her fighting and blade work and elemental manipulation.

She'd come to him edging into high genin and he'd gone and turned her into something that might be considered comfortably chunin. Sasuke had even started to understand why Sakura liked teaching others so much.

There was something to be said for taking someone and molding them into someone _better_.

She tied the blades to her belt, humming some melancholy song under her breath and then plastered up against his side. He knew what she wanted. With another sigh Sasuke picked her up, let her settle around him, and then carried her out of the apartment to where Naruto and Sakura where waiting on the street below.

They had delegates to greet and Kage's to spy on today.

**Konoha, Main Gate**

"Do you see them yet Hanabi?" Sakura asked.

The younger girl obligingly activated her Byakugan to scan the horizon. She made two sweeps before she spotted something out of place. She focused on it only nearly to get blinded by the intense nova of chakra. She quickly deactivated her bloodline and rubbed her eyes. "I see…something. Big something moving this way. I think I just lost eye cells looking at it."

Sakura clucked her tongue comfortingly and pointed it out to the rest of the group. Sasuke, Naruto, Shikamaru, and a handful of ANBU who seemed to think they were hiding from her, were gathered around the rocky outcropping outside the gate.

As far as greeting parties went it wasn't the most stellar, but Tsunade had decided the Kazekage and whoever the new Mizukage were might appreciate a show of power instead of the empty platitudes of politicians.

She stood up and dusted herself off. "Judging by the direction I would say it's a fair guess that's the Kazekage. Let's go meet and greet, shall we?"

She didn't expect an answer and walked off. The majority of her group followed. Twenty minutes later everyone was giving polite bows and exchanging pleasantries between parties. Or at least, as many plesantreis from her side as a bunch of S-class killers, surly ANBU, and Jonin from the tactical until could give.

Sakura spoke in a lilting soprano. It was her sweet, soft, ambassador voice. "Kazekage-dono, it is a pleasure to see you again. Have you been well?"

Gaara smiled and inclined his head in respect. It was a warm, disarming gesture. "Very well Sakura-san, now that I'm back among friends."

Sakura's party relaxed considerably and she smiled at her long time friend. She dropped the ambassador voice for the smoky rasp of her natural chords. "Always the flatterer Kazekage-dono."

He chuckled and they moved in to exchange hugs.

She indicated back to the village. "I'm sure you and your group are tired, some of my associates would be happy to escort you and your people back to your accommodations. But if you wish to stay to meet with the Kiri delegation..."

Gaara glanced around at the group behind him; except for his brother Kankuro, his sister Temari, and two Jonin, everyone else was older and exhausted by the trek. Most of which took place at the dead of night to avoid the heat of the desert, as most of his delegation were much older members of Suna's council.

He nodded, decision made. "Those who wish it please go with Sakura's men to rest at the hotel. I will wait here to see this new Mizukage."

She made a signal and five different ANBU dropped down and took all but Gaara, Kankuro, and Temari with them to the village. When they were gone everyone immediately relaxed and all political gestures and small talk were happily dropped.

Sakura jerked her head back to the rocky outcrop they'd been sitting on and pulled her friend along. "It's good to see you Gaara; I was worried you'd have to stay behind because of Akatsuki."

Gaara's skin felt like sand under hers, and then the sand armor receded and it was silk. He sounded amused. "Akatsuki has been uncharacteristically quiet as of late. This summit is more important than baseless fear for my own life. Honestly, I was more worried for you. Not to be crass but me being a Kage makes you the easier target."

Sakura feigned hurt. "Really Gaara? You know just what to say to a girl, truly."

The banter was unexpectedly interrupted by the crack of thunder, and seconds later lighting forked across the sky with an even louder roll of thunder following. Everyone clamored up onto the boulders and Gaara lazily loosened his sand and formed a dome over them.

Seconds later the sky opened up and the rain poured.

Hanabi gave a low whistle and poked the sand a few times. Sasuke snagged her down and sat her between himself and Shikamaru. She pouted. Shikamaru was too busy whispering and letting his hands wander over a giggling Temari to make any caustic comments.

Naruto came and sat behind Sakura allowing her to lean back against his chest. He did not even comment or seem all that surprised by the sight of her and Gaara's hands loosely linked together. He understood that there were some bonds he could never have with her, and he didn't begrudge her of them.

They all sat there conversing in soft whispers for the next three hours waiting, lulled by the heavy patter of the rain over their heads.

By mid-afternoon Hanabi had reactivated her Byakugan on another sweep. She gasped once and bounded down and threw herself between Gaara and Sakura. The jonin and Kage obligingly lifted their linked hands so she could sit between them and their arms settled back around the younger girl's shoulder.

Sakura could have sworn Hanabi purred which wasn't that much of a surprise. Outside of the Hyuga, Hanabi was a bit…clingy for affection. She was trying to make up for eleven cold years in the space of a few months.

The girl raised her arm and pointed out a few dots hovering on the horizon in the curtain of rain. Sakura would not have seen them if not for Hanabi's insistent hand.

"I don't know how many but each of them has a lot of chakra. The two at the front have the most, not as bright as Gaara-sama of course, but it's up there." Hanabi relayed quickly, concentrating more chakra to her eyes.

Sakura placed a hand on her shoulder to stop her before she exhausted herself. "It's fine. We'll see how many when they get here."

Their group started standing and the dome of sand wavered. Silence descended and soon all they could hear was the rain. After a few tense minutes it became apparent that somebody with the Mizukage had very good water or wind affinity. There was an actual dome surrounding all of the Kiri ninja as they approached to keep them dry from the rain.

It was startling to say the least and more than that intriguing.

When they were finally part of the rain-free-space being generated by one of the Kiri ninja, Gaara dropped the sand and allowed it to return to his gourd. They made their approach slowly and Sakura distantly noted Hanabi had gone back to hover behind Sasuke.

Girl knew not to be at the front with two jinchuuriki meeting an unknown Kage. Smart.

A man at the front of the group wore the Mizukage's hat low over his face. The ceremonial robes were gone though, replaced by a black trench coat with dark blue lining. A large sword was strapped to his back and it gleamed dully in the rain. It stunk of iron and blood.

A full three squads of Undertakers followed behind him in deathly silence. Sakura felt the ANBU and ninja behind her tense uneasily.

Déjà vu. Hadn't she seen this all before?

Despite that uneasy feeling Sakura gave a bow. "Mizukage-dono it's a pleasure to meet you face to face at last." Her eyes flickered up to stare at the face beneath the brim.

The uneasy feeling was realized and her gut clenched. The polite, sweet exterior crumbled into a feral grin. "It's been awhile Zabuza-sama."

The air crackled with tension and she heard Naruto and Sasuke moving up to support positions.

Zabuza let out a spine chilling laugh."Well I never expected to see your face again, that vicious little bitch from Wave turned into some ambassador? I'd thought someone like you would be…more."

Naruto and Sasuke let out wordless snarls, but her grin never wavered. She straightened up and she showed Zabuza those red eyes of hers she was sure he remembered _fondly…_

His jaw went tight and the female Undertaker at his elbow flinched.

"Silk in steel Mizukage-dono." The scarlet fled and the jade was a mockery. "Velvet over iron, that monster you remember from the bridge is all grown up now."

His dark eyes trailed up and down her and she saw something colder in there. He was not as mad as their last meeting but that only revealed how much stronger he'd become. Something in the way he moved, the way his eyes darkened, the way that blade did not weigh him down…

"Good." He smirked. "Potential like that going to waste would have been a tragedy." He moved in closer and she drew in, magnetic, into the grinder. "You still owe me some blood and I've always been looking forward to a rematch."

She chuckled and it was like blades being sharpened. "I look forward to it Mizukage-dono, however, I believe my Hokage would skin me if we tried to settle those scores before you even get into the village."

She let her eyes trail over the female Undertaker next to him. The sent was familiar, and Sakura was slightly amazed that her nose and been fooled all those years back. It had driven her insane but she finally knew the answer.

"Haku, I'm glad to see you alive and well." Sakura purred.

The undertaker looked to Zabuza and he nodded, and with a smooth flick she took off her mask to reveal the exquisitely beautiful face beneath. The other woman's chestnut eyes met icy jade as they stared at one another, remembering mist and blood, reconnecting in a way only old enemies could.

"Maybe this time I can pay back that promise." The high soprano voice of Haku, truly and utterly female, captivated all those there.

Sakura could not help laughing. Years ago when Haku had saved Zabuza from Sakura, before she'd had gone Kyuubi-wild on him, Haku had pretended to be a true Undertaker and had promised to makeup stealing Sakura's prey to her.

And still now, years later, the promise stood.

Everyone else was confused but Sakura didn't feel like sharing. "We'll see."

She returned her attention to the Mizukage, and he was eyeing them all up as if still sizing them for a fight. He spoke slowly. "This summit will be so much _fun_, isn't that right Haku?"

The woman gave a smile that was devastatingly gorgeous. "Indeed Zabuza-sama."

The walk down memory lane was over and Gaara greeted his fellow Kage, and they both were smirking as they measured up their killing intent against the other.

Sakura swept her hand towards the village. "Mizukage-dono, Kazekage-dono. If you'd follow me."

She then paused and smiled devilishly. "You once asked me what kind of monster I was Zabuza-sama." She gave him an unfathomable glance and turned, revealing the nine tailed fox insignia on her back. "I hope this answers your question."

The Undertakers bristled dangerously, steel and clattering bones, and her own party ratcheted to fighting stances.

Zabuza's roar of laughter drowned out even the rain. Sakura smiled to no one at all. "Our people are _dying_ to meet you Mizukage-dono."

"I'm sure they are." Was his answer and his eyes raked her back and suddenly he was sizing her up again, eager for a knock down drag out fight.

Her blood throbbed with the thought of that battle pleasantly, and another flash of lighting and deafening howl of thunder split the sky above.

* * *

AN: Haku is a girl because I felt like it, no other reason, because picturing a bombshell Haku reappearing with Zabuza is awesome, thank you very much.

Edit: Redo's for this chapter include general cleanup to make the wording run smoother, Hanabi got another serious dose of characterization along with filling in some of sister's relationship to each other, also Hanabi's motivations got a bit more cleared up and she's noticing Sasuke a bit sooner, on top of that meeting Sakura and company this time seriously freaked Hanabi out and it took a few months of off screen time for her to get used to them instead of fitting right in immediately. This time around Tsunade's verbally bitch slapping Hiashi was a lot more vicious and the Hokage actually addressed what a dangerous stupid thing Sakura did in busting Hinata and company out. Last, the reentrance of Zabuza was touched up just to reaffirm what kind of bastard Zabuza is, and how their past interaction between him and Sakura is still in the air between them.


	18. Tears

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, which sucks, because the money from owning it would be _awesome_.

Also, warning ahead: major angst at the end of this chapter.

* * *

**Konoha, 3:06 PM**

The soft patter of rain echoed as they walked on the beaten dirt roads hardened by thousands of people traveling them over the years. The rain continued to fall steadily, keeping away prying eyes.

Sakura glanced over her shoulder as the curtain of rain was briefly disturbed by a figure leaping off. Well, most prying eyes had been kept away but they couldn't have everything. One of Danzou's agents maybe, or some council lackey, or a clan brat had been spying. Tsunade hadn't really expected the identities of their guests to remain a secret once they got into the village, and Sakura chalked it up to a planned for annoyance and left it there.

The Undertakers had their hackles up in a rush of killing intent and flexing steel; they had noticed the figure but being on someone else's turf meant they couldn't do a thing about it. Zabuza was unfazed and after a nod and few murmurs from Haku, the Undertakers settled back down.

Her own ANBU relaxed as well. Having that kind of fight break out in the middle of their village wasn't something anybody was looking forward to, even Sakura. Mostly because Tsunade would _kill_ her for letting it happen, not out of any desire to keep the peace.

Peace was overrated, honestly. Not that she'd _ever_ let Tsunade hear her say that.

Sakura kept leading the party on, the thrum of rain sliding through her skull and an eye on the shadows and mist around them. Not everyone wanted this peace and despite her private doubts, Sakura would not let anyone get in the way of Tsunade's plan.

**Hokage Tower, Conference Room 5, 3:23 PM**

"Tsunade-sama, Sakura and her group are approaching with the Kazekage and Mizukage." Shizune announced.

Inside the conference room two Sanin and a handful of loyal ANBU paused in their frantic last minute inspection. For listening devices, or bombs, or anything ninja and nasty that might get in the way.

Tsunade sighed. "Well this is it." She glanced out the picture window but the view was distorted by the heavy rain fall. The sprawl of Konoha looked like a kingdom of spires and bones. Something deep in Tsunade shivered.

Jiraiya clapped her on the shoulder. "Grab your chair Hime, I'll handle the rest."

She nodded, for once not objecting, and while she settled herself in Jiraiya turned to the ANBU and sent them off. They wouldn't be far and they'd wait in silence and shadow until their Hokage needed them, but being out of sight was the important thing in this.

Tsunade had her eyes firmly on a cabinet across the room and Jiraiya laughed and went to open it. Behind the stacks of files was a well hidden bottle of sake and a few cups. He threw them to his teammate. "Prepared as always Hime."

"Preperation is the way of the shinobi." She answered sardonically, already cracking the bottle and pouring herself a drink.

"Not too much now." Jiraiya cautioned. "We can't have you going into negotiations drunk."

She rolled her eyes. "It's only to take the edge off. Honestly Jiraiya, I _know_ how to hold my liquor."

"True." He smiled widely and fell into the chair next to her. He had his own cup poured and thrown down like a shot in seconds.

He looked at her and she looked back and their eyes warred. Tsunade's irises were honey-hued and jagged as shards of iron. "So how did your research go?" The question sounded innocent but in their line of work innocence was very hard to come by.

"Well there was this pair of twins in Iwa…"

She gave him an unimpressed glance.

It was returned by cheeky grin. "Ah, you mean my _other_ research. Well that's an entirely different story. It wasn't what I hoped for but it went better than it had any right to."

Her lips quirked but her voice was flat. "Don't spare the details."

The grin slid off his face. It was replaced by something far harder and far colder. "Akatsuki has gone to ground. A rumor here, a sighting there, but beyond that they might as well be ghosts. Ever since Itachi and Kisame failed that snatch and grab on Sakura they've kept their profile low. I honestly don't know what they're even waiting for anymore. They're keeping loose tabs on Sakura but they don't seem to be making _any_ attempts to draw her out. In other words, we're probably fucked and I can't tell you why or how or when."

Tsunade's eyes were cloudy, not blades or iron, but something murky and dark. He hated that expression on her. Tsunade was so beautiful when she was happy and he couldn't honestly remember the last time he'd seen her really smile.

Not for years maybe.

"We can't do anything." She answered morosely. "Our ninja aren't exactly welcome to snoop around other countries and going under the table only gets us so far...and not far enough. Put Akastuki aside for now, tell me about Orochimaru."

Jiraiya threw back another shot of sake. It burned all the way down. "Still gathering his strength and trying to research immortality, the usual. Akatsuki has been trying to kill him sporadically since he put out that hit on Sakura, and I heard he even had to change bodies about eight months back when he got caught bad by Itachi. Other than that we've got increased skirmishes on our border with Oto and spies slinking around. Our dear teammate is getting his confidence back. I'd say we'll have another attempt on invading us in a year."

"Wonderful." Tsunade snarled. She grabbed the sake bottle and tossed it into the trash before storming to the window.

Jiraiya mourned the sake bottle's passing before getting up to follow her.

She stared out the window and the cloudy reflection shrouded her eyes. Her arms were crossed tight on her body and Jiraiya let himself briefly indulge in just staring at her, letting his eyes memorize her beauty. Some of it was genjutsu, some of it was exquisite bone structure, and the rest didn't matter. She was the only person left in the world he could trust with anything.

His hand settled on her shoulder. "This summit is all that matters Hime, if we get in an alliance with Kiri along with our existing covenant with Suna, Orochimaru won't matter. He can't stand against the might of three Great villages, and honestly…if I figured out where he's hiding right now, I'm sure Sakura would be happy to go out and bring you some snake skin back."

She snorted. "Maybe someday." Thinking of sending Sakura after their own teammate, their own mistake, left a bitter taste in her mouth. But she couldn't deny out of everyone in the world, Sakura was the only one who had ever made Orochimaru run _scared_.

Jiraiya's head rose up. "They're here. Ready to make your appearance Hime-sama?"

She slapped his chest. "Flattery will get you nowhere."

"Not even in your—"

She slapped his chest again, harder. Anyone else would have left with broken ribs. Jiraiya just had a bruise. "Ow, jeeze, what did my ribs ever do to you?"

Tsunade couldn't help it and threw back her head and laughed, and right then Jiraiya knew things might just work out.

She was smiling again.

**Hokage Tower, Conference Room 5, 4:01 PM**

All three parties stared at each other carefully, gauged each other, and maybe sized everyone for a fight. Gaara tried to hide his amusement.

The Mizukage and the Hokage were having a staring contest and it shouldn't have been hilarious except that…it was. Completely.

Gaara relaxed in his chair, neatly seated with his brother on his right and his sister at his left. His council was arrayed out behind him and most of them were trying to pretend two Kage's weren't busy trying to kill each other with their eyes.

Tsunade slowly sat herself between her assistant Shizune and her teammate Jiraiya. Her council was noticeably absent.

Zabuza mimicked her, sliding his chair between the beautiful assassin of his named Haku and a masked Undertaker.

The air sizzled with unspoken tension and boiling intent. Gaara tried not to yawn. It'd ruin the moment.

Zabuza looked…pleased if it could be called that. Maybe he'd been worried his fellow Kage's would be sniveling politicians, but he'd found them well and able to take him in a fight. Gaara knew, in his bones, if he really wanted to he could kill this man. It'd probably end with everyone in ten square miles dead and himself halfway there, but it could be done.

Gaara noted Zabuza's hands trailed the table top and briefly, invisibly, he brushed the fingers of his close companion. Haku's lips pulled up the tiniest amount.

He wasn't sure what that meant but the closest Gaara could identify it by his own experience was halfway between what he felt for his sister Temari and his fellow jinchuuriki Sakura. Intimate, instinctual, built in blood. Shared or spilled, Gaara didn't care to know.

Tsunade leaned against the table with her elbows, strung her fingers together, and rested her chin on them. Her gaze was calculating. "I welcome all of you to Konoha and the beginning of this unprecedented summit between our villages. Hopefully in a month's time we can have this wrapped up and all of you returned to your respective countries, but to do that we need to get started. I'd like to open the floor with negotiations for a new military treaty…"

Zabuza looked like he was trying hard not to fall asleep and Gaara could relate. All three Kage's in this room were shinobi first and foremost with being a politician a distant second. But this was what their villages needed and none of them would turn their backs on that.

**Unknown Location, Konoha, 4:47 PM**

High vaulted ceilings rose above the man's head and the specially placed lighting in the rafters cast his desk into perfect shadow. Every detail of this room had been expertly constructed right down to the imperceptible tilt to the floor boards and the hidden vents in the ceiling.

Sometimes the vents poured cold air on his visitors, sometimes poison. He wondered which he'd need for this meeting.

Behind him the wall was painted with twisting and jagged lines of black. They formed a tree that would be almost elegant if not for the branches seeming to bleed black ichor down the wall. And if its branches bled the roots jutting beneath them _poured_. Between the roots, words were carved in and it looked like the inscription had been done by human fingernails clawing desperately.

_In Root there are no names. _

_There are no feelings._

_There is no past...no future. There is only the mission._

_The will of us Roots supports this great tree called Konoha, invisible from within the earth._

Once upon a time ROOT had the elitist of the elite, the blackest of black units. They had crawled through the underbelly of the shinobi world doing unspeakable things to keep Konoha safe and their village strong. During the Third Great War it was they, the ROOTS, who slaughtered the enemy in their beds and poisoned the wells and burned civilian supply lines. They did the distasteful things so Konoha could wear its pride.

They had been repaid for this sacrifice by being reviled and disbanded, cast out and discarded like trash. But their leader had been strong and Danzou had seen they would be needed and seen they would one day rise up stronger than ever before.

They remained in secret, watching, waiting.

They were maggots eating their own village from the inside out.

The man behind the desk smiled and the sight of that cadaver grin even had his emotionless soldiers shifting. They felt nothing but their animal instincts remained.

The door to the room creaked open; it was the heaviest of iron left unlocked for this one purpose and another man swept in the room. He was pale and tall and haughty. Danzou hated this man like he did everyone else in this village.

Hyuga Hiashi. He strode in like this place was his kingdom and not the man's, and from behind his desk Danzou felt his hand flex. He only had one arm left after the war but he'd only need that one hand to break this other man if he chose.

White eyes flared dangerously. Hiashi always had been impatient. "Danzou, do you have what I requested of you?"

One of his guards left the wall, kunai pulled, offering with his eyes to kill Hiashi for his insolence. Danzou let his hand loosen. The guard retreated like a shade, the blade gone.

Not today.

He sneered but pulled out a file. He rapped it against the desk and let the dull tap echo. It grated on all their ears. He paged through it slowly, only when Hiashi seemed impatient to the point of bursting did he close it and slide it across.

Hiashi snatched it up and sent the pictures inside tumbling out. He caught all but one and the last drifted across the desk and against Danzou's knuckles. The insurgent leader picked it up delicately.

"Locating all three of them was child's play." Danzou let the insult linger. Hisashi bristled and Danzou smirked. "Your nephew Neji is staying at a teammate's apartment, Tenten of Team Gai. Though the pictures suggest she might be more."

Hiashi picked up the picture of his nephew. It was through an apartment window and probably from a nearby roof. A girl with wild brown hair was sitting in the window sill and Neji was a step off and behind her. Their faces were turned, the picture catching them in an intimate moment of low murmurs. Their foreheads were inches apart and the girl's was turned down. Neji's hand, only a few fingers visible, rested on her hip.

For someone of Hyuga reserve it was practically a declaration of undying devotion.

Hiashi discarded the picture and moved on. In the end Neji wasn't that useful in the grand scheme of things. As long as he knew the boy's general whereabouts he could send a main house member to use the cage bird seal and pick him up whenever the time best suited them.

At the moment though, Neji had an unknown level of support from the Hokage and all of his steps had to be tread lightly. That woman would someday pay dearly for this humiliation.

Danzou's voice was a mocking rasp. "Your eldest is at the Aburame compound of course, we took much care not to be noticed on surveillance. The Aburame may be rational people but when family's at stake...you should see the field reports they have for your _dear_ child's fiancé. Skinned bodies and dismembered corpses and men fed alive to the maggots. We have one shot of her when she left their compound three weeks ago, but besides that lovely picture we were never within fifty feet of her."

Hiashi threw Hinata's picture away without looking at it. There was nothing to be done against the Aburame, even that would be a step too far. It would turn the other clans against him and the Hokage would no doubt use that to put the noose around his neck.

Hinata could wait.

Hiashi looked for a picture of his last child in the reports but found it missing. He looked at Danzou and found the man flittering it between his hands. The ROOT leader's voice was oily. "Looking for this Hiashi?"

Hiashi did not answer.

Danzou didn't seem to care. "Your youngest was the most difficult to track, but there were never many places for her to hide. I think you'll find this very…_interesting_." Insults hung under that, venom waiting to sink in.

Hiashi took the picture and what had occurred three months ago when his children fled became painfully clear. His knuckles clenched white.

The picture was high up on a building roof. Apartment complex. The tile was sundrenched and his daughter laid sprawled on a chair with another female. The second girl was taller, lithe, angled like a blade.

Jinchuuriki Sakura.

Uzumaki Naruto, vibrant as the sun, leaned against the chair and had one of his arms inching up the jinchuuriki.

Uchiha Sasuke, sinister as the moon, was laid out on the tile and seemed asleep.

The ROOT had captured a quiet and intimate moment between the four of them. Hiashi felt his vision blurring red. "Who keeps my daughter?"

The lines on Danzou's face deepened with a predatory curl. "Uchiha Sasuke. The jinchuuriki knows well enough not to keep a kidnapped princess that close, but your daughter never remains far from her either. And that Uchiha is another can of worms entirely."

Hiashi felt a horrifying idea take form. "I need you to perform a task for me."

"Retrieving that child is your own dirty work." The older man snapped, but before Hiashi could explode he continued smoothly. "But we can distract the Death Squad while you do."

It all became clear. Danzou saw that Hiashi understood that this was planned, expected, maneuvered. Hiashi nodded, accepting anyways. The prideful were sometimes the easiest to manipulate when they wanted something badly enough.

The trap was laid. "A week from now a genuine assassination mission will come to the Hokage's office taking place right here in Konoha. That bitch will give it to her pet demon. Tsunade knows how whiny that monster gets when she isn't allowed to sharpen her teeth. The window of them being occupied will be two hours, what you do with that window is up to you. This will be double your usual fee. "

"My debts are always paid Danzou. Have it done." Hiashi replied. With that brusque order he swept from the room.

As soon as he was gone his guards locked and sealed the iron door. One of their number moved in front of his desk and bowed low. His unmarked mask flickered pale. "All the preparations have been made for the Hyuga operation. What do you wish of us now?"

Danzou leaned back in his chair and deeper into the shadows. All perfectly calculated. "A new mission. Seek out Orochimaru and deliver this package. He will strike Konoha again soon and we must…_facilitate_ his blow to cut out only weakness and leave our strength to raise Konoha up. Let Tsunade play with her treaties and games, Kiri is crippled and any alliance with them has nothing behind it. This will be the true path to Konoha's glory."

His ROOT servant, Codenamed Sai, bowed. Awed silence as always and they never questioned him once. They were maggots eating their own village from the inside out, and Danzou was far too blind to see it.

**Hokage Tower, One Week Later**

Trade routes, military strategies, political engagements, monetary support, alliances, and debts absolved...it was all giving Tsunade a massive migraine and they were only a week into the conference. Sadly, there were still hundreds of hours left before the end even _came_ into sight.

Maybe if she had a nervous breakdown she could actually get the chance to catch her breath and maybe catch a nap too. If she was lucky. Unfortunately life just wasn't that easy, and when she wasn't in extended negotiations she was back in her office contending with the paperwork that kept the village running.

She eyed a mission that had just come in. Like all assassinations it required her personal attention and another ten minutes of her life she was never getting back. After giving it a brief once over she decided Sakura would be thrilled to take it.

Assassinations rarely happened inside their own walls and organizing the summit for the past three months had left no time for Sakura to sneak out on a little unsanctioned wet work. That, and Sakura was sporting crimson eyes now more often than not which was pretty much a blazing neon sign that the Kyuubi was getting active inside her it. This problem had cropped up before and some poor bastard losing his guts and blood always seemed to cure it

She hit the intercom. "Shizune, fetch me Sakura and put her squad on notice that they have a mission. And make it quick, I only have an hour before the next session starts."

Sakura arrived with unusual speed, which for her was within seven minutes of the notice being sent. Tsunade surmised her jinchuuriki had been in the building already, Sakura was good but she wasn't _that _good. As soon as she was inside the Hokage tossed her subordinate the file.

Sakura cracked it open avidly and absorbed it in a minute flat. "It'll be done by midnight my Lady. Anything else?"

Tsunade appreciated how efficient Sakura could be about all of this. Some of her ninja always asked stupid questions about _why_ the target had to die. Sakura's cold blooded competence made everything incredibly easy.

"I want your squad on that mission only, I don't want to see that little Hyuga princess of yours tagging along." She warned.

Sakura nodded smoothly. "Of course. But Hanabi is going to be sulking at me the rest of the week for this."

"Tough." Tsunade snapped.

The jinchuuriki smiled and laughed. "I'll take my leave then, good luck at the summit Hime."

And somehow Tsunade was still getting the worst end of this deal. She thought again on her plan of having a nervous breakdown.

Shizune knocked on the door. "Tsunade-sama, I'm sorry, but the Mizukage wants to start the next session early. His entourage is already setting up."

Tsunade groaned and let her head fall in her hands.

Scratch that. She'd have a psychotic break instead.

**Apartment Complex, 7:14 PM**

"Are you sure I can't come?" Hanabi whined.

If Sasuke could have rolled his eyes, or had eyes left to roll, he would have. "No. Just be happy that Tsunade is turning a blind eye to you being with us at all."

He could feel her pouting as she threw herself onto the couch. He ignored her and pulled on his vest, thick and plated with armor. It had saved him from getting stabbed more than once.

"I hate waiting around." She was off the couch and suddenly in his personal space.

"Whining will get you nowhere." He answered dryly.

She picked at his vest, straightening the collar and zipping it closed as she mumbled. "Well it makes me feel better."

He snorted.

Chakra washed against him and he looked out the window. "Sakura, Naruto, quit playing around."

Sakura slithered through the window and if Hanabi hadn't seen her land she wouldn't have even noticed her in the room. The jinchuuriki was grinning and her eyes were _scarlet._

The lizard part of her brain, quiet for months, reared up in terror. This was a predator and Hanabi should run, run, run—

Sasuke grabbed her shoulder and pulled Hanabi into him. His voice was laced with something dark. "Ease up on the killing intent Sakura, her heart is about to come out of her ribs."

"Sorry." Sakura chirped. Something in the air lessened, the pressure moved down, and Hanabi could think straight again.

As soon as she could think though Hanabi felt her cheeks heating up because her face was uncomfortably crushed into Sasuke's side. He smelled like iron and winter. Something thick and hot and slick moved low in her abdomen. Her blood felt uncomfortably close to the surface of her skin and she wondered if Sasuke could feel the heat of her through his vest.

Then just as abruptly Sasuke shunted her aside. "I'll see you in a few hours."

Hanabi had never felt like this before and she dipped her head shyly. "Bye."

In a rustle of wind she was alone.

Hanabi sighed and scuffed her sandal against the floor. Her eyes lingered out the window and a cool breeze buffeted her. It carried the scent of darkness and it slid up her skin sliced into her bones. She shivered but didn't close the window. Hanabi pulled herself onto the sill and stretched out, watching the rapidly darkening sky and the stars fading into view. The sky was vast tonight and she felt uneasy.

Her mind drifted and her body dosed and she waited patiently for Sasuke. She'd wait as long as it took.

**Commercial District, Bathhouse Ward, 7:30 PM**

Sakura gave a soft chuckle as she looked over the lavish building below her. The best hot springs in Konoha had been reserved for a private party tonight and she was here to crash it. A crime lord that had gained power and notoriety after Gato's chokehold collapsed four years ago had come to Konoha thinking himself safe from assassination in a village of ninja. He was under the mistaken impression that no one would dare touch him here.

He was right on one count; no other ninja would touch him here. But he'd ruffled too many feathers and the people who wanted him dead were perfectly happy to pay Konoha ninja and instead of Kiri ones to get the job done.

And ninja held no qualms about doing wet work in their own backyard.

She tried not to laugh at the guards. Most if not all of them were too busy relaxing with the prostitutes their boss had brought in for the party. This really was too easy. It'd be quick and dirty and _bloody_ tonight.

The plan had estimated two hours to complete, Sakura bet they could have it done in less than half.

"I'll take the one watching the front door." Naruto murmured helpfully.

"Do it." She ordered.

He smirked brilliantly and vanished. Seconds later they were watching Naruto grab the guard by the hair and twisting a kunai into his throat. He went down easy and softly. A perfect kill.

Sasuke spoke up beside her. "I've got a count of thirty people there. Twelve look like guards, five of them are staff here, one is the boss, and the others are all the whores they brought in."

Sakura made the estimates in her head almost lazily. "What do you want on this one?"

Sasuke grunted. "Let Naruto get first crack at them, I'll follow and mop up the ones he'll miss."

"Then I'll take out the boss." Sakura agreed. "Keep it quiet up here."

Naruto had already slipped inside and Sasuke got up to follow. If he let Naruto get too far ahead he'd miss all the action. He gave his own parting. "See you at the end."

Sakura's eyes were still crimson, still wounds in her face, and Sasuke knew this even though he couldn't quite see it. He also knew it wasn't the monster in her stomach being hungry tonight that made her eyes red. Tsunade and Naruto and everyone else just called it pent up aggression from the Kyuubi but Sasuke knew better.

This violence was all Sakura, and Sasuke was perfectly alright with that.

**Apartment Complex, 7:56 PM**

Hanabi's eyes flickered open. Something in the air had disturbed her, something…wrong. Pushing herself up she felt groggy and shivers clawed up and down her back. It was like her skin was trying to crawl off her bones.

The wind was colder now, tendrils of ice licking her skin and seeping under her pores. It felt like being flayed.

There was something wrong. She was cold and there was something wrong and this wasn't it. Her byakugan flared and she realized then the front door, double bolted and iron plated, was hanging open. There were pale shadows in here with her. Familiar shadows. That feeling of being flayed returned and bile climbed up the back of her throat.

"Hanabi." Someone familiar called out. Deep and disappointed and angry.

Not Sasuke's voice, not comfort and steel and indifference all wrapped up into one. Not the voice she'd come to know and depend on and treasure above all others.

She turned slowly because she already knew the end to this story. "Hello Father."

Seven other Hyuga moved in around her, boxed her in, and her father stood in the center. Hanabi had known she couldn't run forever but somehow she'd let herself hope that she could.

The kid gloves were off now. Panic creeped into her mind like a poisonous fog and she felt her guts knotting and her blood throbbing. Fight or flight was kicking in and Hanabi didn't know which she wanted.

"You knew this would happen Hanabi." Her father answered coldly. "Don't make this any harder on yourself, come home quietly and your punishment will be much less than your sister's."

She tightened her hands around the handles of the short blades harnessed on her belt. Her body was still against the window sill and she ran the odds even as the other half of her mind flipped out. "No."

She'd never gotten the chance to say that and watching him jerk back felt good. Felt better than anything in her life had. Rebellion was officially the best thing ever.

Her father's jaw went tight. "I'm disappointed daughter."

"You're disappointed?" She looked around at her fellow Hyuga and in the dimness she could see their unease and surprise. They had never seen anyone stand up to Hiashi and this emboldened her. She had a home now here and—

Home. Right here. In this apartment with a surly jonin and her. This was home.

The realization made her feel even better, made her even more furious, and her father wouldn't take the one thing she had from her.

"Well here's my answer daddy _dearest_." She leapt off the window sill. "Go to hell!"

Just as she was almost free she felt someone grip her ankle, one of her family had crossed the room in a blur and was dragging her back. The retreat was replaced by rage and in one smooth motion one of her blades was buried in his chest to the hilt.

It had been too fast and all of it done on instinct alone. It was her first kill. He looked surprised as he died and she used his chest as leverage and kicked off, pulling her blade loose and plummeting out the window. Bile stayed in the back of her throat.

Chakra flared along her legs and she skidded sideways down the building before using it as a springboard onto the next roof. As soon as her feet hit tile she was sprinting away. The other Hyuga, the six from inside and five more that had been laying wait in ambush were right on her heels.

She wouldn't be able to outrun them forever and right then she wished more than anything that Sasuke was there with her.

**Commercial District, Bathhouse Ward, 8:12 PM**

The crunch of the kunai in his gut, twisting cartilage and snapping bone was sickening. Blood bubbled out of his throat and his eyes were wild this fear, and she held the kunai tight and kept him in place so she could watch him die from up close.

"So what does it feel like?" Sakura purred and jolted forward.

The kunai buried deeper and blood was pouring down her hands and slicking down her front and forming puddles on the floor. The crime boss had though no one would touch him here and it would be his last mistake.

"Please." He whimpered, blood and mucus, face twisted ugly.

Sakura was suddenly bored. "You're worthless." She shoved him and he stumbled back and fell into the spring. The water bloomed red as he sank beneath the murky surface. Bleed, drown, she didn't care which anymore.

She watched until she was sure he was dead.

The two girls who'd been sitting terrified and naked in the spring scrambled out, screaming. They were both soaked red and they huddled away from Sakura. The jinchuuriki looked up from the water. "It's all right. Don't cry."

Her shadow clone slit both girls' throats and set them down gently. There was no reason they had to be afraid as they died, they were only collateral. No witnesses.

Sakura flicked her hands out to rid them of blood. The ending to this had not felt quite right and now she was un-sated and a bit moody. The floor was slippery under her feet as she stood and left. Bodies greeting her at every corner, guards, girls, and their sallow blood spattered flesh all looked the same. When she reached the front entryway both Naruto and Sasuke were crouching on the roof waiting for her. The party outside was already finished and both boys looked like they had a good time.

Sakura felt cheated somehow.

Out here the smell of burnt flesh and blood was stronger. Most of these men had been electrocuted or burned alive. The rest had been slowly shredded to pieces by gales of wind. Blood and burning and ozone.

Sakura was sad she missed it.

Naruto offered her a hand up. "I sent out notice, cleanup crew will be here in twenty. We should bail."

It was a good night's work for a shinobi who hadn't been on an assassination in a few months, really. Sakura should be happy right now but she wasn't. The Kyuubi would be mocking her if he was awake to hear her thinking.

She took her boyfriend's hand. "Let's go home."

**Residential District, 8:23 PM**

Hanabi flew across the next roof, her feet barely making contact before she was pushing off again. Her body was bruised and ragged, she had managed to injure two more of her hunters but it had done her nothing except giving her more bruises and tiring her out faster.

Someone must have been paid off for this. The ANBU squads weren't patrolling near their apartments and she'd been herded far from the Hokage's Tower and salvation there. Roofs and alleys Hanabi had never traveled now became the playground where the game for her life was being decided. And the deck had been stacked against her.

She was too tired to go on. She'd either go down here or go down somewhere else and it didn't really matter. Hanabi picked the roof to bring this to a close and landed. She was surrounded in seoncds.

Game over.

"It was pointless to run Hanabi, there's no escaping this." He father said and the condescension was so thick in his voice Hanabi wanted to claw his throat out. He kept watching her and his eyes judged her and she knew he found her wanting. "Take her."

Two men moved in. She lost her blades in seconds and she fell back on her Jyuken and fought for her life. They wouldn't kill her but they'd take her back to the pretty little gilded cage and lock her tight. Rationally she knew she could maybe hold out, possibly for years until things changed and someone came to save her.

Save her. Who would save her?

The only reason she'd been busted out the first time was because Hinata's friends wanted Hinata, and Hanabi was just baggage along for the ride. A second attempt to break in would be suicide, and no one would risk death for Hyuga Hanabi.

So Hanabi didn't stop fighting for a second even when her muscles tore. The first Hyuga got around her and tangled up her arms in a complex blocking array she couldn't get out of fast enough, and the second had a hand angled for her forehead.

Knockout blow.

Game over.

The first Hyuga's blood sprayed down her front and his head bounced harmlessly at her feet. The second had his wrist caught, locked, twisted, and shattered.

The fluttering around her sounded like feathers and iron shards. A shining blade came down and the second Hyuga became nothing but a blood stain on the ground. The scythe finished its arc and slung over his shoulders.

Her prayers had been answered by a Reaper. "Sasuke." She breathed.

Sasuke rested his hand on the shaft oh his scythe casually and his other hand settled on her head. His voice was thunder. "You in one piece?"

She swallowed and nodded. "Yeah." The feeling was back again: thick and hot and slick and it wasn't just in her abdomen anymore but between her legs.

A voice like smoke before the inferno spoke up. Female and familiar. "You really don't know when to give up, do you Hiashi?"

All Hyuga there spun to look up. On the next roof Sakura stood still with crimson chakra whipping up a hurricane around her body. Her killing intent slammed down and Hanabi found that this time she willingly buried herself against Sasuke's side to escape it.

Sakura's slitted eyes gazed at them all as if she could see the very depths of their souls. The devil had come to judge them.

Three pronged kunai rained down from the sky, killing none but blanketing the rooftop. Her father paled because he knew what was coming and Hanabi smirked. A yellow flare ignited through them, leaving bodies and blood in it's wake. Hiashi flinched as a single cut opened on his cheek and leaked a thin trail of blood.

Naruto materialized solidly in the middle of the chaos, letting his enemy see the sword of wind howling in his hand. It was a sign of mockery; he could have killed them all in seconds but instead he let some of them know what was coming just to inspire terror.

"You have two choices Hyuga Hiashi." Sakura was still watching them from above. "Stand down now and leave. We all know you orchestrated this but we can just claim you came after us and hide Hanabi away. No one can prove anything of what happened tonight and if you don't back off right now it will be just our word against your corpse."

Hiashi snarled but he couldn't stare up at Sakura for long. She was bathed in the moonlight and coated in her chakra and the radiance of it was blinding. Sinister.

"Is that supposed to be frightening?" Her father mocked. "You're a child who let the power that the monster gives you go to your head. You're the one who kidnapped an heir to the Hyuga; even your precious Hokage can't save you from that charge."

"Our word, your corpse." Sakura's grin was skeletal. "And Hanabi will just not be _here_ tonight. Scream politics all you want but you're still not going to win. Leave here Hiashi, I only give you this option because your death now would be…inconvenient to me."

Hiashi leapt the gap. He'd made his choice.

A flash of yellow light sizzled through the air and Naruto was between them and kicking Hiashi back to the original roof. In seconds his Hirashin had activated again and three more Hyuga were bloody ribbons across the city.

Sasuke pushed her behind him. "I'll be right back." A lighting storm ignited around his body and he launched himself into the fray. A live current of electricity followed him with a flickering blue light, and before a Hyuga could put up a defense he was paralyzed by the leading lighting and cut through his abdomen. Using his momentum Sasuke planted his feet and continued to swing his scythe in a wide arc, paralyzing two more men in the electrical charge before slicing them.

Sakura leapt down. There were few enemies left and before her jutsu could even coalesce Hiashi had a kaiten formed and spinning. The jinchuuriki smirked and her chakra spiraled out, staining the wind red with her chakra. It hit the kaiten like a tidal wave, grinding backwards and disrupting his technique.

The last two living Hyuga not her father were caught in the backwash and immolated. Sakura had crossed the space between in seconds. Her father's jyuken was second to none but Sakura wove around it grinning and her chakra seared him every step of the way. He blocked her next punch only to scream as her chakra flash fried his skin. His concentration was broken and Sakura's next kick laid him out. Hiashi bounced twice before skidding to a halt. He nearly rolled off the roof and Hanabi sort of wished he had.

Naruto had retreated, Sasuke was back with her and Hanabi clung to his back. She wasn't sure, but she thought she might be about to witness her father's slow murder by the hellish red light of Sakura's chakra.

"I should do this…" Sakura murmured. "But killing you now would be so inconvenient."

Hiashi stumbled up and his face was twisted by some unspeakable rage.

The sound of someone slowly clapping froze them all. Sakura spun and glared a roof over.

Undertakers sat in the moonlight like overgrown and restless birds, and they dotted the roofs. Zabuza was illuminated by the hell-light of Sakura's chakra and his grin was feral. He was the one clapping. "I didn't think you had that much kindness left in you, brat."

If Hanabi had been clinging to Sasuke before she was now trying to meld into him. Sasuke made a sound that sounded like a growl and he reached around for her and pressed her into his chest and hid her under his arms. She greatly appreciated that.

The killing intent saturating the air was crushing her lungs closed.

"My humanity or lacking thereof is none of your concern Mizukage-_dono_." Sakura drawled. "You should leave here, you're making this even more inconvenient than it already is and I _hate_ inconvenience."

If Sakura was calm, Hanabi thought maybe they wouldn't die in the next ten minutes.

Haku emerged into the moonlight by her master's side. Ice and winter and unfathomable. "Zabuza-sama."

The Kage snorted. "I know Haku, but I wanted to come see the Kyuubi no Kitsune in action."

Naruto shouted. "She's not the Kyuubi you dumb fuc—"

"Naruto!" Sakura's voice cracked like a whip. He fell silent.

Zabuza chuckled. "On a short leash aren't you Uzumaki?"

Sakura headed that off. "You know very well showing up means I have to cut my play short. And you should also know if I really was the Kyuubi you'd be a fucking _burn_ on the ground right now for interrupting."

Hiashi, silent until now, roared. "I won't be ignored by yo—"

Steel hit bone and Hiashi was out cold on the roof, smashed across the back of the head by the flat of Sakura's katana. Red chakra boiled across her and she seemed to seethe in it for a moment. Mourning a murder lost, maybe.

She couldn't kill a clan head in front of a Kage, not with Hanabi there in plain view.

Undercurrents of sarcasm prickled through Sakura's voice. "Any other reason you're joining us tonight Mizukage-dono?"

Zabuza just let his grin widen, mocking her. "I have my reasons. Your ANBU will be here in minutes, do you think we should adjourn this to someplace less incriminating?"

"Blackmail?" Sakura cooed dangerously. "You play rough. Should I be worried about you taking us to someplace quiet and dark to slit our throats?"

"I wouldn't put that much effort into it." He raised his eyebrows. "Coming?"

Sakura nodded grudgingly. "Fine." They couldn't stay here and Zabuza had leverage on them at the moment. Sasuke picked Hanabi up and she felt her heart in her throat. Fear and something else, maybe. They were walking into the lion's den but after seeing what Sakura had done on this roof, Hanabi wasn't entirely blinded by terror.

As they followed Zabuza the Undertakers fell on the corpses like crows. By the time the ANBU got there all signs of battle would be gone.

Hiashi would be left alive halfway across the city in a trash strewn alley.

Tonight the Death Squad would trade secrets for lies and though Hanabi wouldn't know it, it would all be for her sake.

**Konoha, 11****th**** floor Dragon's Hotel, Mizukage's Suite **

Secrets for lies. Their truths for Zabuza's cover-up and provided alibi. There was bourbon and whiskey and vodka to loosen their tongues, and good food and better company to put them at ease. Zabuza knew how to run an interrogation-but-not-interrogation astoundingly well, and here Sakura had thought he was only a meathead good for killing things.

No one would know what had happened tonight as long as Sakura spilled the stories of their lives. Black operations and jinchuuriki whispers and political undercurrents hidden beneath her village's veneer. Sakura parted with all of them.

Hanabi had to be kept safe and the killing of a dozen Hyuga kept quiet.

The specifics of being a jinchuuriki wasn't the worse thing to give up, and any weaknesses they dug for Sakura cheerfully explained would only come when she was high and fucking _losing her mind and dying_ on the Kyuubi's chakra. And anyone involved in that kind of situation would be dead including her.

The Black operations were harder to part with but she only gave the ones they'd done themselves in Kiri's borders. She would say no more about their other exploits in Iwa or Kumo or their own country, and Zabuza only pressed a few times before realizing even some prices were too high.

Then she'd had to explain why they had killed Hyuga tonight and had one of their heiresses hidden away. Sakura had to explain about political rot and clan control, about Danzou plotting and the council being subversive, about lines being drawn in the sand and sides polarizing and Sakura being right in the middle of it.

It was the unvarnished and raw truth of her village, and Zabuza couldn't have paid for or sent a thousand spies to find out. Sakura had laid it out bluntly and dropped it right in his lap, it was a new breed of treason she'd never tried out.

Naruto only balked a little and Sasuke didn't care at all. Konoha meant nothing to him and Hanabi knew this was all over her head and kept her mouth shut.

Sakura took another drink of vodka and let it burn down. She kept pretending she was drunk. She had an entire bottle down and was stone cold sober, and for the first time thankful the Kyuubi always kept her that way. Zabuza thought she was inching out of her mind and anything she said he was far more willing to accept as loose-tounged truth. Naruto had already drunken himself into a stupor just so he wouldn't have to listen to this small betrayal of their village.

Sasuke nursed his own drink and seemed intent on staying this side of sober. Hanabi was sleepily curled against his side and putting down a tray of food at her elbow.

Sakura looked at them all and felt oddly out of sorts, both fond of them and yet they were alien to her. It was a small betrayal for themselves and Hanabi. Sakura had done things like this before just for herself and the Kyuubi. It should have been easy.

"And there you have it." She lifted her bottle drunkenly in the Kiri ninja's direction. "Still going to go into that summit tomorrow all eager to be our ally?"

"Yes." Zabuza answered bluntly.

Inwardly Sakura relaxed, she'd feared this would destroy the peace Tsunade was trying to fashion between their three villages.

Sakura took another swig. "Why?"

"Like Kumo and Iwa would have given us the fucking time of day." Zabuza rolled his eyes. "We would have been invaded within a week. You Konoha ninja are so wrapped up in your own problems and trying to maintain your good guy image we didn't have to worry about that from you."

Haku toyed with a glass of wine and the delicate glass stem frosted under her fingers. "We knew you were here Sakura." Zabuza glared at his companion and Haku just shrugged.

Sakura had no idea what that meant. "Going to explain that?"

Zabuza huffed and Haku twirled her glass and looked Sakura dead in the eye. "Your power was stunning as a child, and any alliance that would have you on our side is an alliance well made. And all of that was before we even knew what kind of monster you'd grown into."

Sakura tried not to preen too much. "Of course." Her eyes turned dark and the drunken slur slipped from her voice. "You have your answers, what do you have for us in return?"

Secrets for lies.

Zabuza poured himself a generous few fingers of bourbon and knocked it back. "My men disposed of those Hyuga bodies and your ANBU will find nothing. And if any questions come up about tonight you have the Mizukage willing to say you were in my suite drinking yourselves stupid since six last night. That alibi good enough for ya brat?"

She nodded. "Peachy." Another shot of vodka. Her stomach hurt from all this.

"Good." Zabuza agreed. "Now I'm far too sober for this shit."

The drinking continued and the night wore on. Sasuke fell asleep on the couch pleasantly buzzed with Hanabi nestled into his side. Naruto was completely and utterly out of his mind drunk and had passed out an hour in.

Zabuza and his trusty bourbon were out cold on the king bed in the other room. His snores could be heard by the only two left awake: a still sober Sakura and morose Haku. The two women stared at each other, Haku still flickering that delicate wine glass and Sakura clutching her thick glass bottle.

She had always been an unrefined monster even after Jiraiya had gone through the trouble of teaching her all ways of courtly manners and royal behavior. Sakura could have taken the wine and glass and been womanly and demure and mysterious tonight, but this uneasy deal had called for something different. She had to be raw and open and just a touch out of control if she wanted to get through it. Some of it was acting and some of it wasn't. The vodka fit a bit too easily in her hand.

The juxtaposition created an uneasy silence. When it got to be too much Sakura and the bottle went out to the balcony. Haku didn't seem to get the memo and came with her.

Sakura sighed and pulled herself on the railing and tilted her head back to stare at the half moon. She drank, feeling sloppy and out of sorts and maybe _almost _drunk. This wasn't part of any plan, part of any purpose, it was a stupid deal she'd been cornered into and here she was still in Zabuza's room drinking his booze after selling her secrets for silence.

The moon was so bright tonight.

"Sakura..." Haku's voice pulled her back.

She kept her eyes fixed on the moon. "Yes?"

Haku set the wine glass down. "This could be considered treason to your village, what you did here tonight."

"So?" Sakura snapped. Stupid obvious statements deserved equally stupid replies.

Haku brushed off her irritation like it wasn't there at all. "Why did you do it? It wasn't just to save your own skin so _why_ are you fighting and lying?"

The question became clearer and it was something Sakura had asked herself out on that moon drenched roof. "What I gave you tonight could hurt me maybe, hurt our village sure, but more everyone else than the Hokage and I know Zabuza wanted that Op information for something a bit more substantial than blackmail."

"Cost versus benefit." Haku laughed and it sounded like breaking glass. "How shinobi of you."

Sakura felt almost annoyed by that and she blurted. "I did it because I love them. Naruto and Sasuke are kinda like brothers to me. And Hanabi is…something to Sasuke now. That girl is the little sister of my dearest friend and she asked me to watch out for her. If we had ANBU come up on that slaughter even if we got Hanabi hidden, the village would be screaming for my blood. Naruto would die to protect me out of choice and Sasuke…well, the bond we have means I drag him down to hell with me."

Sakura and Naruto and Sasuke and Hanabi. It was an almost-there family. Sure, she done this deal because the Kyuubi's plan necessitated her not dying but that had only been an afterthought this time. She had not thought of the Kyuubi at all as she calculated the blackmail and considered the options and felt her heart clench at the thought of losing them.

Haku swallowed. "I'm sorry. I see you're…you're much more than I expected."

"I'm a little more than a monster." Sakura dropped her eyes and they were jade frosted by silver and shot through by crimson. "But that sometimes makes me just worse monster down the line. The things I'd do for them…"

Haku raised her chin in defiance. "Protecting someone you love will give you strength. One can never become truly strong without something to protect."

"Protecting someone…hurting them…hurting others just to protect them. Sure. Maybe." Sakura tipped the vodka back and drank until it felt like fire. She didn't want to think about this. The lines between her friends and pawns and love and manipulation…

"I fight by Zabuza's side because I…" Haku looked away for a long moment but when she looked back her eyes were steeled. "When I was a child I had a mother and a father, but my mother and I had bloodlines that were feared and hated. My father found out and killed my mother and then I killed him. After that day I hid and pretended to be a boy just so people wouldn't look at me. I was unnecessary and trash and _nothing_. I had power and no use but then…Zabuza-sama came."

Sakura knew this story, knew it like her own. Misery and loss and aching listless, being lost until a path to salvation came smeared in blood. Haku had Zabuza, Sakura had the Kyuubi. The same story with different players and the same end.

Haku moved in and her soft fingers touched Sakura's arm. Haku felt like winter. "We went on missions all the time scrounging up money so he could return and take his village back. Then we met you and Zabuza-sama realized there were bigger monsters out there in the dark than him. We spent a year in isolation training, it…changed him. But after that we could take missions that paid for kingdoms and then he returned home. I protected him with my life while he risked it to save Kiri. His dream was mine."

"What if the dream you have isn't your own?" Sakura murmured. "What if it belongs to another and you love them, and yet you have so many other people you love who could be hurt by this dream? What if you couldn't protect them all?" The words were out before Sakura even really thought about them and considered what they meant.

Doubt. Doubting the Kyuubi, doubting the plan. The vodka was going to her head.

"Have faith." Haku kissed her forehead. It felt like a blessing sealed in frost.

Have faith. Sakura closed her eyes and thought of red fur and crimson chakra and moonlight. The warmth of those memories caressed her and the doubt faded. It was all right to doubt, reaffirming it just made her stronger.

"Living for a dream or protecting others…yeah. I guess you could say that about me. So how did you manage those years before someone gave you their dream?" Sakura asked and the bottle rested cold between her knees.

Haku looked at her sadly. "Hope."

Sakura laughed cruelly. "You're not the monster I am. Hope, god, you had hope? Spite. Those years were all for spite." And she threw her head back and laughed harder.

What the hell was she drunk on? It wasn't the vodka.

Haku grabbed her hands and dragged her back. There was something almost warm in her. "Tell me."

So Sakura did. "The first five years of my life I lived out of spite. I didn't know I was a jinchuuriki but the village did. I cannot even count the ways they tried to kill me back then. I lived at an orphanage those first few years…that was before the Kyuubi started fucking with my head and made me older than any five year old should be. I had my own dream back then, get adopted, have a mom and dad, be happy." A dream she had never told anyone. A dead dream.

Haku looked pained just listening and Sakura wanted to make this woman _bleed_ with words. Haku wanted to know so she could have it all. Even the things Sakura had never told anyone.

Sakura's face cracked open, slashed by a bitter grin. "But you know: jinchuuriki and all. The staff there locked me up whenever families came through and said no one could want me. Hell, I think they just hoped that someday I would just crawl into a corner and die. So to spite them I lived. I lived and breathed and watched them hate me. I had to get my sick pleasures somewhere."

The horror and pain dredged up in Haku's eyes didn't stop her. For some reason it made Sakura want to pour out the sheer _poison_ that had been crusted inside these wounds for so long.

"The spite wasn't always strong enough though. I didn't understand what it was to die, what it was to not be _anything _but…" Sakura tilted her head and she was washed in moonlight. "When I was three I thought I might be able to sleep forever if I bled enough. There was fieldtrip for the children and I was left behind. I wandered into the kitchen thinking sleeping must be better than spite and I took a knife and split myself open."

Her chuckling sounded like the rattling of bone. "I couldn't even manage killing myself right. I just laid there bleeding for hours until the Kyuubi closed me up and I mopped up the blood and went on my way. I could have died and…I just didn't care enough to understand that."

Tears slid down Haku's face and they looked like molten silver. Sakura wondered if they tasted like ice, she wondered if they burned and left scars behind. She was drunk on something and it wasn't vodka.

Haku reached for the bottle Sakura had between her knees and the younger girl let it go. Haku took it and drank three deep swallows and coughed. "Fuck."

Sakura hummed a lazy agreement. Her wounds were festering but it was like finally exposing to the air something that had been burning for years.

"It gets better." Haku murmured.

"I know." Sakura let her have the bottle. She didn't need it and everything in her cleared and crystallized. "I was given a dream, a purpose maybe. I found friends, found a lover, found a leader I could believe in, found people I'd sell my village out for. It's…better than I could have hoped for."

"I'm happy for you." The older girl slumped. "I'm sorry. I still owe you that promise and I let Zabuza-sama blackmail you."

"Listening to me tonight was repayment. Crying for me…" Sakura swallowed. "That was more than enough. And you know…"

Sakura looked at the other kunoichi intently and Haku felt her soul being peeled apart. Sakura nodded once. "You can do more than die for him Haku, you can _love_ him too, and not just from afar."

Haku looked at her for a long moment, cheeks flushed and eyes sharp. "You were never drunk tonight."

Sakura's lips pulled into a wound of a grin. "Not even on the poisons I want to be."

It would be hours before either of them went back inside to sleep, and Haku passed her the bottle. It wasn't healing but it was a start.

* * *

Edit: This chapter had some deep content change, first the conference room scene with Tsunade and Jiraiya was toned down and made far more serious, also Tsunade is deeply troubled by Orochimaru still being out there instead of flippant, and last Jiraiya and Tsunade originally flirting was cut out of the scene (to just their usual playful banter) since nothing ever came of it. The meeting between Danzou and Hiashi became much more sinister and the logic of their actions more laid out. Hanabi got more screen time and character building, and the mission to the bathhouse was cleaned up to run smoother.

Biggest change this chapter as made in Sakura and company running in to Zabuza during the Hyuga fight. Instead of it being random and Zabuza being unreasonably helpful, there was blackmail involved and Zabuza being a complete bastard. Also, there was a good reason given for why Sakura didn't kill Hiashi this time and the politics were laid out so they actually made coherent sense.

Last, the entire scene in the hotel was rewritten to be more "messy" in the sense that Sakura was not entirely in control of the situation and her emotions were acting up, and also: booze. The angsty balcony scence was redone with Haku and…well, it became even darker and more fucked up in the process.


	19. Home

Disclaimer

: I could claim that I owned Naruto, but since I have a deathly fear of lawyers I won't claim anything. Ever.

* * *

**Mizukage's Suite****, 2:19 AM**

Naruto had been drunk but he hadn't been that drunk. He'd been avoiding the shame of them selling out but more than that, he'd been avoiding that Sakura could make the hard and ugly and treacherous decisions while he got himself stupid on whiskey.

He laid silently in the shadow of the wall, head buzzing, just out of reach of the frosted moonlight through the doorway. He was crying maybe, but this time he was too drunk to be sure.

He had heard every word exchanged between Haku and Sakura. Every. One.

The most he'd known about Sakura's childhood before now was her declaration that it sucked and that she never wanted to talk about it again. He'd left it there because that's what she wanted but then why…why was Haku fine to share it with?

What did he lack? Did she think he'd love her less just for knowing?

His head buzzed like flecks of light were ricocheting around inside his skull. His chest felt worse, like a red hot knife had been jammed between his ribs and was being twisted tight.

Sakura's life had been messy and ugly and all for a village that couldn't tell the difference between a vessel and what it carried. The betrayal they'd done tonight to Konoha suddenly stung less. He was beginning to see why Sakura could so easily make the hard decisions. Why she was so intent to protect their little unit over everything else.

His head buzzed. He hadn't been that drunk, except that he was. The tears felt gritty on his face and his eyelids were heavy. He'd sleep and maybe he'd forget.

Maybe he wouldn't.

And Naruto didn't know which was worse.

**6:41 AM**

Hanabi's eyes slid open slowly and she blinked for a long time before sitting up on the plush couch. She rubbed her face and looked around, the room was large and opulent and sunlight poured through the windows in red hot slivers. It made the white carpets and glass tables glow like ruby infused prisms.

Waking up without any idea of where she was surrounded by people sleeping off hangovers, would have been laughable a few months ago. Now it was just a logical progression of events. Her life had changed drastically since she'd begun staying with Sasuke. She had learned how to fight on a higher level, had shrugged off her Hyuga persona as fast as she was able, had found herself becoming comfortable with the fact she had made mistakes and didn't have much, and had sacrificed power for simpler life.

But what she did have was priceless.

Before she'd always had to act like the perfect Hyuga: demure, untouchable, powerful. There was never any moment for weakness or doubt or even a little indulgence, and someone was always watching for when she slipped up.

And now she was…Hanabi, just Hanabi. Nothing more and nothing less and she was okay with what that meant.

This deliciously warm, sluggish contemplation came to a screeching halt. Her family had tried to bring her back and she had killed to escape that. Someone had died because of her, someone who had lived in the same house and walked the same streets and had the same blood as her.

Hanabi was a kin murderer. Fratricide. The highest sin.

She curled up on herself and there was bile in the back of her throat and soon her entire body was shaking. Someone grabbed her by the shoulders and hauled her up, and she was a trembling wreck as Sasuke righted himself and dropped her in his lap.

She put her face in his shoulder. He smelled like iron and winter still, maybe some bourbon, and it was comforting.

If her father could see her now: falling asleep next to a guy five years her senior, on a couch in a hotel she didn't know the name of, surrounded by empty bottles of liquor. She suppressed the sudden urge to giggle manically.

Sasuke rubbed her back. "Are you sick?"

Her tongue felt uncomfortably dry. "No. I'm okay."

"You're about to vibrate out of your skin." He paused. "You didn't get into the vodka, did you?"

She choked on that before laughing weakly. "No, I didn't, I just…" She didn't know what to say.

"Not that then. Was it us selling state secrets last night?" There was the faintest of smirks on his lips when he said it. He was joking with her.

She wanted to meld herself into his body so they could stay like that forever. She smiled softly and her eyes fluttered closed. "No. I've already betrayed everything I believed in, one more for the road won't hurt."

He snorted and she felt a jolt of warmth deep in her.

His hand landed on her head and he smoothed her hair for awhile. "You didn't clean your blades last night. One of them had dried blood from tip to hilt, that doesn't come from you just nicking somebody."

Her stomach sank and she looked over to where her weapons had been scattered on the floor. Dried blood had flaked over the pristine carpets and there it was: the incriminating weapon. She wondered if he could just smell it.

"I…" She swallowed and her throat burned. "I killed someone yesterday."

He sighed. "First blood then?"

She nodded against his hand. "Yeah. But it was…one of my family. Fratricide. I can't…can't ever go back there now even if I wanted to. And I don't feel…I just feel sick but I don't feel..."

"Bad." He finished for her. She was glad that he did.

"Let me tell you about my first kill." He settled her against his chest and the raspy thrum of his voice went through her. "It was chaotic. Sakura got our squad out of the village on some routine wet work on bandits in the area. We were ambushed before we even got to their camp. They'd banded together apparently, a hundred guys give or take. The first guy smelled like cigarettes and he was right on me and I just put chakra on my hand and ripped into his throat."

He flexed his hand as if remembering the blood. "It felt slick, the blood came out with his heartbeat and I could feel his vocal cords when he—I barely had time to get my hand out before the next guy was on me. The ground got slick and I couldn't move anywhere for the next hour without tripping on a body. Naruto was shouting and Sakura was just ripping and tearing and _laughing_…"

He flexed his hand one last time. Hanabi reached up gently and took his hand in hers. He let her. "It all happened so fast I didn't feel much of anything. We even stopped on the way back so Sakura could buy us a round of sake for 'breaking me in'. Just because you don't feel how people say you should doesn't mean there's something wrong with you."

Hanabi closed her eyes and tried to picture it, a battlefield strewn with bodies and saturated with blood. For some reason that made the bile in her throat vanish.

"Thanks." She whispered.

"No problem." The hand in her hair dropped into her lap so she was now holding both. His fingers were so much longer than hers and he engulfed her hands. They stayed like that for what felt like hours.

Naruto stirred and Sakura strode into the room. Neither Haku nor Zabuza were anywhere in sight.

The jinchuuriki beckoned. "Come on, we have to get back to the apartments and clean up."

They rose and gathered their weapons. Naruto was up, rubbing his head and sliding open the door to the balcony.

Hanabi nearly jumped out of her skin when a voice spoke behind her. "Leaving already?"

It was Haku. Hanabi had to stop her heart from coming out of her chest.

"We still have jobs to do." Naruto answered brusquely, snaking an arm around Sakura's waist. The jinchuuriki looked at her boyfriend oddly but said nothing.

Haku just nodded and gestured to the city below. "Then I won't keep you. I expect we'll see each other again at the banquet closing the summit. It was…pleasant to see you all again."

Naruto snorted and Sakura shot him another strange look. Sasuke just shrugged and hauled Hanabi up and then they were on and off the balcony. The free fall sent the damp morning air scouring into her lungs and Hanabi had to fight down a cheer.

It was too early in the morning for that, but right now she was free and alive and Hanabi couldn't ask for anything else.

**Forrest, Five Miles From Oto/Konoha Border**

Far away another Konoha shinobi was jumping, only pausing to land on another tree branch before propelling himself forward again. The mask on his face showed milky white in the sunrise and the occasional crinkling of paper could be heard between his vest and skin.

He stopped on one branch and tugged his chest plate tighter. The envelop beneath was still safely secured and he crouched down for another chakra enhanced jump.

The ninja didn't like doing a mission of such magnitude alone, but at the moment there was no one else to spare without raising suspicion. ROOT was stretched too thin after the sheer disaster that had been the Hyuga operation last night. It had failed spectacularly and the ensuing cover-up had taken all of his master's considerable resources. The agent known as Sai had been forced to make this journey alone. He was running headlong to see Orochimaru hoping the information this envelop contained on Konoha ANBU would...satisfy the madman's appetite for Intel.

It was all and all not his most favorite mission to date, but it would get done.

His head snapped up and he looked from side to side hastily. For the barest of moments he could have sworn he'd felt…but he extended his senses and nothing was there. Something whistled in the air and with a dull thud a clay bird lodged at his feet.

His eyes widened and it was a fraction too late. The bird was not clay but highly packed C4. It exploded and punched him with the force of a meteor.

He flipped back and smelled his own charred hair and skin. Some of his ribs floated loosely and before he even landed another slew of birds came at him.

In the split second before they reached him Sai whipped out a scroll and pressed chakra into the ink . The shapes and ink shuddered and tore themselves off the paper. The lines took the form of tigers and both beasts gave roars and leapt. One immediately sacrificed itself blocking the birds and it was blown into a shower of black ink.

The other tiger twisted out of the way and continued to charge. Whatever happened to his last ink tiger Sai would never know, beacuse at that moment something hard and heavy caught him in the back and peeled away a layer of skin. He plummeted to the ground and only managed to right himself just before landing on his head.

Blood flowed down his hands and onto the ground mixing with the ink already there. He looked up just in time to see a huge sword coming for his chest. Its bindings were loose and the steel underneath glittered like scales.

He tucked and rolled and the sword crashed to the ground instead. Sai ran his hand along the stained pages and a katana with a blade black as night rushed into his hand from the ink. Just in time for him to block the sword again.

He shuddered in mute surprise when another blade stabbed him in the back. Blood dribbled out of the wound and it soon poured. He slipped down and the blade with scales and his second attacker, a puppet, retreated. A pair of sandaled feet walked into his fading vision.

A voice deeper and colder than the ocean spoke. "Look up."

Sai did. The man wore a black robe with garish red designs, clouds. Akatsuki.

The man was Uchiha Itachi and his eyes were already crimson with his Sharingan. The comma marks turned to blades and began to spin, and as Sai plunged down into them he knew his life had come to an end.

Five minutes later Sai's prediction came true and his dead body hit the ground.

Kisame grinned like razors. "You take all the fun out Itachi; you could have let me drag it out just a bit longer and let my sword peel him apart."

Itachi glanced over and Kisame just kept grinning.

The other members of their group rolled their eyes. Sasori stared at them blankly. "Stop bitching. What did you get from him Itachi?"

Deidara interrupted. "We better have gotten something; I didn't even get the chance to blow that sucker up."

Itachi looked between them as if he couldn't decide which of them to murder slowly first. He rasped. "In two weeks the target you've been assigned will be leaving Konoha. If this is done right the second target can be drawn out once the first is taken."

"I like it." Kisame chuckled. "All this observing crap will be done and I can finally get another taste of that pretty monster's chakra. How do you think she looks now Itachi? She was good at thirteen already…"

Itachi's killing intent crawled across the clearing, thick as hot ash and it burrowed under their skin. All three other shivered and even Kisame seemed uneasy. Itachi spoke like he hadn't heard. "You know what has to be done, don't mess up."

"Right." Sasori answered and gathered his puppet up. "Come on Deidara."

The blonde Akatsuki member grinned and threw a bomb down, in a burst of smoke both were gone. Deidara always had to make dramatic exits. Always.

Kisame snorted and slung his sword across his back. "I really can't wait to see her Itachi, you know that."

Itachi didn't answer again and just vanished.

Kisame sighed and turned to set the body on fire. When the blaze finally burned out all that would be left were ashes. No one would realize Sai was dead for another three weeks.

**Aburame Compound, Two Weeks Later**

Hinata hummed tunelessly as she glided down the walkway. To every member of the Aburame who went past she inclined her head respectively and smiled. All of them bowed and some even smiled back.

If she had done this with her family she would have gotten glares. Being respectful was always required, it was not a gift she gave but a demand her family had taken. With the Aburame any respect was tempered in love and deovtion, and most of all deeply appreciated. It was different here and Hinata never wanted to leave. She had liked the months she'd spent here; everyone was exceedingly kind to her and treated her like she was already family. The gardens were large and the halls quietly peaceful, and the silence did not come from fear and disgust but warmth and calm.

Sometimes she got stir crazy but she always reminded herself this wouldn't last forever. Someday her father would be held accountable for his actions and all Hyuga would be free, including her. Though if it took long enough she might be Aburame before that happened.

It was an oddly pleasant thought.

She rounded a corner and ran straight into the love of her life. Shino held out his arm to her and she wrapped herself around it gratefully and rested her head on his shoulder. Together, they continued her walk and Hinata let out a contented sigh.

She had a home filled with kind people and a man who loved her. She couldn't have asked for anything more.

Her small smile widened as she came up to the gate. "Sakura! What are you doing here?"

"I was…" Sakura paused. "Kidnapped."

Hinata hugged her anyways and then turned to see Ino tugging her little sister into the courtyard. Hanabi looked mutinous.

"Sister." Hinata called out softly. They had not been able to see each other since their escape from the Hyuga compound and Hinata was hesitant. Her position was too fixed and wherever Hanabi had been holed up, it had been kept tightlipped by all involved. She hoped some of that closeness they'd managed to reach that terrifying night hadn't faded.

Hanabi immediately stopped upon seeing her older sister. A thousand emotions flew openly across her little sister's face and it nearly took Hinata's breath away. Hanabi had _never_ been this open at the compound.

The emotion Hanabi finally settled on was warm cheer. "Sister." She returned.

The hug was quick and not that close, but Hinata was all right with that. She had plenty of time to build the relationship she'd always wanted with her sister.

Hinata turned back to her two friends. "Now what is this I hear about kidnapping?"

Ino whistled innocently and Sakura shook her head. "Nothing Hinata. How have you been?"

She'd at least been able to see Sakura every week carrying news of her sister and the village, so their reunion wasn't quite as emotional. "Good. Really good. I think…" She smiled up at Shino and even beneath his collar, she could tell he was smiling back. "Better than I've ever been."

Ino cooed, her little sister made faces, and Sakura just smiled.

Ino clapped her hands. "Okay, everyone ready to go shopping? We need some stunning kimonos for this banquet. This is the biggest thing since—"

"We get it Ino." Hinata interrupted gently. "Let me get my guard and we can go. Shino?"

"I'll muddle through somehow." He kissed her forehead and motioned for her guard. Five Aburame stepped up to accompany them. "Be careful."

Sakura was more than enough protection if a fight broke out, but the Aburame being there was its own political buffer. It was one thing to attack the jinchuuriki and have it muddled with the heiresses, but five Aburame in the way would put a damper on that.

They made their way out to the village and Hinata breathed in and reveled in being outside compound walls. She didn't notice Sakura hanging back and watching them with a sad smile.

The date was October 10th but Sakura refused to celebrate her birthday. There were far too many terrible memories attached to this day, and the banquet had been carefully scheduled to coincide with the eve of the largest festival in Konoha.

The day the Kyuubi was defeated.

It filled Sakura's heart with loathing.

An unearthly growl rolled through the back of her head like fog. It was followed by the gnashing of teeth and a deep voice whispering in her ear. _They won't celebrate this day much longer my darling jinchuuriki, their joy will be blood and ashes in their mouth. Everything you touch will become of death and their bones will be your kingdom. Just remember what we're reaching for._

The Kyuubi had been dug deep in her subconscious for some time now, and this was the first time in months he'd spoken to her in the raw light of day.

She wrapped his presence around her like a shroud. "And your will be done."

His cackling rang in her ears and her sad smile turned cruel.

**Commercial District, House of Silk, 2:11 PM**

"Are you sure about this Sakura?" Hinata asked slowly.

"You mean that kimono? Well it's a bit low cut but…" Sakura looked at her friend's solemn face and trailed off. "You mean bringing Hanabi. Right." She was sort of disappointed.

"It's just…" Hinata let the sample flutter back on the rack. "Everyone will be at that banquet tonight including our father. You've been hiding Hanabi for months now, is it…wise to bring her into the open like this?"

Sakura checked over her shoulder to where Ino was using Hanabi as a dress up doll. Both were out of earshot.

The jinchuuriki sighed. "Like you said: everyone will be there. We'll show up in a massive group and no one will really know which of us brought Hanabi. Besides, your father can't do anything with three Kage's and half the Daimyo's court _and_ the Daimyo being right there. Your sister is getting stir crazy and I'm not going to keep her locked up like your old family would have."

Hinata brushed Sakura's arm and linked their fingers.

Sakura felt warm all over and her hand buzzed at the contact. Even after all these years her devotion to Hinata and Hinata's devotion back still stunned her. She stumbled over her own tongue. "Uh, yeah. Hanabi…well let's say there was an incident a few weeks back where she proved she'd rather die than go back and be Hyuga. Your sister is out and wants to stay out, and I'll do whatever needs to be done to keep it that way."

Hinata kissed her cheek "Thank you."

As far as birthdays went this was pretty okay. Scratch that. Pretty awesome. "It's nothing." She shot her friend a sly look. "Now less worrying. How about we get you in the lowest cut kimono in this store?"

Hinata's scandalized glare was priceless.

**Hokage Tower, 6:18 PM**

Naruto leaned against the building more irritated than he'd been in…maybe a week. It wasn't saying much, but after spending a few hours with Jiraiya, Sasuke, Chouji, and Shikamaru shopping for clothes for a large dinner with a bunch of politicians; being allowed to bitch wasn't too much to ask for.

Not to mention Jiraiya had stopped at two different bathhouses to research along the way, and before the clothes-finding-fiasco had even started Ino had showed up at their apartment that morning and whisked Sakura away without even a by-your-leave.

He let out a sigh and stared at the lamps strung along the streets. Most were beginning to flicker on as the festival kicked into full gear. People flooded the streets dressed in every kind of costume and kimono imaginable and the smell of sizzling meat was heavy on the air.

Naruto had not celebrated either his birthday or the Defeat of the Kyuubi since he was thirteen. There were too many bad memories attached to this day, most of them Sakura's.

Shikamaru pushed off the building. "My girl's here. Later."

Temari, brought along in her younger brother's massive entourage was stunningly decadent in an orange kimono the color of burnt hibiscus. For a proudly coarse Kunoichi of Suna, she certainly cleaned up well.

Shikamaru slid into the group and greeted her with a kiss. Temari molded herself to his side and Shikamaru had to put up with Kankuro's ribbing as they entered the Tower.

Naruto followed them with his eyes and saw Tsunade moving up to greet her fellow Kage. If Temari was stunning Tsunade was breath taking. A dark amethyst kimono clung to her every curve and jewels of the same luster were clasped at her throat. That jewelry probably could have bought kingdoms, and her hair was impeccably swept back and her lips had been painted violet.

It was the most _together_ he'd ever seen his Hokage; Tsunade had really pulled out all the stops to impress this time.

Shizune stood at her mistress's side in a canary yellow kimono, lovely in a much more understated way, but unfortunately being in Tsunade's shadow made her almost invisible. Shizune didn't seem to mind.

Naruto looked away. He'd have to be schmoozing and small talking soon enough, but he'd stay in denial about it for a long as he could. He tugged at his sky blue haori and silently rolled his eyes. He hated dressing up.

His shifting around prompted an annoyed grunt from Sasuke. "You're not going to suffocate in it. Stop fidgeting."

"Shut up." Naruto grumbled, but he wasn't in much of a mood to argue.

the Uchiha smirked. "Scathing tonight, aren't we?"

Naruto wondered if he could spare the energy to strangle his teammate. Sasuke's smugness when Naruto decided not to, practically hummed between them. The blond was sure it was because Sasuke had a black haori on and could slip away at a moment's notice. The Uzumaki wasn't nearly as lucky or as camouflaged.

He closed his eyes and took a steadying breath, when he opened his eyes again he was relieved to see the Aburame coming down the street. A path was cleared for them quickly, out of fear or respect Naruto didn't care to know. Most of the men and women in the family were wearing kimonos of dark greens or earthen browns or ash grays, and Shino was no different robed in a deep forest green. But all the murmuring, tittering, and gossiping on the street wasn't for any of the Aburame: it was for the four women in the center of the group glittering like jeweled flowers.

The first woman was wrapped around Shino's arm and his fiancé. Hyuga Hinata was draped in a pale lavender kimono embossed with butterflies, and every sweep of cloth clung and dipped just enough to be called temptation. Her dark hair was tied high and she had glass butterflies and diamonds strung through her tresses.

Noble, graceful, beauty. Everything an heiress should be.

Hanabi was at her sister's right, but where her sister was dignified the younger girl was striking. A pale green kimono hung from her slender shoulders and it outlined how angular her body still was. The kimono's design was a swirl of black feathers trailing down, and the obi was gauzy silk of green and white and silver that trailed nearly to the ground. Her height had been raised by white sandals tied to her feet by green ribbons, and Naruto was sort of glad they'd given her extensive balance training just so she could stay upright in them.

A jewel bright clip; a silver shaped feather sharper than a blade, held her hair back. Her face was lined by vivid makeup, green shaded eyes, painted black lips, and her complexion so pale she was ghostly.

For the first time Naruto could see the woman Hanabi would grow into to, and on the principle of the matter he punched Sasuke in the side for it. Hard.

Sasuke hissed back at him. "The hell?"

Naruto turned back to the group and Ino caught his eye next. From a few feet over he could hear Chouji choking.

Ino was fire. Red high heels, a redder kimono, and her lips painted bloody. The back was low cut and every inch revealed flawless skin. Rubies were on her wrists and in her hair, and a single trail of silver and ruby hung from her throat.

The girl waltzed over to Chouji and it was like watching flame gliding. She then grabbed Chouji, kissed him soundly, and dragged him inside. The Akimichi spent the whole time smiling stupidly.

Naruto snorted. His eyes shifted sideways and suddenly he was the one struck dumb.

Whispers broke out across the street and the path being cleared for the Aburame only widened. It was all for Sakura.

She caught his eye and her wine-red lips pulled into a smile. Her kimono was midnight blue and stars and a crescent moon decorated the silk. It shimmered and rippled as if made of water. The slit on her garment flickered open to her thighs and it revealed the sandals she wore tied by black ribbons all the way to her knees.

Her eyes were lined with something smoky, and her hair was tied back in an elaborate knot held in by a jagged web of platinum and diamond.

As long as Naruto had known her, underneath the elegance there'd always been something raw about her, something wild that was waiting for the barest of excuses to come out. Whenever Jiraiya had made them dress formally for undercover operations, Sakura had scoffed and complained and seemed just a bit out of place.

She would have been happier in a flak jacket holding a kunai than in a kimono with a crown.

For the first time Naruto forgot his girlfriend was a kunoichi at all.

He tried not to stumble walking over to her but he had the feeling he looked like a complete idiot anyways. He heard Sasuke chuckle behind him and Naruto mentally noted to poison his teammate's coffee the next morning.

Sakura swayed over ignoring the stares and the whispers and the hate lingering on the air. Her smirk was half amusement and half seduction. "You like?"

His response was to grab her and kiss her. She melted into him but within ten seconds pushed him off. "You're going to run my makeup. We'll have fun later, I promise."

"I'll hold you to that." He rasped.

She fluttered her eyelashes. "Do I ever disappoint?"

"No." He wrapped his arm securely around her and wondered how easily he could get this kimono off. "Let's head in; I have a girlfriend to show off."

"Charming as usual." But she leaned into him anyways.

Neither of them said it, but this was the best birthday they'd ever had.

**Hokage Tower, Balcony, 9:20 PM**

Fireworks bursts exploded in the sky and bathed the crowds below in fiery red, bright yellow, and haunting green. With each new explosion the people gasped and applauded at the spectacle in the sky.

Sakura leaned on the railing of the terrace and watched the crowds below with disdain. She knew watching the villagers would do nothing for her mood and she slid up on the railing and looked back inside to the banquet. It wasn't much better than the people beneath her.

Stuffy council members from multiple villages were scattered across the room, each conniving and plotting for their own self advancement. Daimyo's and their courts were scattered and weaving their own political intrigue, and Sakura along with most of the woman had gotten their share of lecherous grins from them. There had always been some fascination the nobility had for kunoichi and Sakura had put up with her fair share of advances over the years. It had been nothing a little killing intent or Naruto flipping out hadn't fixed, but that didn't stop some new noble with a power complex from trying.

Every Lord wanted a deadly and blade-edged kunoichi to possess like a trophy. They were not the soft, courtly girls those men had grown up with but rare and deadly vipers. Those noble girls were well tended flowers, all colorful vibrance but depressingly uniform. Kunoichi were dessert flowers, rare and unique and so few of them made it through long enough to bloom. They were highly sought after, even if they were flowers rooted only in poison.

They may not have been as lovely and beautiful as those painted princesses, but there rarity lended them a certain mystique that far outstripped ordinary beauty.

The latest noble trying to catch her eye was a tall man in garish robes and Sakura studiously looked anywhere but him until he lost interest. Her eyes trailed and she spotted Sasuke by the far wall looking terribly disgruntled.

Then, ever so slightly, he smiled when Hanabi whispered something up to him.

Sakura had her suspicions about the two but so far she'd only seen Hanabi clinging and Sasuke occasionally carrying her around like she was invalid. And she'd seen the quiet laughter and the smiles, and their fingers brushing…

The jinchuuriki sighed and shifted sideways. She really shouldn't be prying but she was anyways.

The next group her eyes fell on were the Sarutobi family. The Sandaime was in a wheelchair chatting to the Daimyo. Sakura had not seen him in the Tower in years. She'd heard rumors about him having a falling out with Tsunade right after she became Hokage, but Tsunade wasn't talking and Sakura didn't press.

Asuma sat off to the side of his father fidgeting with a pack of cigarettes. Konohamaru was next to him looking murderous. Sakura had the feeling Konohamaru's patience wasn't built to withstand the intricacies and banality of political pleasantries.

Sakura wasn't sure even _her_ patience was up to that.

The next table over held Zabuza looking uncomfortable, fidgety, and perhaps just a touch bloodthirsty. Haku was at his shoulder wrapped in an icy white kimono and she was plastered to him and whispering in his ear. To anyone else they would have looked like lovers, but Sakura knew Haku was in the midst of talking Zabuza out of murdering everyone within twenty feet.

Sakura recognized the look; she had both been the person doing the soothing and the person who needed to be talked down more than once.

The same problem seemed to plague Gaara as well, and Sakura could practically see his daydreams of mass murder as a noble chattered his ear off. Sadly, Gaara was refraining from any violence and Sakura sort of wished he wouldn't.

This was just so…boring.

Her eyes slid over the many clans and she barely skimmed the Hyuga contingent bunched against the wall. They were all glaring at her, Hinata, and Hanabi respectively, and Sakura was luxuriating in them not being able to do a damn thing about it. Hiashi sent her a particularly withering glance and in return Sakura smirked and raised her flute of champagne. Maybe this banquet wasn't the worst thing to happen to her, not if she got to spend it mocking pretentious Hyuga.

She looked for her friends but Chouji and Ino were off somewhere no doubt making out, and the same seemed to go for Temari and Shikamaru. Both couples had vanished rather early and Sakura was _really_ trying not to be jealous.

She was here painted to perfection, tied tight in her kimono, hair swept back perfectly, and standing alone. The second Naruto had stepped in the hall he'd been swarmed by people wanting to talk to the son of the Yodaime. She'd been pushed aside in the melee, and though she not envy her boyfriend she had still wandered to the balcony to hide out and sulk.

So really, she had no one to blame but herself for being alone but she still wasn't going back in there.

Both Tsunade and Jiraiya breezed out onto the balcony, flushed and laughing. Sakura had a feeling they'd gotten into something harder than just champagne. Tsunade slid in next to her while Jiraiya wandered off to go chat up a Lord about the newest installment of his erotica masterpiece. Jiraiya's words, not hers.

The Hokage purred dangerously. "So when are you going to tell me about that little incident you had with the Hyuga?"

Sakura flinched. "I have no idea what you're talking about." Which was a lie, because she did.

Tsunade rolled her eyes. "Twelve Hyuga aren't accounted for and the Hyuga have been declaring accidents and missing person's reports and deaths with immediate cremations and then no ashes to show for it. What happened?"

Sakura sighed, she'd known they couldn't hide this forever but that didn't stop her from hoping. "Hiashi made an attempt on Hanabi and things got…messy. We killed a lot of people and our position was tenuous."

"And you hid this from me?" The older woman shot back coldly, and Sakura thought anger would have been preferable to this...calm.

The jinchuuriki heard the disappointment and her insides curled. Her voice went flat. "You needed deniability."

"Bullshit." The other woman snapped.

It was too much to ask for. Pity. Sakura took a deep breath. "We weren't the ones to dispose of the bodies."

Tsunade immediately pulled back, the chill in her eyes turning murky. "Who?"

There was no hiding it. "The Undertakers." She murmured.

Tsunade swore. "They came right in the middle of it? Of our own ninja killing each other?"

Her head dipped and it almost looked conciliatory, but Sakura was just hiding her eyes. "Yes. They saw Hanabi there, the dead Hyuga, us ripping into them. It was…well, Hiashi has claim on her but he's too busy hiding his own dirty secrets to bring her back lawfully, and we're only holding Hanabi by legal limbo. And with the Undertakers right _there_ I couldn't kill Hiashi to close the circle, it was as I said…tenuous."

"Good god." The Hokage covered her face. "When you guys fuckup you don't do it halfway, do you?"

Sakura sighed. "I'll admit things did not go smoothly. In our defense we couldn't have done anything differently. We were out on that mission and came into the middle of it and…" She trailed off in horrified realization.

"I was wondering how long it'd take you to figure it out." Tsunade smirked bitterly. "I knew the gist of the situation, so I back-traced that mission that had you guys conveniently away from Hanabi at just the right time, and then why my ANBU's patrol schedule left a giant blank in the residential district that night."

Her stomach plummeted. It was one thing to have the Hyuga out for their skins, but if they had that kind of support to slip a mission through the Hokage's office to just snare them and screw with the ANBU…

"Who helped them?" She hissed.

The champagne flute in Tsunade's hand glittered in the light from the fireworks. Tsunade's eyes were washed blue as she looked up. "Only one person could get a mission slipped by me like that. Danzou."

Sakura swore. "Son of a bitch. I take it there's not enough evidence to arrest him?"

Tsunade laughed bitterly. "Of course not. And even if we had the evidence what could we say? You have a Hyuga princess half-kidnapped, Hiashi broke a dozen laws trying to get her back under the radar and you killed people and broke a dozen laws back to stop it. Then we have Kiri ninja watching the whole thing and…fuck, Sakura. What did you pay them to keep quiet?"

This time Sakura did not wince. The lie was a necessary one, though it was one by omission. "Jinchuuriki secrets. They wanted my weaknesses and how I was made and where they could get one. They were rather disappointed to find out my only shortcomings are when I'm overdosing on the Kyuubi's chakra, having a psychotic break, and beating myself bloody and brain dead." She paused. "And not necessarily in that order."

The older woman's eyes darkened, honey and fractured amber. "Your seal. The mechanics…"

"I know what secrets to keep." She answered tightly. "Look, even I don't know how to break this seal open and if they want to call down the Death God they're welcome to it."

Tsunade massaged her forehead. "Jiraiya's still going to be pissed. I'm still pissed. Something like that getting out…"

"I handled it." She muttered sourly.

"I heard that." The Hokage bit back.

Sakura gritted her teeth and bowed her head. "Sorry. Why…why are you bringing this up now besides to tell me Danzou fucked us over and we can't do a damn thing about it?"

"I was waiting for you to come slinking back and tell me what happened." The Kage's fingers curled around the glass in her hand. Muscles and her knuckles arched, steel under flesh, and it was bone carved rigid. "Then I remembered your idiotic independent streak that makes you think you have to solve all your problems alone. Jiraiya heard whispers and we put most of it together. I'm telling you right now, watch your back and keep that little princess of yours in sight at all times. This isn't going to get better anytime soon."

"Duly noted." Sakura looked at her own hands, pale and delicate, and right then it was hard to remember she had ripped out men's throats with theses fingers. "I will…do better next time."

"I know you will." Tsunade murmured and the faith in her voice made Sakura cold.

This birthday had gone back to sucking again.

She swallowed. "Is there any chance that plan I suggested might help?"

"You mean making Hanabi a genin, stripping her family name, and emancipating her?" The other woman's eyebrows quirked mockingly.

"It sounded better in my head." Sakura objected.

The Kage sighed. "Unfortunately no. That just puts her back in legal terms Hiashi can get at. Legal limbo isn't a great place for her to be, but right now it's all we have."

This political quagmire was getting deeper and Sakura for once saw no way for them to climb back out. All they could do was watch and wait.

"We'll manage. I don't know how but I'll muddle us through this." She'd already sold her secrets for Zabuza's lies. For silence. This was easy by comparison.

They watched the fireworks silently and she spent the hush feeling disjointed. She couldn't stop screwing this up left and right and it was something she was doing entirely on her own. The Kyuubi cared nothing for this problem.

Sasuke tried to help because he cared for Hanabi in his own way, but he was politically crippled and could do no more than be a 24/7 bodyguard. Naruto was just being carried along by the insane momentum and not helping at all.

Her doubts sunk into her, slippery and chilled.

"No, _we'll_ muddle through." Tsunade corrected absently. "You're not doing this alone so stop obsessing."

And something in Sakura eased. Another firework bloomed overhead and it was thunder and radiance.

"So," Now was as good a time to change the subject as any. "No one's talking; how'd the summit end?"

Tsunade smirked victoriously. "Full-on military alliance and open trade agreements. We couldn't have asked for anything better. I'm announcing it at the close of the banquet tonight, consider it our high note."

Sakura gave the perfunctory complement, but it was softened by genuine warmth. "Congratulations my Lady."

"Thank you Sakura." Tsunade murmured and a rustle of amethyst caught the corner of Sakura's eye and she turned to it. Tsunade had reached over and she brushed her knuckles down Sakura's cheek, soft as a kiss. "I forgot to say it earlier. Happy birthday honey."

Sakura put down her glass, stared at the fireworks so tears wouldn't fall, and smiled.

**Hokage Tower, 10:49 PM**

Sakura was buzzing, her muscles were tightening, and her hands itching. She should have stayed for the close like a good little diplomat but somehow she found herself jumping back into the banquet and tracking Naruto down.

It took forty minutes, six nobles hitting on her, separating a catfight between the Daimyo's wife and a princess of Wind Country, being wingman for a drunk Jiraiya and his latest conquest, two more glasses of champagne and a shot of smuggled-in tequila, getting sidetracked by Gaara, another shot of tequila, being challenged to a fight by a very drunk Zabuza and declining, and flipping Sasuke the bird (which was somewhat unrelated) to track her boyfriend down.

She plucked him out from a sizeable crowd and dragged him into an empty alcove. On the way she had to fight off two more advances and probably half the female court of Fire Country trying to get in her boyfriend's pants.

When they were finally alone he stared at her caught somewhere between disheveled surprise and relief. "You couldn't have orchestrated that rescue any sooner? I was getting eaten alive out there."

She rolled her eyes. "Tough."

"It's good to know I always have your compassionate support." He replied dryly.

She was still buzzing and itching, but she was starting to recognize what it meant. She was horny.

She threw herself at her boyfriend and he grabbed her and dipped her down and _kissed_ her like the world was ending. For them, maybe it was.

When they came up for air Sakura couldn't breathe. "Happy birthday Naruto."

He rested his forehead against hers and their breath mingled. "Happy birthday Sakura."

She traced a finger down his chest. "I owe you a gift, but this might end up being more for both of us than just you."

He cocked his head curiously. "Is it back at the apartment? I didn't even notice—"

"Not exactly." She interrupted. "This isn't something you can wrap. Unless, you know…you count what I'm wearing as _wrapping_."

"Oh hell yeah." He breathed. "Are you offering what I think you're offering?"

"Not offering, I'm inviting you." She leaned in and her lips were a whisper of flame against his neck.

"Then this is me…" His hands slid down her back and gripped her thighs, and his grin was predatory. "Accepting."

They kissed again and this time it was more insistent, more passionate, more raw.

She gasped out between kisses. "Not here. The apartment…"

"Yeah." He punctuated it with a kiss. "Just hold on."

She grabbed him and yellow blinded her and then they were outside, under the stars, and standing outside the door to their apartment.

She smirked. "Hirashin booty call? Nice."

"Shut up." He grumbled. His fingers cupped her face and pulled her up again and Sakura forgot that she was even stading.

Naruto though seemed to have an idea what they were doing as he pulled her inside, kissing her the whole while, with hands wandering and sending shivers down every inch of her skin.

Sakura nipped at him and he growled at her. She growled back. "That all you got?"

He slammed her into the wall and hooked a hand into the shoulder of her kimono and pulled. The sleeve flowed down exposing pale skin and the dark bindings over her chest. His free hand braced the wall and bracketed her in, and the kissing stopped long enough for him to grin at her and tear off the other shoulder of her kimono. The silk pooled around her waist over the obi cinched at her waist.

Callused fingertips touched her skin, tracing, memorizing, and maybe just torturing her. Fire and needles seemed to follow his hands and her blood throbbed in her ears.

One of his hands slipped to the silk between her legs and lighting jolted her. Her entire back arched and she slammed her head against the wall.

"Now why…" She murmured breathlessly. "Am I the only one getting naked here?"

Her fingers tightened along his back and she pulled his haori down. Naruto was too busy trying to get her bindings off with his teeth to notice, so she dug her fingers into his shoulders and blood flowed down her fingers like water.

"Fuck." He hissed.

She pushed her hips against his and through the silk she could feel—

Suddenly he was hooking one of his arms around her leg and pulling up and she was hauled off her feet. Sakura wrapped herself around his waist as he slid his hands under both of her legs. The obi rode up and her thighs were exposed, sweat slicked and pale and a fire was already building between them.

He regarded her with smoky, silent eyes for a long moment before moving away to kiss and bite at her throat. His tongue traced a design on her she couldn't name, and she brought one of her bloodied hands to her mouth and licked away the blood. The taste of it was visceral and it sent a hard jolt through her legs.

Her veins were fire and his fingers were on her obi, tugging and pulling. The tight knot came undone and the silk drifted to the floor. For a moment her eyes focused on that dark pool of midnight blue. Then Naruto bucked his hips against her and all thought flew from her head.

She let her hands sink lower, dipping and tracing as he shoved them chest to chest and she molded herself to his lips. Her fingers nudged his hips but they were too tangled together for her to get his haori the rest of the way off. She snarled in frustration and he dropped her back on her feet. She realized she still had her high heeled sandals on, her underwear, and not much else.

She pulled at the black ribbons tied around her knees and let them slide down. The strides she took to the bedroom swayed her hips, sultry invitation, and she let the sandals tumble off right at the door. She looked over her shoulder and her grin was razors. "Coming?"

He didn't need to be told twice. He followed her in and shucked off his haori along the way. Her tongue ran along her lips because she _so _appreciated the view.

He joined her in the doorway and lifted her off her feet again. This time she got thrown down on the bed and he followed her down and laid her out under him. Outside the window another firework went up in flame. Sakura couldn't hear its thunder over her heartbeat, but it bathed the room in light. It was a lingering and haunting green radiance.

This would be something she'd never forget.

"Happy birthday." She didn't know which of them said it.

"I love you." It didn't matter which of them said it.

They were sixteen. She arched, he moved, they breathed. One and the same.

**Konoha, Main Gate, 8:05 AM**

It wasn't well known, but along with teaching them how to be shinobi the Hyuga also instructed their children in the art of diplomacy. Hanabi had been for all intents and purposes, a diplomat since she was nine. Though she was still immensely grateful when Sakura showed up that Hanabi didn't have to test it out.

The goodbye party for the Kazekage was much smaller than its greeting. And by smaller, Hanabi meant herself, Sasuke, Sakura, and Shikamaru. It was...a bit of a let down, honestly.

Sakura showed up rather windswept and Sasuke and Shikamaru kept making pointed coughs and nudging her. She just growled at them. When she wasn't shooting them death glares though, Sakura looked incredibly tired and yet oddly pleased.

It took Gaara making an offhand comment for her to figure it out. "I'm glad you managed to drag yourself from bed to see me off this morning, Sakura."

Shikamaru muttered under his breath. "And by bed he means Nar—"

Sakura elbowed Shikamaru in the gut and smiled sweetly to the Kazekage. "I always make sure to see my friends Gaara, _regardless_ of circumstances."

"Of course." The redhead smiled benignly. "Send Tsunade-hime my regards."

He pulled his fellow jinchuuriki into a hug and Hanabi was the only one close enough to hear Gaara murmur. "Good luck with him."

And Hanabi suddenly knew why Sakura and Naruto had disappeared last night. Her face flamed.

They disentangled and Sakura looked vaguely amused. "I'm sure we'll be fine. Be safe Gaara."

He nodded and with that bowed out and took his entourage home. Shikamaru watched Temari go mournfully and they mouthed words to each other Hanabi was too embarrassed to try and lip-read.

Sasuke slid up to Sakura. "So where did you and our teammate end up last night?"

The jinchuuriki smiled thinly. "One more word and I'll skin you alive."

He just grinned and it made Hanabi's stomach flutter. "Well that answers that question." He replied smugly

"You know what? None of you get to come to say goodbye to the Mizukage." Sakura huffed. "And _quit smirking _at me Sasuke!"

**Border of Konoha and Suna, 2:25 PM**

Sabaku no Temari shielded her eyes from the noonday sun and silently worked her way through every blasphemy and profanity she knew. They were going through the desert during the hottest part of the day, and as a Suna kunoichi Temari well knew how much that _sucked_.

Her heart clenched and she looked through the shifting sand. Their footsteps were already fading and the way back to Konoha was long.

She missed her lazy ass and probably-a-jerk boyfriend already. Temari was an independent girl and kickass kunoichi who didn't need a man to be fulfilled or happy, thank you very much. She was quite happy handling the rigors of a long distance relationship and perfectly okay with border booty calls and meeting on missions sometimes just long enough to make out before they had to part again.

Then this summit had come along and she'd gotten to spend a month straight with Shikamaru when she wasn't needed at the negotiating table. It wasn't hard not to miss what you never had. But Temari had finally had their relationship _full-time_ and not _part-time, _and suddenly a few stolen hours every few weeks wasn't enough.

She wished she could have stayed in Konoha.

"Temari?" Kankuro called. She was falling behind and with a sigh she picked up the pace and followed her youngest brother as he hardened the sand beneath their feet.

The hours slid by and every once and awhile she looked back at the panting council members and pitied them; most were too old to making this kind of trip but here they were hiking across sand dunes in the middle of the day. They were all suicidal, including her.

Yura had not stopped complaining the whole time. Council member, conservative, and general all around asshole, Yura had been a bane to her this entire trip. She fingered her fan lovingly and wondered if Gaara would forgive her for one teeny tiny little murder out here.

Besides, after all of his wanton murder Gaara owed her at least one freebie.

The ground beneath her feet shifted. Temari looked down in confusion feeling the delicate sense of how off kilter it all was. It shuddered again and this time Gaara stopped.

His back stiffened and Temari felt the wash of his demonic chakra coating the sand.

"Gaara, are you…?" She never got the chance to ask.

The sand around them exploded and it clogged her lungs and pierced her eyes. She heard screams and people falling and all she could see through her watering eyes was Gaara standing as still as stone, a shield raised protecting them all.

When the shield fell her blood turned to ice. Hundreds of puppets were in every direction, their rickety limbs shining with blades and deadly poisons. No one in Suna could control that many at once, but years ago there had been one legendary man…

The puppets opened up and kunai and shuriken exploded out like hail. Gaara's sand shield towered up again and Temari watched in growing alarm as it bent in, small dents of sand pocketing it by the _thousand_.

Another explosion came under them and the world turned sideways and she was swallowing sand. Gaara had her by the arm, his sand cocooning her, and at his feet she could see Kankuro covered in a makeshift shield.

There was screaming all around her, a coppery smell, and her hands felt slick—

Gaara uncovered her. The dunes had been painted bloody. Almost every council member and ANBU had been cut down, blown up, or just smeared along the ground.

Vomit climbed the back of her throat and the sand around her brother writhed and twisted, looking like living flesh with the veins of blood-soaked sand in it. Two figures stood on the highest dune, dark robes with red clouds whipping in the wind.

The sun seared her skin and the blood already smelled rancid as if it was boiling.

"Akasuna no Sasori." Gaara hissed.

A man who had been legendary, a puppet master with no equal. He should have been dead decades ago and yet there he stood with his vivid red hair and unlined face. It was as if he hadn't aged a day since he vanished.

Sasori merely smiled, a twist of flesh that screamed of wrongness, and he twitched is fingers. The hundreds of puppets rattled in motion.

Kankuro pulled a summoning scroll from his back and drew out three large puppets of his own. They moved defensively around himself and his sister while Gaara shifted up. Temari knew they were good joni, but the gap between them and the S-class monsters after her brother were large. All they could do was stay out of the way.

Birds fluttered overhead and Temari almost paid them no heed until she remembered birds did not fly this deep in the desert. The animated C4 dive-bombed them and Kankuro's puppet grabbed her and flung them out of the way.

Wind seared her back and scalding hot sand peppered her legs. The explosion tore through the dune and when the smoke cleared Temari saw it had been turned into glass.

She unfurled her fan. "Gaara—"

A blade came to her throat.

She looked back, her body frozen in terror, and she saw the betrayal that had led them here. "Yura." She snarled.

"I work for Akatsuki." He smiled crudely and his head lolled like that of a broken doll. "I've wanted to kill you and slice you apart so long Temari…"

The kunai pulled—

Gaara roared and his irises were poisoned gold and the whites ink black. The desert came alive under their feet and swallowed Yura whole. It raised him up to the sky and Yura's coffin was a macabre sacrifice to a long forgotten god.

Gaara raised his hand and closed it. Blood finely misted the ground for miles and Temari could feel it coating the insides of her lungs.

She looked to her younger brother and his eyes were madness and fury and yet his voice rasped slowly, calmly. "You need to go back to Konoha and get help."

Kankuro nodded. Temari shook. "No, I can't leave you guys!"

"Please Temari." Her brother begged her. Gaara, murderous, powerful, unshakable Gaara begged _her_. "You can use your fan and get there the fastest. Please. Run."

"You're not getting away." Sasori murmured and his blond companion grinned insanely and threw more of those infernal birds.

Kankuro shouted. "Go sis, we got it!" One of his puppets launched a metal net flying and intercepted the birds, sending them crashing to explode a dune over.

Gaara raised his hands up and the world roared and the desert became the sky. Temari ran with her fan open, leaping onto the wind and letting it rip her away.

A puppet tried to grab her but it froze midway up as sand filled its joints. It fell uselessly to the ground like a broken toy, and its limbs laid out in grotesque angles. It was seeing that broken puppet that almost had her vomiting.

The tears ran hot and gritty, stained with blood and sand and the wind seared the lines of them into her face.

Akatsuki had come for her brother and Temari was running like a coward. She would never forgive herself for this, ever.

* * *

Edit: changes made this time are: starting here with Naruto we actually begin to see the dissonance of what Sakura shares with him and what she shares with others, and the rift that will slowly cut between them. Hanabi's freak-out was smoothed and Sasuke's story about his first kill a bit more subdued. Sai still died, but this time with the conversation afterwards Kisame came off as having a weird obsession with Sakura, for what that's worth.

A new scene was added with Hinata and Sakura in the kimono store to talk about the Hanabi situation, and the conversation on the balcony with Tsunade cut out Jiraiya and Naruto entirely and spent most of its time explain the politics of the Hanabi/Hiashi/Danzou circumstances that just blew up in Sakura's face.

The Shino/Hinata scene where they get attacked by Hyuga was entirely eliminated for not making sense, how Sakura and Naruto left the party was given a scene and then segwayed straight into their first time at the apartment. Also, the foreplay in the apartment was redone to just flow/sound better.

Last, unlike last time Sakura still did her job and showed up to say goodbye to Gaara, so the entirety of that is new. Also, the fight in the desert was streamline and made more violent and gritty and a bit disjointed from Temari's perspective to highlight how chaotic it all is.


	20. Crimson Desert

Disclaimer: All characters belong to Kishimoto-sama, I'm just…borrowing them.

* * *

**Konoha**, **5:38 PM**

Sabaku no Temari raised her arm to shield her eyes from the afternoon sun, and in the distance she could spot the walls of Konoha looming on the horizon. It had been hours since she'd last seen her brothers fighting the Akatsuki, and here she was shivering and running and praying…

Hopefully this mad dash to Konoha wouldn't just be gathering people to go find her brother's corpses.

She wrapped her numbed fingers around the edge of her fan and brought it towards the ground. Frustration bubbled beneath her skin, sluggish and restless, and it was acid boiling up and waiting to pour out. Her teeth clenched as the ground came up to meet her.

Her eyes were still raw from crying and she scanned the rampart for any ninja. She'd been visible for miles so—

She finally spotted two Konoha ninja standing on the walls staring up at her collision course. Without wasting another second she jumped off her fan and closed it. She braced her legs and landed hard before rolling and coming to her feet.

Panting, her throat burning, and her eyes watering, Temari wasn't exactly the most awe inspiring sight.

The male shinobi had a cigarette in his hand and he rushed to keep her upright as she swayed dangerously. Tired, chakra exhaustion, maybe from finally lading after all that fear, she didn't know which.

The second ninja was kunoichi with dark hair and red eyes. She swooped in. "My name is Kurenai and I'm a jonin of Konoha, why are you here Sabaku no Temari?"

At least she was recognized. Neat, was she in the Bingo book here?

She nearly slapped herself.

"Please...my brother, the Kazekage, he's been attacked!" Just admitting it nearly sent her to her knees. "It's Akatsuki!"

The male shinobi ground his cigarette out. "Name's Sarutobi Asuma, and you already met Kurenai. Come on, we'll get you to the Hokage."

It was all she could do not to start weeping in relief. "Hurry."

Asuma and Kurenai shared uneasy glances and seconds later all three vanished from the rampart.

**Hokage Tower, 5:56 PM**

The summit had finally been completed less than twenty-four hours ago, less than a day, less than _half_ a day and the Akatsuki hadn't wasted a moment in taking advantage of it. With security stretched to the breaking point making sure that all the lords and dignitaries that had attended were escorted home safely, there was almost no one to spare for a mission to go rescue the Kazekage.

They should have seen this coming. Tsunade cursed.

Temari from her position sitting across from the older woman, seemed to wilt under the frustration.

The Hokage rubbed her own temples. "Have the teams been sent for?"

Shizune, from her posistion by the door, nodded and she looked as stressed as Tsunade felt. "Yes my Lady, they'll receive orders within half an hour and leave immediately. There is…not enough time for a direct briefing."

"I know." Tsunade sighed. There were a million things she wanted to say to the unit that would attempt to rescue the Kazekage, but mission scrolls wouldn't fit that much. She'd have to depend on her ninja to know what needed to be done.

"Damn it." And Jiraiya just _had_ to blow town right after the summit ended. She had never wanted him here more desperately than now, and he was already out of radio contact and any range of help.

"I'm going." Temari surged up.

Tsunade examined her critically. "You're exhausted."

"They're my brothers." Temari answered fiercely. "Tell me where the rescue squad is meeting up and I'll lead them to Gaara."

Tsunade knew the moment she saw those eyes glittering like broken glass there was no stopping the Suna kunoichi across from her. She nodded. "North gate number three."

Temari was already out the door and Tsunade sighed and sank back in her chair.

It would be another long night. She hated this job.

**Training Field 6, 6:17 PM**

Two green blurs shot across the clearing, flesh hitting flesh, bone striking bone. Trees and stumps all around were covered in kunai and various exotics weapons, and each blade no matter its size or shape was perfectly sunk in its target.

The only tree not littered with weapons had a girl with auburn hair tied loosely up in buns leaning against it quietly. She watched the spectacle known as a Gai-and-Lee spar unfold in front of her, and at the moment she was content to watch from the sidelines as they beat each other bloody.

One of her hands was tracing a pale face, and on her lap Neji slowly stirred from his stupor. "Are they done yet?"

She regarded the spar and watched Lee flip backwards at a nearly impossible angle. Both of his arms were bloody and raw and he'd never looked happier. She smiled fondly."Afraid not, at this rate they'll be going at it until sundown."

Neji closed his eyes again. "Whatever."

He sounded as content as she felt, and for Neji that was still something she was getting used to. Her fingers absently traced the suppression seals going down the side of his face. Ever since Naruto and Sakura had given him this gift, some knot of frustration and anger in him had finally left. He was still bitter over his family but Tenten knew now that he was free of them, he didn't dwell on it much. It made her happy that he was finally happy too.

Out of everyone in the world Tenten thought he deserved some peace. Though that was probably her bias talking.

It had been a good few months since he'd started living with her. It was far from perfect: the apartment was cramped, sparsely furnished, and they managed to stumble over one another every morning and fought over who got to use the shower. But sometimes Neji would smile at her, really smile, and brush a hand down her back or stand a bit too close.

The two of them had agreed in not so many words that they would remain close friends for the moment. Until matters with his family were settled he just didn't want to risk a relationship, and while he may have had that suppression seal, Sakura had quietly taken her aside one day and explained that Hanabi and Neji were only safe because they were hanging in a legal limbo. If the Hyuga moved none of them knew what kind of violence would result, but down to her bones Tenten knew she wouldn't let the Hyuga use her to hurt Neji.

Neji had almost drifted off to sleep when Tenten felt a chakra signature sprinting in their direction.

The veins of his byakugan flared under her fingers. "ANBU." He remarked blandly.

She got to her feet and the spar across the field grinded to a halt. Neji rose gracefully, once again a bit too close, and she felt his fingers on the small of her back. She smiled.

Without a word an ANBU landed in the clearing and held out a scroll. Lee accepted it with a cheer and slid it open. A few seconds later he was pumping his fist in the air. "We have a mission!"

Gai cheered as well. "What does the Hokage require of us my youthful student?"

Tenten tried not to roll her eyes, she _really_ tried.

Lee babbled. "An S-class mission to rescue the Kazekage! We must be at north gate three immediately."

Neji swept past. "Then stop talking and let's move."

Lee seemed unfazed and he replied gleefully. "Lead the way Neji."

The Hyuga rolled his eyes, flashed Tenten the faintest of amused smiles, and leapt.

The kunoichi smiled and at the moment woudln't have had her life any other way.

**Apartment Complex, 6:17 PM**

Hanabi sat quietly on Naruto's couch watching the barely controlled chaos around her. The Mizukage had left and Team Seven plus Hanabi had retired to the apartment to have dinner and while their night away in peace.

That had been the plan, anyways.

Then the mission scroll had come in courtesy of the ANBU and Sakura had turned whiter than bone. She had trashed the scroll and flown into a manic tear through the apartment, gearing up and getting dressed with some frantic energy that had sent Hanabi scuttling to the safety of the couch.

Naruto and Sasuke had looked equally as grim and though their movements were slower and controlled by some unspoken dread, they were just as quickly geared for a full-out assault.

She watched as it all unfolded in front of, her insides cold, and she felt incredibly small.

Sakura spun on her. Her face was still white as bone with lips twisted into a rictus of fury, but her eyes had bled through scarlet. "Come here Hanabi."

The girl swallowed, shivered, and nervously leapt to her feet. Sakura slapped a key into her hand. "You need to lie low while we're gone. This is the key to one of Jiraiya's places. It'll be sealed to the nines so stay inside. There'll be food and books and anything you could want, I doubt he'll show but if you see Jiraiya tell him Akatsuki finally reared its head."

She accepted the key meekly. "Okay." Her body felt oddly slick, as if she'd broken into a cold sweat that had not yet seeped out of her skin.

Sakura was off again with her killing intent scorching through the room. The intent rode heavy on her chest and Hanabi was worried the jinchuuriki was seconds from breaking something. Or someone. Possibly Hanabi. She flitted back to the safety of the couch and did her best not to cower.

Sasuke swept by and smoothed her hair once. "We'll be back soon."

The slipperiness to her skin faded. "All right." She was leaning into his hand and she didn't particulary care why.

Then Naruto was standing behind her with a hand on her shoulder. "Come on kid. I'll buzz you over and inside. And for the love of god don't touch the seals on the doors or windows, cause no one's gonna be there to reattach your hands."

That didn't assure her any, and the cold sweat was back again.

And as the world faded into a blinding jolt of yellow, the one thing that stayed with Hanabi was the sight of Sakura pacing. She couldn't tell whether the jinchuuriki, her eyes brilliantly red and her jaw set, wanted to scream or just cry.

**Konoha, North Gate #3**

Temari ran her hand down the side of her fan impatiently, feeling every battle scar on the smooth metal. This weapon had been with her through thick and thin for years and for a moment she allowed herself to be lost in the memories. Anything was better than the gut gnawing fear that wracked through her body with every step she took.

She spun around again and nearly ran into someone's chest. Temari tried not to wince as she looked into a pair of the coldest Hyuga eyes she had ever seen. The effect was immediately lessened as a bright eyed girl wearing a white Chinese shirt with a red collar, poking her head over the Huga's shoulder.

"Hiya, my name's Tenten and this bundle of joy is Neji." The other girl stated brightly.

The Hyuga bristled and for a second the gnawing fear lessened as Temari tried not to laugh. Two more ninja landed and she recognized the younger of them as the boy, Rock Lee, who had been the first to break Gaara's shield of sand way back when during the Chunin Exam.

Gaara had then gone and broken the boy's arm and a leg for the trouble, but the amazement of that moment had never left her. It'd been the first time Gaara had shown any weakness at all.

The thought of her brother immediately sent her stomach plummeting. Her chest ached and she counted the hours. Her brother might be—

A sigh of wind passed her by and she felt her hair ruffle. Everyone turned and Temari came face to face with jinchuuriki Sakura. The other girl's irises were scarlet and they spoke of hell.

That scared Temari as much as it assured her.

A muscle worked under Sakura's jaw, nerves and impatience, and she spoke brusquely. "We need you to lead us to the last place you saw Gaara. Neji and Tenten will cover our back, Sasuke and Naruto will handle support, Gai and Lee will be with me. If you have questions shut up and save them, we're moving."

The jinchuuriki's killing intent slithered around them and Temari felt her skin crawl. It was hot and thick and felt like she was sweating acid and choking on blood and it wasn't even directed at her.

The cheerfulness of the other squad tapered to grimness. The sky above them blazed and coated the world in gold and honey, but the shadows around them grew longer.

Temari popped a soldier pill in her mouth and swallowed. It stuck in the back of her throat a long time. She unfurled her fan and tried to sound braver than she felt. "Try and keep up."

**Suna/Konoha Border, 6:50 PM**

Gaara crossed his arms and sneered at his opponent.

The hours had bled together, sweat had soaked deep into his sand and the blood had sunk even deeper. The battle had raged on for hours and the Akatsuki looked as furious as he felt.

He had not made it easy and the longer the battle went the more desperate and enraged they became.

His shield of sand flowed like water around him and shot up to block another projectile. The C4 exploded harmlessly on the side of the shield, scattering most of it into the air, but in a dune there was plenty of sand to compensate for the loss.

His eyes followed his prey, the whites of his eyes pitch black as the golden irises shifted and dilated. With a flick of his hand a burst of sand shot up from beneath the blond Akatsuki, but like every time before the blond managed to roll away and throw another slew of explosives at him.

Gaara raised his shield again, shunting the explosion sideways. He allowed himself to ride it backwards until the desert screamed under him. His foot hovered over the dune, frozen. He pushed his chakra into the ground and his eyes widened.

The entire dune beneath him was rigged with mines. The blond and the puppets had only been a distraction to get them set.

Gaara let out a nasty grin. Two could play at this game.

He sent his brother a significant look, and Kankuro (who looked exhausted and was covered in sand) gratefully gathered his puppets (who had been keeping Sasori's puppets off Gaara's back) and pulled into full retreat.

His hands moved through the seals; this jutsu would be too big for something as simple as raw manipulation. The ground beneath began to groan and shake and a giant wave of sand rose. It filled the sky like a tsunami and barreled down on the two Akatsuki with far more force.

Deidara barley had time to curse before it came crashing down. The blond only just finished the hand seals to detonate the mines, sending hundreds of explosions from within the sand boiling out. The wave teetered for a moment, distorting and bending dangerously. Just as it was about to envelop the Akatsuki it exploded into a geyser of flame.

The sand burned and crystallized and Gaara raised his head up as white hot shards of glass rained.

The mines had been taken out of the game.

Gaara felt a hot burst of wind rush past his legs and chest, and he braced his legs in the dune. His golden eyes narrowed as the smoke swirled into the silent sky. When the haze cleared he realized one thing: Sasori was gone.

Kankuro _screamed_.

Gaara spun around but it was already too late. One of the puppets he'd thought broken had twisted around to reveal itself as Sasori, and the ninja had a blade plunged in his brother's back.

It took the jinchuuriki a few moments to realize he was screaming too. Sand burst out around his brother, flinging Sasori away and ripping any puppet's joints out of their sockets.

It was all the distraction Deidara needed. A whistle split the air and only from reflex did Gaara's shield begin to rise. It was too little too late. The high powered explosive caught him in the chest and detonated. He felt his sand armor crack and splinter and flames licked at his skin and turned his armor to glass.

Ash and blood slicked down the back of his throat. The whites of his eyes faded from black to grey and his irises receded to their sea green hue.

Sky and desert spun and melded and the next thing he knew he was plowing face first into the ground. Sand ripped into his face and etched down to nearly the bone. Blood poured out and the sand worked under his skin.

"Gaara!" Kankuro was screaming. But his brother couldn't reach him anymore; Gaara could see the poison and blood pouring down his front…

Kankuro tumbled into the sand and Sasori walked over, flicked his wrist, and brought a kunai to his hand. Deidara strode over as well, chuckling all the while. The blond watched on in amusement as in one smooth motion Sasori brought the blade down at Kankuro's throat.

His hand got no farther as sand rushed up his legs. Deidara had his right arm snared as well and the blond Akatsuki screeched in panic. Gaara could feel the world spinning out of control and all he could see was sky and blood and his brother dying, but some part of him screamed that he wasn't dead yet.

Sasori stared at him in horror, Deidara in terror, and Gaara let the lopsided and cruel grin split his face. He raised his fist mockingly and closed it.

Deidara let out a grunt of pain as the sand stuck to his arm tightened like a vice and crushed his arm, and bone pierced out of skin as the limb crumpled like wet paper. Sasori collapsed as both of his legs were crushed instantly, and he flailed violently to the side, grabbing a puppet and flinging it at Gaara. It smashed him across the face and the jinchuuriki's head snapped back with an audible crack.

Even with his accelerated healing the battle had taken its toll, and darkness and pain closed in.

Nothing but sky and blood above him.

He took one last look as his brother and felt regret. Kankuro would probably be dead soon from the poison. The only person capable of finding an antidote had been the old poison and puppet mistress Chiyo, and her mangled corpse lay only a dozen yards from him already dead.

She had been the first to fall while protecting her brother, a fellow council member and incredibly weak ninja. She had thought nothing of her own life or Gaara's when she sacrificed herself so quickly.

Her brother laid next to her a dead and broken husk.

Her legendary puppets, still inscrolled, had been snatched off her body by Sasori without a second glance. A great weapon of Suna had been carelessly lost to their biggest enemy and Gaara couldn't help but curse Chiyo for her foolishness.

All of this had been for nothing.

The world spun off kilter, the sky went dark. The only thing in his world was blood.

He thought of Sakura and wondered. If she hadn't been with Naruto, he'd always hoped he could have—it didn't matter. He was dying and so was his brother and Sakura was far from here. She had once told him to live and be happy, a torture all on its own, and it looked like he'd been unable to do either.

What a joke.

He sunk down and everything became nothing at all.

Deidara gasped and clutched at his shoulder, the pain almost mind numbing. A few yards away Sasori seamlessly switched bodies from one marionette to another, all under Deidara's jealous eyes. "Son of a bitch. You and your stupid puppets—"

"I'm sure." Sasori began dryly. "That _that's_ just the jealousy and the pain talking."

Deidara cursed and nursed his injured arm. Nearby the sand parted and both Akatsuki leapt back, worried the jinchuuriki was still up for another round. Out of the opening though rose a strange man with half his face white and the other half pitch black, and around him curled a green growth almost like a Venus-fly trap.

It was Zetsu. Ally and still the creepiest son of a bitch Deidara had ever laid eyes on.

The eye on the black side of Zetsu's face rolled and looked at his mangled limb with unnatural interest. Deidara hid his arm. The white sided eye went the opposite way, and a raspy voice came from Zetsu's mouth. "The Kyuubi and his vessel are approaching. Others are with them. There is no time, leave now or the mission will fail."

Sasori nodded grudgingly. "All right."

The black side's lips quirked. This time the voice came out rapidly, almost manic. "You don't say? Can't we just catch a little glimpse first? Kisame said that vessel was a pretty monster…"

The blond tried not to show his disgust. Deidara _hated_ it when that freak had conversations with himself.

The white side twisted and the voice was back to flat. "No. We will all depart immediately. Go now." And the odd creature sank back into the sand and vanished.

Without prompting Deidara used his good arm to craft a massive bird, this one big enough to carry the two of them and their captive. Sasori climbed on and slung the jinchuuriki across the back.

With a beat of clay wings the bird flew into the sky. Far beyond them the sun set in the west and the dunes went dark. All that was left behind was corpses and cold blood and one dying man clinging to life.

**8:37 PM**

Sasuke rarely took the lead on missions for various reasons, but when one's squad was in a pitch black dessert with an enemy on the loose, the blind guy and chakra sensor tended to have an advantage.

Sakura called from somewhere back and to the right of him."You smell that Sasuke?" The wind shifted and Sasuke slowly nodded as he caught the scent.

Temari, hovering somewhere above them, called down warily. "Smell what?"

Sakura's voice was smoky. "All that _blood_."

Temari dropped down and broke into a sprint, and as Sakura followed, Sasuke picked up the pace and scanned ahead. He already knew what was coming, smelled it and mapped every detail, when their unit crested the last dune and halted.

Bodies stretched in all directions, Suna ninja, puppets, and all of the dune from here to half a mile away was smeared in blood. He could hear Temari stifling her sobs as she skidded down the dune and ran to the bodies.

They all followed in mute silence and it was a heavy thing. They all waited aside respectfully when Temari found the body of her sensei Baki and wept bitterly.

They spread out and superstitiously began flipping bodies and making ids. Sasuke waited around Temari, knowing there'd be nothing for him to do until the search for the Kazekage continued. Being blind made him useless for this sort of thing, not that he minded. Identifying bodies? He would pass, thanks.

Suddenly a flicker of chakra burned in what felt like the back of his eyes. It was behind him. Sasuke bolted to another dune. "Over here!"

Temari rushed after him and in seconds they unearthed Kankuro from the dune, still alive, feverish, and caked in blood.

Sakura was there just as abruptly and gently pushed them away. Her medical jutsu resonated with a comforting pulse against his nerve endings.

"Muscle atrophy by poison, tricky." The jinchuuriki muttered. The kind of distracted muttering Sasuke had long grown used to.

Temari sounded close to tears, if not there already. "Can you fix it?"

Sakura sounded surprised. "Fix it? Oh, yeah, this is an old poison. It's been in circulation since, when, two wars ago? The antidote shouldn't be too hard…"

Fifteen minutes later and true to Sakura's word, Kankuro woke with a strangled gasp. "T-temari…Gaara he's…" His voice rasped on his dry lips, probably cracked from the desert sun. Sasuke also heard his teeth chattering.

The desert was getting colder, the last vestiges of heat from the daylight already fleeing from the moon's gaze.

Temari murmured softly. "It's all right Kankuro, drink this first then tell us."

The sound of water. Sasuke could feel Naruto and the entirety of Gai's team waiting impatiently at his back, but Sakura didn't hurry the situation and none of them dared voice their annoyance.

Kankuro gathered himself quickly. "Akatsuki took him, there're heading north by air. I'm so sorry Temari, I tried but..."

A rush of chakra this time, green. Sasuke knew Sakura had just put the Suna jonin to sleep and the Uchiha was rather glad for it. He wasn't in the mood to hear groveling tonight.

"Sakura…" Temari objected but then immediately went quiet, and Sasuke knew why.

Sakura's chakra had gone supernova on the desert, filling each grain and slicing out for miles in every direction. Sasuke could suddenly see everything with clarity, even the contours of Sakura's face in the echoing field.

Her eyelids were closed but her eyes were burning scarlet.

And just like that Sasuke's world fled back to darkness.

Sakura spoke harshly. "It is as Jiraiya-sama suspected, Akatsuki found some way to drain a Jinchuuriki of the soul and chakra within them. Wherever it is, the process to drain Gaara has already begun."

Temari stifled another sob but Sasuke was too busy watching the seal on Sakura's stomach stir. Red chakra twisted and ebbed and flowed up her veins.

Sakura paused for a long time before the seal settled. She spoke again. "The Kyuubi says there's still a chance. Something like this needs a considerable amount of time to complete. Possibly a day, if we're lucky two."

Naruto shifted uneasily but Sasuke was just glad the demon was parting information to them this readily. Team Gai stood by in awkward and uneasy silence. He'd grown use to Sakura and by extension the Kyuubi randomly offering information, but to others the first few times were always off-putting.

The snarls of the Kyuubi receded back to the seal, watching but not adding anything more. Her eyes snapped open and the redness of her grew brighter.

Her voice was clipped by some fury festering just beneath the surface. "Take your brother to Suna Temari, those soldier pills you were popping on the way here will have you vomiting up your guts in an hour. Everyone else fall back in line, we're heading north."

Temari tried to object, but something silenced her before she could. Sasuke had the feeling it'd been Sakura's eyes that did it.

In less than a minute they were gone their separate ways. Cleanup would have to wait until Suna sent out a disposal squad. Their business wasn't the corpses but the still living Kazekage, and the dead could always wait.

Sasuke's hand wrapped around his scythe and the cool metal rested cold under his skin. Akatsuki had come and Itachi would be there.

Their reckoning would arrive and Sasuke would be sure to have it ending in blood. Uchiha Itachi would die.

**Unknown Location, Extraction Site, 9:55 PM**

A large statue towered over the dark cavern, two hands rising up before it with the fingers outstretched as if in desperate prayer. A blindfold covered its face and nine eyes were etched onto its surface. Two of the eyes were already open, glowing dimly as they stared unseeingly into the cavern.

The irises inside them glowed with a milky hue, and faintly, the shades of chakra inside each were of different colors. One was a misty blue and the other a curling purple. Each shown demonic.

A bit rested in the beast's mouth and its hands remained shackled. Imprisoned, the statue-not-statue slept and waited for its next awakening.

Lying beneath the statue was a red haired Kagesurrounded by sand. His eyes were shut and blood leaked from the corner of his mouth and dried on the floor in puddles. The dark circles on his eyes seemed more pronounced by the deathly parlor of his face, and he did not stir as chakra began to gather around him.

One by one flickers of light appeared above the fingers of the statue's hands, slowly taking human form. Each figure was wrapped in a black robe with red clouds but they had a strange translucency to them as if they weren't completely there.

They were light and chakra and no more. Their souls and flesh rested elsewhere far from this place.

The tenth finger remained empty; the last member would never arrive. Orochimaru had not come to this place since decades ago when he betrayed them; they never had replaced the Sanin.

"It is time." One of the figures spoke, a man with hair of burnt orange and piercings by the dozen hooked through his skin.

The nine fingers began to glow; kanji scrawling across their surface in a murky green light. With a guttural rumble the bit fell from the statue's mouth. The opening remained dark with stone teeth twisted and tearing at nothing, motionless. Light built somewhere deep within it, a blazing and frightening white-blue like the hottest of stars. Nine dragon of flame poured out, effigies of some distant sun seemingly brought to earth.

They drifted through the air for a few moments, twisted and screaming, before setting upon their prey with unearthly roars. They sank their fangs into the jinchuuriki on the floor and enveloped him. The room exploded into ghastly light as the Jinchuuriki began to scream, and the nine figures in cloaks watched on.

Tonight they would kill a different kind of sun. The ones called Demon Kings would bow and break.

**Northern Territory, Land of Wind, 10:17 PM**

The dead grass beneath them shifted with soft crunches. Moonlight bathed the wasteland before them and it almost seemed surreal as a dream in her eyes. Canyons and crevices carved up the land, and if they weren't careful they could easily take a wrong step and plunge to their death.

It was a cheerful thought to dwell on.

Sakura gave a hand signal over her shoulder and everyone immediately froze and eased down into the grass. In a few seconds all of them had vanished. She continued to move forward and was less than the softest of winds as she glided through the dead field.

Her eyes drifted up; on a steep cliff thirty odd feet out stood two figures. Robes billowed out behind them and they watched her with cold eyes.

Leaving behind the grass she stood on the sandy edge of a crevice, and in the moonlight their faces were familiar. Her head tipped and a grin slashed across her face. "Itachi-san, Kisame-san. A pleasure to see you both again."

Kisame's chuckles echoed down the stone walls. "The pleasure's all ours." His blade dipped and his killing intent slammed into her, and it wanted to peel off her clothes and then her skin to see everything she was naked including her blood.

His display of bloodlust was nothing compared to the spine chilling intent of the shorter man next to him. Itachi's eyes were an abyss in his face. "Quit playing hide and seek with your squad. Come and fight little devil."

"This game is just getting started." She let the floodgates on the Kyuubi's chakra open, and she'd been waiting three years to get this chance again. "And this devil isn't so little anymore, Itachi."

The dust spun at her feet and in a burst of chakra it scattered into the tempest of scarlet arcing out. In a flurry of black and crimson the cliff face exploded, sending boulders crashing down around her as one of the Akatsuki jumped to meet her.

Kisame brought up his sword from his back and with a brutal motion he made to cleave her in half. She bent backwards and watched as the blade passed inches from her face. A smirk played across her lips as she felt the bandages brush along her arms. "You'll have to do better than that."

He swung again and this time she leapt, twisting upwards and then sideways at a near impossible angle. It had been all the distraction she needed. As she flitted sideways help arrived in the form of a spandex covered leg delivering a punishing kick to Kisame's chin.

The blue skinned man grunted as his jaw audibly cracked; and with any luck it was probably broken. Gai laughed and chased Kisame down as he fell backwards into the canyon, and Lee was right on his heels.

Sakura watched in disinterest as Neji and Tenten jumped down as well, swallowed into the shadows of the canyon as they fell intent on supporting their teammates. She was glad to watch them go, no one else needed to be in the way of what happened next.

Her crimson eyes returned to the Uchiha above her, and he hadn't moved an inch. The wind hissed and rattled through the dead grass and Sakura unsheathed her blade. She slid down and angled her katana up, the blade shimmering, and she sought any kind of reaction.

He looked unmoved, paler than death and eyes redder than blood.

"Itachi." Her voice was half a question and half a challenge.

One eyebrow rose perfectly but Itachi's voice was flat. "Do you need an invitation?"

She wove the genjutsu as she leapt, her body splitting into three images, then twelve, swirling and moving and shining in the night. All moved so fast they only left hazy aftereffects in their wake and the distorted dance all angled in on Itachi.

Metal met metal and sparks arced away. Sakura found herself stopped short, his kunai against her katana, and the genjutsu flickered out.

"Pity." She murmured thoughtfully. "Even resonance distortion doesn't get past those eyes of yours, does it?"

He didn't answer. Her arms bent back and his Sharingan spun. His chakra tried to crawl into her head and she wrenched her eyes away and pushed backwards. The second she cleared the cliff a massive dragon of flame ignited overhead and roared down. It burned so hot it turned white and sand and stone melted to glass and Itachi was only a ragged shadow in the flame.

Sakura looked up to Sasuke and the jutsu already dissipating from his lips as he angled his scythe around and followed the flame.

Slag stone and molten glass rolled down the cliff and Itachi stood in the center untouched by it all. He looked up at his younger brother falling to meet him. "Hello Sasuke."

Her teammate let out an incoherent shout of rage and the blade in his hands turned to fire and slashed down.

Itachi flipped backwards easily dodging the blow, and landed on the next cliff over. He'd barely landed when the earth buckled beneath his feet. This time the dragon that rose up was made of earth and it twisted around on Itachi intent to crush him on the spot.

Naruto was at the base of it, his hands buried in the dirt and directing it up.

She did not even see the hand signs that Itachi must have made, but seconds later the earth dragon was dust and Itachi was airborne and seemingly unruffled by it. Sadly she did not feel even the tiniest bit of surprise that he'd seen through their maneuvering.

"Sasuke?" She called out to her teammate.

He jerked and coiled back. Snarling. "What?"

She flattened her voice, layering it with killing intent and steel and then polishing it with ice. She didn't need Sasuke losing their unit cohesion this fast. "Net and break. I'll drive him to you."

He loosened with almost a smirk on his face. "All right." Lightening chakra gathered around him, arcs and sparking fury the blistered the night air. The entire plain was lit with the neon white-blue glow and it shivered across her skin and set her teeth on edge.

Sasuke was pouring it all out.

The Kyuubi's chakra kicked up a notch inside her as a response and she could already feel the indistinct coating of it forming into two tails. "Blanket the area and drive it in Naruto!"

Naruto threw her a salute. "On it!" In seconds he'd leapt and three pronged kunai were raining down. In a burst of yellow light he was gone and then standing next to Itachi with his leg swingingup in a roundhouse kick.

Itachi grabbed Naruto's leg by the shin, not staggering even an inch. Her teammate merely smirked and vanished. The blows fell like hail and Itachi was soon driven from his vantage as they came down faster and faster.

Naruto was never in one place for more than three seconds and nearly had a kunai into the Itachi's shoulder when the Uchiha froze. Naruto swore and disappeared in a sizzle of yellow light. It was not a moment too soon as the Itachi standing there exploded.

"He replaced himself!" Naruto shouted.

Sakura was already moving with blade swinging as she felt the barest signs of shushin zeroing in. She caught the spot Itachi was lading in one smooth thrust, and only by bending nearly sideways did Itachi avoid being split down the middle.

The tails of her chakra slammed into the ground, stopped her momentum dead, and swung her around in less than a fraction of a second to come at him again. He blocked her second strike with his kunai but her tails merely surged around her straight to his chest. He leapt backwards straight into Sasuke.

The explosion that followed roared like thunder, shook the earth beneath her feet, and resulted in lightening that could be seen for miles. Sakura ran staright for it and Naruto was already angling in from the opposite side.

The next few moments passed by in surreal flashes that left ghosts lingering in her eyes like they were covered in over-developed film. She saw Itachi and Sasuke locked with scythe against blade, chakra within chakra, and all in a pulsing storm that was crumbling down.

Sasuke's face was etched by fury and Itachi's by nothing at all.

Her blade sparked with Sasuke's chakra and lightning arced down it as she drove it into Itachi's stomach and separated his torso form his hips. Blood and guts splattered across her legs and stomach.

Then Naruto's his face was inches from hers as her drove rasengan into Itachi's exposed chest. Shreds of flesh, chips of bone, and blood misted down her front and coated Sasuke's face. The scythe took Itachi's head almost as an afterthought, one last spatter of blood.

The pieces of the body flew apart, burnt, ground down, and they crumpled.

The three of them stared at each other over the body for a moment, panting and honestly surprised. Their chakra melded and coated one another and Naruto and Sasuke had to buffet her for a moment so she wouldn't burn them.

The meshing of their chakra swirled around the corpse and they all stared down at in confusion as they felt it die.

Sasuke's fists clenched.

Sakura felt her stomach churn horribly.

Naruto looked between them, the body, and then them again. "What…?"

She bent down to touch the rapidly cooling pieces and her breath caught in her throat as the red clouds on the cloak faded away. The matted, blood soaked black hair on the severed head turned to a sandy brown. The blood red hue to his eyes turned blue.

The face morphed before her as if it was wax melting to reveal stone underneath. It was a different face, a different man.

The Kyuubi's chakra immediately fell back within the seal almost like she had some kind of all-devouring blackhole in her stomach, and she felt like she had been punched. Punched by said blackhole.

Sasuke's lips peeled back and he spun away. His fury boiled between them. "It wasn't him."

"Fuck." She stood up and kicked the head away. "Fuck! It was a goddamned shape shifting technique! He just possessed some body and sent it along to keep us busy and away from Gaara, he probably isn't even within miles of us!"

"Well that explains how…easy it was." Naruto replied lamely. "Shape shifting never really transfers techniques or chakra or bloodlines over very well."

She didn't even want to look at Sasuke, shamed, and she heard the rattle of his breath in his ribs as he tried to calm himself. He finally choked out. "Who is it?"

She shook her head. Naruto scratched the back of his neck. "Couldn't say. This guy isn't in the bingo book, probably a ninja if he contained as much of Itachi's chakra as he did, but he wasn't anybody important."

She was glad at least one of them wasn't about to start tearing off their own skin in frustration over this.

Sakura rubbed her temples. "Son of a bitch."

Sasuke made a sound she couldn't identify. Maybe a snort, maybe a scoff, maybe a muffled scream.

The air disturbed and four sets of feet landed nearby. Gai's team had returned looking none the worse for wear, if a bit windswept. Neji threw down an unrecognizable body and it looked like the man had almost every bone and tenketsu in his body broken.

His skin wasn't blue though and he resembled nothing of Kisame. The sword also while long and heavy like his, was not covered with the blood slicked glittering of steel scales.

"We ran into a…problem." Tenten offered uncertainly.

"I can well imagine." The jinchuuriki answered dryly. "It was shape shifting jutsu. We need to keep moving, this was obviously just a delaying tactic to keep us away from Gaara."

They all nodded and Lee looked far too cheerful for the situation at hand. "Which way?"

Sakura reached back into her chakra once more and felt out for the familiar echo of a fellow jinchuuriki. Her mind and chakra scoured the earth for miles in every direction but she could only come to one conlcusion as she came up empty: Garaa was gone.

Her heart nearly tore out of her throat before she realized there was not even a lingering trace of his chakra. Even death wouldn't dissipate it that fast. It had been covered and sanitized and then sealed.

A barrier had been set up. The shape shifters had merely been distractions in order to complete it while her senses had been directed elsewhere. With a sinking jolt Sakura knew now all they had now was a general direction to head in and an unknown and probably dangerous barrier to stumble into.

"Still north." She frowned. "But a barrier's been put up while we were busy. We're going to have to tear it down once we find it."

Uneasy glances were exchanged but she looked to Naruto and his eyes were clear. He grinned to her and it was far more reassuring than she could have asked for. "Don't sweat it Sakura, I haven't met a barrier I can't dismantle."

She nodded. "Good."

But she wasn't sure if anything was good anymore. She made the signal and they leapt. The night pressed down deeper and the moonlight carved a path for them. Still though, when the dead grass swayed and the wind sighed, it sounded like the shivering breath of death against her neck.

**Unknown Location, Five Miles from Barrier, 1:03 AM**

The one known as Zetsu stared out into the empty plains methodically. Both sides of his face scanned for intruders and his eyes for once were looking in the same direction. The white side was at the extraction, the black side remained.

Zetsu didn't mind.

His body was rooted down and attuned to the tiniest tremor in the ground that would signal the intruders sent to rescue the Jinchuuriki. Leader-sama had seen this coming and Zetsu was fully prepared. He was the only one within the Akatsuki who could be elsewhere during an extraction, and the earth was his dominion here.

Zetsu didn't know why his comrades complained so much; having a psychopath with a split personality was damn useful.

In the moonlight and his eyes opened, he never saw the cold blade that slid into his throat.

One second it had been moonlight and shadow, and the next it was alabaster and blood and the wild fury of red eyes as the jinchuuriki planted her feet in his chest and her blade in his neck. She used the leverage of her position to drive the blade deeper, and nothing came from his mouth but weak gurgles, muffled curses, and a torrent of blood that splashed down the front of his cloak.

The Venus-fly trap tried to close, maybe to crush her, but she pushed off his chest and flung herself away. The katana remained stuck in his neck entirely pierced through like he was a giant man sized plant-kabob.

His other half would die later when trying to return to the body. Zetsu would both die and continue living for the next few hours and then die a second time.

Sakura licked the blood off her hand as she retrieved her sword. The bitterness of it nearly had her spitting it out. She mentally noted not to go around licking up the blood of plant-people anymore. It tasted like…pollen.

When she had her sword cleaned and re-sheathed she crouched down to relax for a few minutes waiting for her teammates to catch up. The genjutsu's she had used while having to cross almost three miles of ground only making natural sounds had drained her considerably.

Stealth was _hard_.

Something brushed against her chakra. She flew to her feet and looked back to the body, but after assessing it again and _with her foot _she knew it was dead. The whatever-it-was, almost searching touch, brushed up again.

She looked down and that's when she spotted the odd, silver ring on the Akatsuki's finger. It did not glow, or shine, or do anything out of the ordinary. Yet she felt something about it, felt a complex twist of seals and chakra etched down so tightly in that small amount of silver, space and chakra seemed to distort around it.

There was something about that ring and she wanted it. She plucked it off the dead plant-person's hand and held it up into the moonlight. A kanji was carved into it, _Genbu_. The seals that made up the kanji carving alone were so tiny it sent a shiver of awe down her back. In her hand was something powerful, something delicately crafted in ways she couldn't even begin to imagine.

_Genbu_. She thought on that. Black tortoise, that was what it meant. An old and legendary creature that was still talked about in fairytales.

She had seen rings like this on Itachi and Kisame's hands too. These meant something far more than just a club joining trinket.

The Kyuubi slithered up through her, his chakra and awareness filling up through the hollows. He stared through her eyes. _What keeps trying to home in on us?_

She held up the ring higher to make sure he had the best view. "This. It's some kind of highly compressed seal matrix and it feels…massive. Homing? Is it aware of us?"

_It's not sentient, but it's latching on us like a hook. _He paused and his voice took on a disdainful lilt. _Don't go putting it on to find out._

She answered dryly. "I think I know well enough not to go trying on strange rings with enough seals in them to level a city, thanks."

If he wanted to say anymore it never came, her squad landed around her and she let the ring fall in her pocket. She'd worry about it later, whatever it was.

She watched everyone's eyes flicker to the body. "Come on." They still had a barrier to find and they followed her.

Nobody said a word.

* * *

Edit: Everything this chapter was msolty just cleaned up but the scence with the Mizukage was cut out, a new scence with Hanabi was added in, the whole Gaara-kidnapped-situation was taken a lot more seriosuly by those invovled, the entire fight between Gaara and Sasori and Deidara was redone, the fight with Kisame and Itachi was also retouched, Zetsu for the two scences he actually lasted had a little depth to him, and lastly another scence at the extraction was cut out for just not adding anything to the story.


	21. Fourth War

Disclaimer: Naruto doesn't belong to me so now…I'm depressed. _Wonderful._

* * *

**Land of Wind, Unknown Location, 1:29 AM**

Grasslands stretched in every direction, dead grass crackling and swaying in the wind. The entire unit stood arrayed behind her and Sakura looked around slowly. The dead grass rattled and hissed and it all seemed so inconsequential—

She frowned. "I don't…"

Sasuke sighed pointedly, grabbed the back of her neck, and used the leverage to turn her head. "It's right there. Stop looking with _just_ your eyes."

Her eyes stopped sliding sideways and Sakura realized the field in front of her had far more depth to it then she'd thought. She blinked hard. Misdirection seals were in the barrier array and they were screwing with her head.

_Lovely_.

The barrier was right in front of them and she'd nearly walked them past it.

From somewhere behind her Naruto swore. "Fuck it. I _hate_ these things."

Neji replied calmly. "If it's any consolation I can make out the contours of it with my byakugan without getting sidetracked."

Sakura rubbed her forehead. Naruto lightened considerably. "Oh, in that case, yeah. This might be doable."

Naruto unfurled a scroll and the squad gathered around him. Sakura watched from the corner of her eye, Sasuke's hand still on her neck.

The Uchiha's voice dropped low. "Do you think he's in there?"

They didn't have to specific which _he_ they were talking about. Itachi. It was always Itachi.

"Maybe." She hedged. "Maybe not, we'll get that barrier down and then we can go looking."

He breathed in sharply and his hand left her. She didn't ask why and focused on Naruto explaining to the squad instead. "From the dimensions of the barrier and it's almost nonexistent aura, I would have to say it's an anchored barrier. Big thing and complicated as hell, but considering the kinds of guys Akatsuki has running around, they'd have the juice to get this thing up and running."

"Anchored?" Tenten asked. Her face was a mix of diligence and complete confusion.

Naruto usually brought that out in people.

The blond just nodded and pointed at four seals on the scroll in his hand. "To make this short the barrier is anchored by four inanimate objects outside of it, usually within about five hundred yards. They're sealed to the nines and pre-charged with chakra and an assortment of nasty surprises to keep them that way. Good news it they'll be placed in a coordinating pattern for maximum efficiency so finding them shouldn't be too bad. To bring it down all we need to do is find the anchors, survive the nasties, and destroy 'em. After that we can give the barrier a good smack and it'll come down. Any questions?"

There was a moment of shuffling and shrugs traded all around, but Sakura supposed the mechanics weren't really important as long as they understood the gist of it. Ninja were usually point-and-destroy anyways (with the occasional aside of hell raising involved).

"Alright then." She sounded far more cheerful than she felt. Her insides knotted and her chakra festered like a wound. The cheerful glee backslid to manic urgency."Gai and Lee will head east, Neji and Tenten west. Sasuke will head north and Naruto can move south. I'll head straight to the barrier and…knock."

Lee raised his eyebrows. "…knock?"

Her face twisted into a rictus of a grin, and Sakura couldn't tell anymore whether it was from fear or cruelty or glee. "It's the polite thing to do, don't you think?"

Lee for once seemed to understand that discretion would be the better part of valor. Sakura was looking for any excuse to unhinge and he was wisely not going to give her an outlet. Lee liked to fight but a murderous jinchuuriki would leave him a smear of blood on the ground, and do so while vacillating wildly between whistling happily and laughing hysterically.

He wanted no part in that.

The last time she'd lost it was when she was thirteen and tearing Orochimaru apart to an inch of his life. She'd gotten four tails in, brain fried, and spent a week in a coma. That was over three years ago. Her unhinging now would be much more…productive. And hell, she might not end up brain dead again either.

"Head out." She ordered. The grass flattened and she was alone. Everyone, even Naruto, wasn't going to stand in her way tonight.

She started walking and her hand absently slid to the pocket she'd left the Akatsuki ring she'd stolen of Zetsu's corpse. A stinging heat radiated from the polished metal through her sleeve, and the heat was ratcheting up with every step she took. It was trying to hook into somebody besides her.

She considered it. _I wonder… _The train of thought came and went.

Gaara still needed her.

Her hand to fell away. The barrier flickered and her hands clenched.

**West of Unknown Location, 1:48 AM**

Tenten looked around the grove of trees slowly and swore. Wires stretched across every branch and were latched, tied, and wired to more C4 than she'd ever laid eyes on. And considering she'd raided an explosives warehouse once…

In some spots there was only a few inches of clearance and the wires that weren't hooked to explosives were just plain old razor wire sharp enough to flay her.

"The anchor is in the forest." Neji told her dryly.

She groaned. "Really? I would have never guessed. And here I thought Akatsuki just liked leaving _awesome_ booby traps for me to kill myself on laying around."

He snorted. "I can guide you through from here. But you need to trust me."

"That's stupid." She kissed his cheek and flounced off to the trees. "Of course I trust you."

Faintly, Neji smiled. "Then climb up that tree to your left. Five feet up is the first wire, duck left and two feet over by your right hand you'll see…"

**East of Unknown Location, 2:05 AM**

A wide chasm split the land in front of him, opening the ground miles down and splintering everything his eye could see. The rocky, sheer faced sides dropped down and down until everything went black. Even in the moonlight he couldn't see the bottom and for a moment Lee entertained the idea that it never ended. He prodded a rock with his foot and sent it tumbling into the murk.

He never did hear it land.

He was back to the: _it goes forever_ theory.

Something on the walls fluttered and he leaned down, craned his neck, and stared. Exploding tags. Thousands of exploding tags. On every shelf, on every outcropping, on every rock that was even shaped funny.

He stood, put his hands on his hips, and grinned. "The anchor must be down below; our enemy would not waste exploding tags otherwise."

Gai slapped his back. "Perfect deduction Lee. If you find the anchor first then I will run five hundred laps around Konoha on coals in bare feet!"

Lee whooped. "Yosh!"

And they jumped in, because leaping without looking was their _specialty._

**South of Unknown Location, 2:16 AM**

"You've got to be kidding me."

They were not, in fact, kidding him.

Naruto looked at the upturned earth. The upturned earth filled with _mines_.

Coincidentally, the anchor he was looking for was below the mines.

He stomped his foot once, partly out of frustration and mostly just to send chakra on a radar sweep down to see what he was dealing with. One mine shuddered ominously and he whined. "Trembler mines? Oh son of a—"

His chakra came back. He groaned. "And proximity too, this is just friggin' _peachy_."

**North of Unknown Location, 2:35 AM**

Sasuke's scythe was removed from his back, gripped casually, and resting across his shoulders.

Birds covered the dead trees around him with wings fluttering, beetle black eyes glittering, and talons clicking on the grotesque branches. His nerve endings buzzed. They were chakra constructions, twisted things of flesh and blood with a veil of genjutsu just to screw with him. They cawed like crows but they smelled like charred bone

One crow shifted heavily as if something about it was weighted. He considered the sound and came to realize it had the anchor tied to its back.

"Oh _fun_."

Because things could never be easy.

He dropped a kunai in his hand and flung it. The crows-not-crows took off in a hurricane of screeches. The first one fell on him, not the one with the anchor he needed but he smirked anyways.

Within a minute the ground would be soaked by blood, ichor, and mutilated feathers and flesh.

**Unknown Location, 2:51 AM**

Sakura put her arms out slowly, a kind of sickened fascination making her almost tentative as she reached out. Her fingers stopped and the air bent, and there was resistance at her finger tips. She pushed harder and watched blue ripples spread from her hands as if she had touched some kind of glass wall that was splintering into light.

She continued to press steadily but there was no more give. The empty field gave way to a fractured prism of light, and now with her hands fully enmeshed in it the misdirection seals were useless, laying the barrier in it full splendor out to her eyes.

She breathed in. The Kyuubi's chakra came up easy. Red met blue and the fractured prism became a tangled web of chakra and light and blue-red-purple. It was like watching a lighting storm high in the atmosphere spread out across miles and miles until the very color of light would bend, raging within the space of her arms.

And it wouldn't give an inch. The barrier held.

She heard a snarl of annoyance in the back of her mind and in a blaze the red chakra around her reared up and lashed out. The Kyuubi was awake and furious and she was only a vessel for his rage. She welcomed it; his rage gave her direction and sent that manic fear (because Gaara was going to _die if she didn't win_) back to some unimportant corner of her brain.

All that mattered was bringing down the barrier, all that mattered was Gaara.

The Kyuubi's voice was thunder and flame. _Do they think they can capture and bind us, Demon Kings older than the very dust of this world? I was walking this plane before you bastards even crawled your way out of the muck…_

The seal on her stomach flared and bent, and she could feel the seal giving its way through her as the Kyuubi raged. It was like having a furnace of hellfire at her back, and the heat licked and charred and swept up her spine.

It was, she supposed, a little like dying.

The last time she'd lost it she'd been thirteen and had fried her own brain. But that had been when she was thirteen. Three years was a very long time to get ready when one was a jinchuuriki trained by two Sanin, so instead of pulling back she poured it out and turned up the heat.

The chakra rippled and spun blue and red arced out, sizzling the air, burning it down to ozone. The grass under her feet withered and burned and she held.

So did the barrier.

The Kyuubi poured out more chakra and the furnace at her back became the center of a star, and Sakura was in the middle of a nuclear fire about to burn out of control.

**Extraction Site, 3:09 AM**

Gaara was falling. He'd been falling for miles. Falling since…

He couldn't remember.

It might have been forever, but it was too hard to think through the pain crawling through his skull and peeling back the layers of his skin until—

Until whatever it was, wherever he was falling, got there. He just wished it would end.

Something itched at the edges of the horizon, except he had no horizon, no sky or ground just…falling. It was red. Red. Rage made into mist and blood turned to light. There was a name for this and he knew it like his own.

_Sakura_.

His spine arched and it was molten steel melting out of his back and—

No. He wouldn't forget again. Sakura was here, somewhere, _here_. The jinchuuriki who knew his pains better than he did and loved him in ways Gaara couldn't even love himself.

Someone was screaming. He was falling into the screams or maybe away from them. He recognized them, it was the Shakaku howling and still clawing for purchase on his soul. Sakura had pushed it down so long ago Gaara had almost forgotten the sound of its grating cries.

Something was pulling it up and away and—

He was dying. His lifw was being bled away and there was nothing for him to hold onto. He took comfort in the fact that the Shakaku was suffering as much, if not more than he was.

Sakura was getting farther away.

No, that wasn't right. Gaara was the one dying.

He'd been falling for miles. Falling since…

He couldn't remember.

**West of Unknown Location, 3:15 AM**

Her forehead was beaded with sweat and Tenten grasped another branch to steady herself. Hanging upside down with ankles locked over a branch, her body crisscrossed by at least ten wires (with one strand of razor wire alarming close to her throat), she twisted to the side and looped her leg over the branch her hand was now grasping and wondered why she had even decided this was a good idea.

A good idea that was going to get her _killed_.

She sighed. There was nothing to do but finish this. With one leg still stuck to the tree by chakra and the other firmly in place, she let herself settle in and waited.

Neji's voice drifted to her, deceptively close. "The anchor is just below you, inside the tree trunk. Be careful."

A bead of sweat, as she was upside-down, trailed from her chin to her cheek and then burned into the hollow of her eye. Cursing, she rubbed at it before reaching down and letting her hand run over the trunk.

Her fingers tingled as if she was getting stuck with a thousand pinpricks of static shock at once. Without a second thought she peeled the bark back, fingernails becoming bloodied under her gloves, and occasionally she swiped at her sweat plastered hair. The bark gave way and underneath was an alabaster disk inscribed with so many seals just looking at it made her dizzy.

Space and reality may have been bending around it too, but she wasn't checking.

Her fingers smoothly moved together into a fist, primed with chakra, and she punched. The anchor disk exploded into dust and fragments, and space seemed to spread out back into the right contours of _rightness_. She did her very best not to start cackling manically.

Now all she had to do was find her way back without setting off all the traps.

She snorted sarcastically. "Yeah, this is gonna be _easy_."

**East of Unknown Location, 3:36 AM**

Gai bounded up the side of the chasm with a tiny disk in his hand, and light and space seemed to curl around it as if reality had decided it didn't feel like working for awhile. At any other time Gai would have probably worried a bit more about it, but at the moment Lee was at his heels and every exploding tag from here to kingdom come was going off.

Fire and shrapnel were chasing them and with a grunt Gai got leverage on a shelf and pushed up. Stone shattered beneath his feet but he was finally airborne and over the lip of the canyon. He hit the ground hard. The disk in his hand exploded on impact and he barely noticed.

Lee landed beside him in a tumbling skid just as a pillar of flame forced itself from the chasm and lit the sky above like it was day. The explosion shook the ground under him and Gai just watched the flame, surprised he'd survived it at all.

Next to him, Lee realized his spandex suit had been burnt and started sobbing. Gai patted his back absently.

**Unknown Location, 3:39 AM**

Sakura stumbled forward as she felt the barrier give and the Kyuubi immediately took advantage of it with another wave of chakra. The ground splintered at her feet and the prism took on new contours as a shatter point of light that was inexorably bending inwards.

It wasn't quite open. She tried to figure out what that meant but her thoughts were blurred, the Kyuubi was too close, feeding her rage with his own and twisted her around until she couldn't see straight. She was standing in the center of a star and burning—

There was no room for thought in the flame.

Instinct alone guided her and she examined the flaw lines, tracing them with their chakra and the edges were so thin but…

She mentally nudged the Kyuubi. He ignored her. The next nudge was more of a punch.

His growl scraped at the inside of her skull, but without a word exchanged a tail broke free from the assault and drew the katana from her back. The tail flipped blade around and slapped the hilt into her hands. The tail draped over her and the blade, knowing her instinct like his own, and the crimson chakra sharpened on the edge thinner and sharper than any razor.

Hotter than the surface of a star.

With one vicious motion she plunged the katana into the shatter point, finding the flaws and leveraging them open. It was blue-red-purple and the colors flared and burned into her irises.

There was more red than blue.

**South of Unknown Location, 3:44 AM**

Earth jutsu weren't his specialty but Naruto would have argued for mastery after the chakra-infused-gymnastics he'd had to perform to maneuver the anchor up between the mines. Now the disk sat open to the air innocently, quietly going about its way of bending space into a snarl around it.

"I hate you." Naruto told the anchor. It didn't answer but considering the kind of chakra it was putting out, he wouldn't have been surprised if it had.

He pulled a kunai from his pack and threw it with a lazy flick. It pierced through the middle and the disk shattered to dust. Space became _space_ again, and Naruto felt kind of cheated by the anti-climatic-ness of it all.

It should have at least…screamed, or something. He was putting in a complaint to Akatsuki for sheer boredom.

He sighed and turned to head back to the barrier. As soon as he got within four hundred yards it was like walking into a solid wall of _pain_.

Sakura was flinging around demonic chakra and killing intent like the world was ending, and the hair on his neck stood up as his skin fought not to char off. He had seen the end result of the last time she'd flown into a rage like this, and he didn't think he could stomach her nearly dying again by self-inflicted wounds.

His walk turned to a sprint and even then, Naruto knew it was already too late to stop any of this. If she'd already lost it nothing would stop Sakura from her warpath.

**North of Unknown Location, 3:51 AM**

Sasuke smirked, feeling the cut on his cheek split further and pour blood down his face as he did. He was a ragged mess and he couldn't stop smiling through the adrenaline. With claws like iron, feathers like razors, and bodies faster than any crow should have had; these birds-not-birds had tried their best to kill him by ripping him apart.

Another murder of the crows swooped in (and god he had to stop himself from chuckling, a _murder_ of crows, honestly) and he cut the first to pieces with a kunai, batted the second away with his forearm, and split the third apart with his scythe. The blood that spattered him smelled like ash.

Another crow went for his headband again, trying to get at his eyes to gouge them out. Sasuke chuckled. "You're a little too late for that." The lightning jutsu that had been charging under his skin burst out and caught every crow within thirty feet.

The birds let out screams and the stench of smoldering feathers just added to the odd charred smell they carried. The sound of their bodies falling in wet thwacks was the nicest thing he'd heard since this mission had begun.

He had to find his silver linings somewhere in this.

The wet thwacks grew louder. It was raining birds and raining blood, and frankly this was nothing _too_ unusual for a S-class mission. That one time on the Iwa border, on the other hand…

The last crow, still trying to carry the anchor disk, fluttered uselessly on the ground with one of its wings sheared off. The remaining bone and sinew fluttered wetly against the dirt, and without a second thought Sasuke set it on fire and listened to its flesh sizzling and the anchor fracturing.

Distantly, he noticed the horizon of his black world was turning red as if some alien sun was waiting to rise. Sasuke knew what that meant. His fearless leader was about to get _wild_.

Calmly, Sasuke walked back to watch the show. Sakura had told him on more than one occasion to stay clear if she seemed to be angling for a psychotic break, and he wasn't going to go running in her way now.

As he considered his best vantage on watching his teammate go jinchuuriki crazy on someone, the hand he had on his scythe tightened and his grin pulled to a skeletal gash on his face.

Akatsuki was on the other side of that barrier and Sasuke still had a vendetta to settle.

**Extraction Site, 4:00 AM**

The last shreds of the Shakaku clung to Gaara, maybe trying to claw its way back into the seal. Gaara didn't know anymore, he'd been falling for so long…

He breathed.

The Shakaku screamed at him, gold and spinning black and a howl of terror and pain. He didn't want it anymore, any of it. He was getting to the bottom of wherever he was plummeting too, and dying in peace was the least this demon could give him. He shoved hard and with one final breath the Shakaku was expelled from him.

And just like that he wasn't breathing at all. Sabaku no Gaara, Kazekage of Suna, youngest of three siblings and one of only nine jinchuuriki in the world, died. His heart shuddered one last time before stilling.

A rattling hiss echoed through the room, a great last breath of _something_ being lost from the world. The stone holding the cavern together fractured but held, and one by one the statue's fingers flickered out. The dragon effigies dragged back, a star dying, and the stone mouth of the statue-not-statue swallowed them back along with the threads of a Demon King's soul.

The translucent Akatsuki, however, regarded one another in confusion.

Kisame summed up their uneasy sentiment bluntly. "What the fuck just happened?"

Their leader looked to the only Akatsuki members there in the flesh. "Deidara, Sasori? What do you see?"

Sasori made a quick appraisal of the body of the Kazekage, the sleeping statue-not-statue, and the ceiling. His assessment was dispassionate. "The Kazkekage is dead and extraction is finished. I…do not know why it ended so rapidly. It should have at least taken…"

"Three days." The Leader murmured, but before anymore could be said, a snarling crack rang through the cavern like breaking of bones. All heads turned to watch as one of the blindfolded eyes slid open. The iris glowed a sickly gold like dried poison.

Uchiha Itachi rasped. "The soul is…fully extracted. What we came for is finished."

And yet an uneasy silence remained between the nine. An extraction normally took three days, one to draw out the soul and unravel it thread by thread. The next two days followed the threads of that splintered soul back to siphon out the chakra.

They had finished in under twenty-four hours.

Then the entire cavern shook again, and this quake was followed by an ominous shift and a flood of killing intent so strong even those only there through projection could feel it. A few of the projections almost flickered out.

"The barrier has been breached." Itachi remarked blandly, but his lips were twisted by a ghost of a smirk. "A little devil has arrived."

Deidara swore and even Sasori looked concerned by the news.

The Leader did not comment on the almost cold pride in Itachi's voice, and instead turned to his left and ordered. "Zetsu, go check the perimeter."

The white-side-there projection of Zetsu nodded and vanished. They waited nearly a minute before it became clear Zetsu would not be returning soon. It would take another week for them to realize Zetsu would never return at all.

The leader's teeth grinded together and the first flicker of something like annoyance rushed through him. "Everyone return to your bodies. Deidara, Sasori, retreat and bring the body of the Kazekage back to base. I will examine him further there. If it's feasible check for Zetsu as you go."

"Aye, aye Leader-sama!" Deidara chirped brightly, but it was underscored by a harsh edge of uncertainty. The killing intent in the room grew thicker, fast and slick as magma, and it wasn't ebbing.

The other Akatsuki flickered out, and Deidara leapt down to join Sasori on the stone floor. The sound of Itachi chuckling stayed in the air even after he was gone. Behind them the statue vanished in a swirl of smoke, sealed away back to sleep until it was called again.

Deidara shivered and then groaned as that shifted the broken bones in his arm. He looked down at his mangled and bandaged arm and wondered if it would ever set right looking like it did. _Put through a meat grinder_ pretty much summed it up.

"You grabbin' the body Sasori-dana?" The blond almost jeered.

Sasori looked at him in something torn between cruel amusement and irritation, but before he could answer a sinister red glow flickered from the adjacent tunnel. They both knew what that meant was coming.

Deidara swallowed and Sasori turned grim. "No. You're not taking on a jinchuuriki with a messed up arm. Grab the Kazekage and fly out of here, leave one of those stupid birds of yours for me. I'll keep this little fox distracted with my art until you're clear."

Deidara thought about arguing, but his arm was throbbing and carrying a body seemed marginally better than having to fight. He nodded and acted more put out than he actually was. "Whatever, un."

Sasori gave him a _look_ and walked straight into the rapidly brightening tunnel. Deidara watched him go. "Crazy son of a bitch. Now who's the one who's art is gonna end up transient?"

Sasori was already gone to hold off a jinchuuriki and didn't answer, and with a grumble the blond walked over to the Kazekage's corpse. On a whim he bent down and put his fingers to the jinchuuriki's neck. He confirmed what Sasori had already told them: Gaara was gone.

Something cold crawled across his neck. Deidara swiped at it and sand grated between his fingers. His insides froze.

The sand tightened like a garrote and he clawed at it with his good arm, only to find a thick undulating band crushing his larynx and content to move with his fingers and then just shift back into place again when he gave up.

The Kazekage _breathed_. His eyes came wide open and there was nothing in them but blackness. No gold, no sea-green, no anything. The sand dragged Deidara into the air and he could only wheeze and watch the jinchuuriki clumsily stumble to his feet.

"I saw you…" Deidara spat between his teeth. "Die."

A rasping, shuddering sound echoed through the room and it took Deidara a long moment to realize the jinchuuriki was _laughing_.

The black eyes gaped at him, Gaara's head titled, and a wound of a grin opened. "I did."

And then the sand wrapped around Deidara's good arm and wrenched it out of the socket. The blond screamed before clamping his mouth shut, muffling the sound to an agonized grunt.

"That's for getting me killed for…three minutes or so." Gaara continued languidly. "And ripping the Shakaku's soul out of me, that was very unpleasant for me, I assure you."

Deidara's tongue felt bloated in his mouth and he couldn't get enough air past it. "You…you should be…dead."

"You only got the soul." Gaara's hand flexed. "The chakra's been mine for a very long time and I decided to keep it. You know so little about jinchuuriki despite chasing after us for years, just because you grab the demon doesn't mean you'll get what you're after."

The blond spluttered and Gaara looked incredibly bored. "I suppose it doesn't matter." And his hand closed.

The sand rushed, grated almost like a blade against bone, and Deidara's decapitated head hit the floor. Sand immediately covered it and hardened into a box. Absently, Gaara picked it up and contemplated whether the resulting bounty would cover his latest budget shortfall until the new trade agreements with Kiri kicked in.

Something buzzed against his chakra, almost like a hook trying to find purchase. He looked down at the headless corpse in search for the source and saw a ring on the one of the hands. Just putting his focus on it nearly split his head.

The number of seals compressed into the space of the ring was staggering and he nearly started hyperventilating as his chakra went haywire trying to trace them. He stopped focusing on it, still feeling the irritating hook.

He gingerly sent his sand to gather it, unwilling to touch it bare handed. When his sand brought it up he examined it briefly. One Kanji was on its surface: _Seiryu._ The Azure Dragon, one of the oldest legends in the world. The Kanji carving on its own was a few thousand tiny stitched seals, all carefully melded into the metal to form the greater design. He felt a headache coming on that had nothing to do with the fact his heart had been stopped for the last three odd minutes.

A familiar killing intent caressed him like an old friend.

He'd deal with it later.

He took the ring and the head and left the cavern without a second glance. Sakura was nearby and he really should go and say hello to her.

**Unknown Location, 4:07 AM**

Her rage had cooled the moment she laid her eyes on her enemy.

They stood at either end of the tunnel. It was one wider than most and easily large enough to accommodate a fight without bringing the entire mountain down on their heads. Sakura stood at one end and Sasori was at the other.

Both were silent as they examined their opponent. They were enemies simply because they were on different sides, neither knew anything about the other and frankly neither of them cared.

There were no vendettas to be filled, no revenge being taken, and nothing personal about any of this. This was just two people whose paths would cross one time. One path would then end and the other would keep going on. It was already set in stone more permanent than the walls around them. It was the wave meeting the shore and it was just as natural and just as inevitable.

There would be no banter or gloating, they would not bother trying to strengthen or lessen the harsh reality of what was happening. Both of them knew how deadly their enemy was and they wouldn't pretend it was just a game. That kind of denial was far beneath professionals like them.

They wouldn't pretend this fight was anything beyond what it was: a desperate, messy, ugly act to live.

There were no ideals here.

No dreams.

No good or evil.

"I'm Sakura." And it seemed like the right thing to say.

"I'm Sasori." There was no inflection in his voice, but something seemed to pass between them. The violence approaching was no less ugly or final though.

That was all they would every say to each other.

Sakura took a breath and let her body go slack. She flickered to the side, afterimages splintering out of her chakra into a complicated genjutsu.

His eyes flickered between all of the images as she surged at him. Her katana glimmered red as she brought it up in a sweeping motion from up his left hip. He would have been split in half if that image had been the real Sakura.

The genjutsu harmlessly passed through him and he caught the real blade between his hands and pulled down. Sakura rolled with the momentum and her legs struck out. He dodged back, releasing her blade even as he was pulling out a scroll from beneath his robe. In a hiss of smoke a puppet with sallow limbs appeared.

It was not an ordinary puppet of wood and metal, but carefully preserved flesh imbued with some filthy chakra she couldn't name. The puppet had been a man once upon a time, the Third Kasekage who had vanished mysteriously and been presumed murdered decades ago. Sakura credited Sasori with the murder mentally, and was somewhat impressed by the sheer _insanity_ that would have one stealing your murder victim's body and hollowing out the corpse for a puppet. Sakura may have been psychotic but she had not yet reached _that_ level of crazy.

She barely managed to move out of the way as a spike of black sand, from the puppet, tried to impale her. Interest now thoroughly peaked, she watched as the black mass fell apart and slithered back to the puppet. Gaara was not the only Kazekage famous for being able to control sand, but the third Kazekage had done it with powdered iron in sand, and she could see the glitter of it amongst the black like the coils of a retreating snake.

A hail of projectiles splintered out of the sand. She brought up both of her arms in time to shield her head from the worst damage, but the passage was too small to dodge and she felt her body bruise and bleed and flay beneath the assault. She could almost taste the poisons mixed in the sand that were now smeared into her veins.

It was the same poison that had been in Kankuro's blood. That poison had never been part of the Kazekage's legend. Sasori had made some upgrades, then.

Without anywhere more to go in the small tunnel she did the only thing possible: she ran straight into the line of fire.

It took only two seconds to gather the Kyuubi's chakra under her skin and let it flare out like a nova. The sand froze midair and then was pushed back by the flood of her chakra.

She followed the torrent and bought her katana high in the air with both hands to sink it into Sasori's head. Her shoulders shuddered and her momentum halted, and she never got that far. The Kage puppet had leapt to the defense, catching the blade between its dead hands much like Sasori had done just minutes prior.

A growl crawled from the back of her throat and the mania was swinging back in full. Held in the air, still holding her sword, she jerked her feet backwards and the blades in the heels of her boots slid out. Without a moment's hesitation she brought both her heels crashing into the puppets shoulders. It crumpled beneath her and the gridning of steel against preserved flesh and brittle bone nearly had her gagging. She held on though and the puppet tried to throw her off.

It was too late. The shoulders broke, muscles cut, and the flesh strings of this puppet were now useless pieces of preserved flesh. Her katana came loose easily and she split the puppet in half.

Sasori's howl of rage was all she heard before she had a face-full of Akatsuki going for her throat. Maybe he was too enraged, maybe he'd thought a little thing like poison would slow her, maybe he thought her blood soaked and mangled body was somehow weakened.

She didn't know why he left himself so open.

Still on her downwards swing into the puppet she wrenched her feet free, broke off the blade on her right foot as she did so, and dropped that same right heel now bladeless into the ground with a surge of chakra. Tsunade had taught her well. A fissure rocked open beneath their feet and Sasori tumbled and caught himself, revealing far more arms had been under his robe than just two. It didn't even matter.

Adrenaline and fear(for Gaara, always for Gaara) sang in her veins, and the katana in her hands sliced forward and pierced through his chest.

More arms, too young for being decades old, and his face unlined. She had known from the moments she'd laid eyes on him: Sasori was only a puppet. He was alive in his own way, driven by some binding construct of blood and soul and flesh inside. He still had a heartbeat and she knew where to aim. Somehow, someway, he'd figured out how to tie his soul into the confines of his heart.

Her blade had madea clean hit. It was over.

His eyes dimmed and he looked at her in something bordering on surprise. He had kidnapped Gaara and probably killed Gaara and—

She didn't gloat. She let his body slide off and slump to the floor untouched. He was dead. She peeled apart his chest cavity with her hands and examined a cylindrical vessel covered in seals and holding a still heart, surrounded by some murky fluid that smelled like rotted earth and day old blood.

She sat on the floor exhausted, and gingerly looked down at her legs. Between the puppet shattering and the hail of sand, her legs had been mutilated. Pieces of the puppet had been driven through her feet and ankles in some places and her boots were just utterly shredded.

She tried not to think too hard what the puppet shards were _made_ of as she pulled them loose. By the time she was done blood had soaked through the inside of her boots, and she pulled them off and tossed them to the side reluctantly before standing back up. Her bare feet stung but held her weight. Her chest was still tight with fear and fury and because of that the Kyuubi's chakra remained pulsing under every inch of her skin. She held up a hand and began concentrating chakra, but was disappointed when it flickered between green and scarlet before dying out. She had no human healing chakra and her wounds still remained open.

Sakura turned her awareness inwards. "Can I get a little help here? My legs are about to come apart."

The Kyuubi's snarl snapped against her. _If you failed to notice my oblivious jinchuuriki, you have a poison cocktail nearly a pint thick in your blood about now. So excuse me if I keep you from atrophying from the inside out first._

"Fine, touchy." She raised her hands in defeat and made due with the pain.

The Kyuubi went back to poison detail on her blood, shutting her down on anymore conversation, and with a resigned sigh she checked Sasori one last time. There was a buzzing against her chakra, and she realized another ring was trying to hook her. She plucked it up, pocketed it along with the first she'd taken off Zetsu, and continued looting the body.

Next she found a scroll that had her dumbfounded. It held the legendary puppets of Chiyo: ancient kunoichi, a bitch who surpassed all others, and prolific puppet user. Sakura supposed she'd have to give them back to Suna…eventually.

Just as she ran her hands down the rough paper of the scroll, she felt a familiar presence behind her. The mania fled like fog in the sun, and all the muscles in her body loosened. She smiled, turned, and from her bloodied feet flung herself at the man behind her.

Gaara caught her in a hug and swung her around, any sense of decorum out the window. They laughed and pressed their forehead together and just drank in the other's chakra. She was so relieved. They spent five minutes like that before Gaara set her down and looked at her with eerie, empty black eyes.

The smile on his face dimmed. "Sakura." He swallowed. "My brother and sister, did you see…?"

She heard the dread and soothed him. "They're fine. I got to Kankuro in time to patch him up and Temari took him back to Suna. They're safe. The others with you…I'm so sorry Gaara."

She handed him Chiyo's scroll, and he closed his eyes tightly as if pained before accepting it. "Thank you."

There was nothing to thank her for, but Sakura didn't voice that.

The death of that many people: advisors, friends, and even his own sensei was a blow. Having his siblings live made it easier but didn't take it away. His hollow eyes cast around and settled on her bloody legs. "Are you all right?"

She shrugged. "Well enough, as soon as the Kyuubi filters the poison out of me the rest of the wounds will get taken care of. It's not like I haven't lived through worse." And in the context of her life, this (and this being having her feet and calves impaled at least a dozen times) really didn't even rate a two on the pain scale.

Gaara directed a wave of sand at her and it enveloped her feet, cool against her skin, before firming up into sandals. She tested them out and it was kind of like having something living on her feet, but she'd take what she could get. "Neat trick."

"Thanks." He answered dryly.

And then for the third time that night something buzzed her chakra. She swung around and Gaara leapt back, reading the danger. "What—"

She relayed tersely. "The Akatsuki rings, I can feel them tugging at me. Another Akatsuki must be nearby."

He relaxed. "No one else is left here but us. I…cleared the area." He held out a third ring to her. She accepted it sheepishly, now out of fighting stance, and added it to her rapidly growing trophy-kill collection.

"Do you have any idea what they are?" He asked her.

She made a noncommittal noise. "I'm not sure, if I ever figure it out though I'll clue you in."

"So can you feel the…?"

"The seal density on these things? Yeah. It freakin' itches just being next to them." She knew him too well; sometimes they'd have entire conversations of half-formed-then-finishing each other's sentences going on. It was worth it just to watch the faces Naruto would make at them in confusion.

He nodded and that seemed to satisfy both of them. The sound of footsteps echoed down the tunnel and they both turned, seamlessly covering any blind spots for the other.

Naruto and Sasuke rounded the corner in dead sprints and both slowed and halted upon seeing and or sensing her.

Sakura grinned smugly. "Mission accomplished."

**Hokage Tower, Private Office, 4:51 AM**

"No."

She wanted to scream her denial at the walls, throw punches and break things with her hands. Tsunade wanted to bring the whole tower down on the off change it might change the report that had just been brought to her desk.

She tried to console herself that Jiraiya was back en-route for Konoha, that she could keep things together without flying apart—

It didn't help.

They had made treaties and changed the game, made peace with Kiri and then an alliance that should have stopped any war from brewing for decades.

It had all gone so perfectly and now it was all dust. "No."

She didn't scream, but she wanted to.

**Hokage Tower, Public Office**

Gemma twitched and shifted from foot to foot, an ANBU mask fit snugly over his face. He longed for his chunin days when he could put in a senbon between his teeth whenever he pleased. Now he had to worry about identities and secrets and ANBU protocol every time he needed an oral fix.

And his oral fix was severely lacking right now, but he didn't move because the room was far too crowded to even get an elbow out.

The only open space was around Morino Ibiki and his favorite student Yamanaka Ino, and that was only because Morino looked like a scary monster and Ino a gorgeous monster, and both had reputations for metal torture that bordered on exquisite art.

Nara Shikamaru was leaning back in his chair, Ino's hand on his shoulder lightly, and his eyes were half lidded in boredom. Gemma knew the boy as the genius of the tactical unit but more than that as the childhood friend of Jinchuuriki Sakura.

At least with his mask on, he didn't have to hide his disgust.

Shizune stood behind the Hokage's desk having been the one to put out the call to gather them. She had said nothing to anyone and just stood there still as if carved from stone.

Various ANBU and jonin were scattered around by the dozens, the ANBU crouching on windows and chairs and the jonin leaning on any flat surface availible. A few chunin were dotted through the room but only the ones likely to see promotion in six months or less.

Everyone shifted and murmured in low voices. The summit had ended a day ago and it had been the unspoken understanding everyone was getting a week of vacation to celebrate the treaty. Now here they were with something of the top twenty percent of their ninja jammed in one place.

It meant nothing good and sweat slipped under Gemma's mask.

A door opened and the room held its breath. Tsunade stepped in and her demeanor was rigid, pale, and barely contained fury. They crowded to each other and shied back from her as she took her seat, but there was no comfort he could find by them standing closer together.

It just made them more nervous.

It was her eyes that chilled them and embittered their hearts of any hope. Her voice was somber as if giving a eulogy. "As a few of you know, some hours ago a squad left to go rescue the Kazekage from an assault and kidnapping by Akatsuki."

Sharp gasps punctured the silence, but that only made it heavier. Tsunade looked up at them with haunted eyes. "And that is…the good news. We managed to get a squad out in time to head things off. However we did not manage the same for the Mizukage. On his way back to Kiri he and his entourage were attacked by a platoon of Oto ninja. The entourage took casualties but withdrew to Kiri intact with the Mizukage."

A hush crept into the hollow spaces of Gemma's skull and filled every rational thought, and he could only wait for the other shoe to drop.

It dropped like a meteor. "The Oto ninja were backed by Kumo scouts. I have received a report that…that Kumo along with Iwa have made their own alliance with Orochimaru. They said they did it to combat our _dangerous_ and _stacked_ alliance with Kiri and Suna."

There was a low moan of pain from someone that had already understood what this meant, but Gemma was too blinded by fear to put the points together.

Tsunade did it for him, her voice soft but her words damnation. "Kiri is our ally and an attack on them is an attack on us. The treaty has been triggered." She paused and it hurt just to breathe. "This is war. We received missives from our enemy already saying the same. The Fourth Great Shinobi war has begun."

Gemma closed his eyes and was so godamnned thankful for his mask to hide behind.

The nightmare they thought they'd escaped, the nightmare that they still carried the scars of had burst forth again. Shinobi would kill shinobi and the world would burn for it.

* * *

Edit: This time Sakura is actually emotionally distraught by the peril Gaara is in, all of the scene switching during the barrier take down was streamlined with some just getting cut out, Gaara's 'leading up to death' scenes were made more trippy, the plotline with the Akatsuki rings was cleared up (and foreshadowed more) to make more sense why the jinchuuriki are going around picking up rings, Sasori and Sakura's fight became almost and oddly amiable, Gaara and Sakura's reunion was much more emotional, Jiraiya who was originally back in Konoha was shuffled out and will arrive later, and last Tsunade seriously freaked out over the war starting and everyone there including Gemma took it far more seriously.


	22. One Step Closer

**Disclaimer:** All the characters belong to Kishimoto, I'm just playing here. Really. Maybe. Hopefully.

* * *

**Land of Wind, Thirty Miles North of Sunagakure**

"...seriously though, how long did your heart stop for Gaara?" Sakura asked. The question was almost lost in the hiss of sand as they slid down another dune, and she stared at her friend waiting for a response.

Gaara shrugged and answered evasively. "Only two or three minutes. Tops."

She wasn't impressed but he was alive and seemingly not brain damaged, so she let it slide. The medic in her whined but the jinchuuriki told her to shut up and quit nagging. Her psyche balanced it out , anyways.

Silence fell as they jumped, ran, and slid over and down more dunes. The chilled air brushed her and for a few seconds gave her sweat slicked skin respite. Even during the respite though she kept pace, ignoring the panting of the others following behind her.

Her squad after it had gathered Gaara, retrieved bodies, and scoured the extraction site(Gaara was down a demonic soul now, but his eyes had returned to their normal color so Naruto had stopped accusing him of being a zombie too), they'd been moving back to Suna at a clipped pace. Sasuke had kept them there the longest searching every inch of ground for a trace of Itachi or just Itachi's chakra, but even he eventually had to admit his brother had never been there.

Sakura had been equally as discouraged, but having Gaara alive and back softened the blow considerably. She had consoled Sasuke that when Itachi came after her, he could have first crack at his brother. Naruto had scoffed but Sasuke had almost-smiled at her, so she counted it as a win.

Now they were all tired and worn out and even Lee was getting snippy, and all that kept them moving was the promise of a long nap in Suna before they sauntered back to Konoha.

The sky above began to turn gray and the first rays of morning broke crest over the desert. For a short while they'd have an easy going of it: enough light to guide them through the treacherous sand but not enough to fry them. As soon as the sun rose though…

It was almost a mirage when the first spires of Suna appeared in the distance, shadowy and jutting like bleached bone and slowly forming into the shapes of walls and battlements and towers. When they were a mile out Neji pointed to the sky and they all halted.

A familiar fan was coming towards them.

Without wasting a second Temari landed and launched herself at her brother. They tumbled into the sand in a tangle of limbs and laughter and in Temari's case, tears.

Once upon a time Sakura had both blessed and cursed Gaara to be happy and for the first time honestly and freely, Sakura was absolutely certain he was.

They stayed locked together like that even as Gaara stood, Temari pressed into his side and her head under his chin. She murmured into his chest. "Thank you. If you had—oh god Gaara—I couldn't have..."

Gaara smiled gently and pressed his cheek against her hair. "I'm sorry Temari."

She punched his side but didn't stop hugging him. "You better be."

Her squad all looked elsewhere, pretending they didn't notice the emotional reunion going on behind them.

With a sigh Temari finally released her brother enough that they weren't plastered, but she remained against him while facing the squad. She didn't even look the smallest amount embarrassed. "I'm sorry." Her voice was crisp and professional as if they crying and hugging had never happened. "Your squad has been sent for by the Hokage. This message is to be given to you immediately: Code Delta-seven-niner-return."

Gai sucked in a pained, shocked breath like he'd been struck. Sakura closed her eyes and felt her blood drain away.

The others looked out of sorts for a moment.

"Is that…?" Naruto asked tentatively.

Lee finished. "The imminent war signal? That can't be right."

Neji frowned. "But that treaty Hokage-sama just signed should have stopped this from happening."

Gai, for once, showed the jonin underneath his veneer. "There is no mistake. War has been declared and we are being called in full retreat home to prepare. This happened at the beginning of the Third War, and treaty or not with Kiri a war's been declared by somebody."

Sakura closed her eyes. "I can only guess if Kiri didn't do a weird flip, us assembling a super majority among the great five sparked something with the other two. We're not stopping to rest; we need to get home _now_."

No one argued with her. No one groaned. Everyone just buckled down with grimly and Sakura couldn't help but appreciate it.

The sand wrapped around Sakura's feet dissolved, and she took that as the signal that Gaara was going to depart from them for Suna. They were on their own.

She got an extra pair of sandals from Tenten, slid them on, grimaced, and looked to her fellow jinchuuriki one last time. "I'd recommend staying behind Suna's walls until further notice. Akatsuki will want to know how you survived."

He smirked faintly. "Duly noted, but they got the soul they wanted. You should be the one worrying about Akatsuki now."

She closed her eyes. "True." Itachi and Kisame would come for her; it was only a matter of when and where from here. She didn't know anymore whether she looked forward to it or not. Her love for Itachi had faded a long time ago, but the fear as always had remained.

Naruto touched her back, both comfort and a signal.

The two groups parted and Sakura reoriented them, turning their backs on the sunrise. It did not matter if they were tired, burning, and blistering as they ran. Every stride brought them one step closer to home.

Her legs had still not healed and she still bled.

The Kyuubi said nothing.

**Hokage Tower, 10:20 AM**

Sakura buried her face into her knees, her matted hair clinging to her neck and back. Sweat trickled down her cheek and onto her legs, and she took in as much air as her lungs could hold. All that mattered was breathing.

She was going to start hyperventilating if she wasn't careful.

Naruto leaned against a wall, his shoulders slumped and his eyes downcast. His hands clenched and unclenched rhythmically, and every once and awhile he'd touch her shoulder. Then he'd withdraw as if afraid he'd break her and his hands would clench again.

Rinse and repeat.

Tenten's eyes were glazed and she had her back resting against another wall, her head on Neji's shoulder. The Hyuga himself didn't look at anyone but instead out the window with his arms folded tightly.

Gai and Lee stood apart, faces grim and for once silent.

Sasuke had his hands stuffed in his pockets and stood by the door. Sakura didn't know if he was thinking about making a runner or if he didn't care, or why _she_ even cared what he cared at all.

Her head hurt. She breathed.

Naruto grabbed her shoulder and then let go.

Rinse and repeat.

Tsunade watched them with haunted eyes. Her face was flawless as always but her irises carried every year of her life time's a hundred. It was too late for Sakura to take away that weariness; there would be no backing down. The lines had been drawn, the die cast, and the blood feuds made clear.

They had signed an alliance with Kiri and an assassination attempt on the Mizukage was the clearest declaration of war that could be made. Zabuza had survived and now by association, Konoha and Suna were getting dragged in. Iwa and Kumo had started it and Orochimaru had probably had a hand in it somewhere along the line.

They had known the snake Sanin still wanted Konoha to burn and yet…they hadn't stopped him. How many times would Konoha let him slip away to come back to try again?

Rinse and repeat.

Now they were stuck riding out the storm and praying for the best. Sakura had no experience with praying and she threw that out just as quickly. She would fight, not pray.

Tsunade got up and made her way to the door and opened it. She gestured to the empty hallway.

"Get some rest, debriefing and new orders will come once everyone has cleaned up and eaten. The war may have started but we still have a good week before any hard fronts form." Her voice was pierced with a sadness that made Sakura ache, and yet the Hokage's word carried a firm order underneath.

Even while she was suffering Tsunade did not stop being Hokage.

Sakura allowed herself to be led out by the hand by Naruto. Her irises clouded over.

The Fourth War shouldn't have been that surprising. Any time of peace between shinobi was just a delay and a time for the villages to catch their breath before the next bloodbath came. Certainly, as ninja they fought all the time during peace, but that had been with a middle man giving missions and some illusion of it being legitimate. A job, not a war.

Now there wouldn't be a middle man giving them an excuse but combat on their terms.

The last war had been from before she had been born. It had been mostly Iwa and Konoha tearing into each other with Suna and Kumo and Kiri switching sides whenever opportunity presented itself. There had been causalities on all sides with even the smallest of countries being sucked in, and no one had been safe. Not the civilians, not the women, not the children.

Once the rock was thrown the ripples would spread. It touched them all and there wasn't going to be any running from it.

That last war had seen the birth of the greatest legend in Konoha: Namikaze Minato. Yondaime Hokage. With the Hirashin he had been a one man army who had turned the tables, splintered alliances, and won the whole damn war. All it had bought them was a little more time. All he had given them was a little more breathing space before war came again.

And again

And _again_.

Rinse and repeat.

Naruto led her down the hallway and his voice was static in her ears. Her pupils dilated and her irises darkened. She was just so tired.

She didn't remember hitting the floor.

**Unknown Location**

He wondered if this is what they called desolation. Dead grass, burned out dirt, a place where nothing would ever grow. There were so many dead bodies around him…

And all by his hands. At the moment though, those hands were pressed to his face as he tried to catch his breath. Blood trickled down his knuckles and onto his skin and silvery hair. It eventually trailed down his cheeks and was lost in the black mask covering his face.

He starred into the sky, mismatched eyes unblinking as he searched out any dim ray of sunlight. Shrouded by smoke, the sky remained an angry black. It was the middle of the day.

He wondered if this is what they called desolation.

He stood up slowly and was about to pull his Konoha headband down when a flicker of movement caught his eye. With a deft movement a kunai was in his hand and he was stepping over a corpse with a hole in its chest where its heart should have been. The skin around the hole still smoldered as he walked away from it.

He vanished and less than a moment later, a woman in a beige trench coat stood in the spot he'd been. She looked around at the dead bodies appreciatively. She was a woman of fine (and bloody) taste and knew a good massacre when she saw one.

She was a woman with hell on her lips, a tongue as smooth as silver, and eyes that burned sultry. And the man recognized her even as he put the kunai to her throat.

Her lavender hued hair fell over her eyes as she grinned, a wild, alluring, sadist's grin. "Kakashi-kun." She cooed sweetly. "Is that how you greet all the beautiful women you meet? Naughty boy."

Kakashi rolled his eyes, lowered the kunai, and stepped away. "Anko, you should know better than to jump in the middle of one of my killing fields without a _little_ forewarning."

"That's no fun" Anko pouted and moved into his space. Languidly, she grabbed his wrist and licked the blood off his kunai.

He shuddered.

She grinned. "I like this game Kakashi."

Without a word Kakashi grabbed a book from his pack, orange and comforting and _distracting_, and flipped it open. Anko pouted at him but realized the teasing was over. "Whatever, spoilsport."

Back on safe ground the older jonin replied. "So what's the next mission? I doubt you came here to chat with me Anko. You are a very busy woman after all."

She preened. "True. But there's no mission Kakashi, Jiraiya sent me to come get you. It's time to go home from this hellhole."

He blinked, and the real indication of his surprise was when he looked up from his book. "Come again?"

Anko let out a theatrical sigh, and spoke like she was talking to a very slow three year old. "Jiraiya-sama...sent me." She pointed to herself. "To get you," She pointed to Kakashi, "To bring us." She gestured to both him and herself. "Back home." She pointed back over her shoulder in the general direction of Konoha.

Kakashi blinked again, nodded dazedly, and fell into step behind her.

She chirped happily. "You got it. I'm so proud Kakashi-kun."

He ignored her for the most part because his mind was too busy racing.

He couldn't quite even bring himself to believe it. After an almost three year exile he was going home. He'd tried so hard not to think about why he was out here, why he hadn't seen Konoha in ages, what he'd failed and lost and hated. And yet no matter how hard he tried to forget, his worst memory stayed clearest: the day he'd been cast out.

He'd walked into that cluttered room, face set to hide his anger and shame. Tsunade had torn him a new one for failing all three of his students, and somehow she'd even known he'd been the one to leak Sasuke having his eyes ripped out to the council. By the end she'd been so furious she'd thrown him out of her office just so she wouldn't kill him.

Jiraiya had called for him though, the Hokage's right hand man and the scalpel where Tsunade's hammer wouldn't do. He'd found the Sanin in that cluttered room by the window, smoking, looking older and colder than Kakashi had ever seen him.

He'd awkwardly offered. "Didn't know you smoked."

Jiraiya had just looked at him as if he'd never seen him before. It was like they were strangers and Kakashi had never been Minato's student or been taken out to eat by the Sanin, or worked on missions with him and fought with him in wars in the same trenches.

Jiraiya took a long drag on the cigarette and the smoke of it curled off his words. "Only when fuckups happen."

It had not been directed at Kakashi, exactly, but he felt the blow of it all the same. Jiraiya thought nothing of him now and the jonin was surprised by how much that stung him. He'd thought no one had mattered to him anymore. He didn't think there had been anyone else left to fail.

He'd been wrong.

The Sanin had snuffed out the cigarette on the window sill. "This will work two ways Kakashi." The smoke remained in his voice, curling and poisonous. "You leave the village now and take missions as they're slotted out to you. You won't step foot back here and you'll keep your distance from Sakura and the other two if you somehow manage to run into them out in the field, it that clear?"

He'd not really believed what was happening. "What if I don't want to leave?"

Jiraiya had been stone. "You get demoted, shunned, and by the time the Hime is done with you, you'll be a worse disgrace than your father ever was."

Kakashi felt his anger rise but he covered it with nonchalance. "Is that so?"

"You don't know when to stop, do you?" The older man eyes were darker than onyx. "Three failed students, one turned traitor and the other had to rip out his eyes to stop him. Incompetence, negligence, and I'll be honest you just keep pissing off the wrong people and don't seem to care. Sakura…oh lord, that little girl. You treated that treasure like trash, and that treasure is one loved by Hime-sama the most."

Jiraiya closed his eyes and almost looked regretful. But when his eyes reopened there was nothing but unrelenting fury. "You'll take the long term assignment graciously and be on standby outside of Konoha. On the record your short stint as a Sensei simply didn't work out and you decided to get back onto active duty without joining up with the ANBU corps. Your students will come away with pleasant memories of learning how to be a true shinobi and teamwork. That's it."

Kakashi knew, distantly, what was happening to him even if it hadn't sunk in. "Unofficially?"

"You don't leave and Tsunade will fuck you over so bad you'll wish you died during the war. Unofficially you had an S-class killer, the legacy of your own goddamned sensei _and_ his son on your team, and you failed them. Hime is only being this generous because you still have some use as a ninja, and a pretty little cover story is better for everyone than that kind of truth. No, I lied, a cover story will make it easier for Sakura. Hime doesn't give a damn what it does for you."

He tried to justify it. "But Sakura, she…"

"One more word about her and I'll cut out your tongue myself." Jiraiya said.

And Kakashi stopped cold.

"Sakura became everything that I expected her to be. Strong, hard, beautiful, a real stone cold bitch." Jiraiya sighed unhappily. "I should have loved her more."

He couldn't have won. Sasuke had turned on him, Sakura had played him the fool, and Naruto had watched it all and just laughed at him. The two Sanin had somehow been hypnotized by that monster and treated her like she didn't have the blood of their village on her hands. There was no escaping it. "I'll take the assignment out of Konoha."

He'd taken exile.

Jiraiya had left without a word but the smell of smoke remained. This time, Kakashi knew there really was no one left to fail. He'd run out of them.

The past retreated and he looked up at the boiling sky as the memories rolled over him. He kept on walking, book still open, and the page not turned. Just one step closer to home.

Back to everything he had left behind and everything he'd already lost.

**Konoha, Hospital, Exam Room 11**

Chakra emanated from Tsunade's hands bathing the small room with a greenish glow. Her fingers hovered inches above Sakura's closed eyes and continued down on to her neck and then her shoulders. After passing her hands almost the entire length of the unconscious kunoichi's body the glow faded, and the room seemed to dim before the florescent lights began to buzz again.

Tsunade sighed.

Naruto shifted from foot to foot and held his unconscious girlfriend's hand tightly. "So?"

"Naruto, do you remember the last time Sakura was injured like this?" She asked.

He shuddered. "Of course. You think I'd forget my teammate going _brain dead_ for a week?"

Tsunade lifted up Sakura's other arm and pulled the sleeve back, easily turned it, and revealed the burn marks running up the veins on the entirety of the jinchuuriki's arm. Naruto gaped; Tsunade covered the burns and gently laid the arm back down. "I believe the correct terminology for this would be: same shit, different day. She overdid the red chakra and she burned faster than she could regenerate. Luckily, this time it didn't extend to her brain but instead all her chakra coils burned up and once the chakra couldn't get around she stopped healing. For some bizarre reason she managed to walk around for awhile on it and that's why she passed out like she did."

Naruto mumbled something.

Tsunade growled. "Either say it out loud or keep it to yourself."

"Pain tolerance." He swallowed guilty. "Her pain tolerance is so high she probably didn't even know anything was wrong."

Tsunade closed her eyes tiredly. "Of course. She'd walk around with her arm cut off unless someone pointed it out."

Naruto's voice was low. "What do you need me to do?"

The Hokage sighed. "The good news is Sakura is slowly repairing herself from the damage inflicted by the Kyuubi's chakra. I don't want to imbalance her any further by sticking my own chakra in there, so take her home and let her sleep it off. I imagine it'll take a day but knowing her it'll probably end up less. Once she's up and about send her to my office."

Naruto gave an affirmative nod and lifted Sakura up bridal style. Before he could leave Tsunade grabbed his arm. The jonin immediately stilled. "Yeah?"

Her voice was pitched low, worried. "Try and keep her from using too much of the red chakra, I don't care what you have to say or do. It's better than three years ago but…but for all we know next time Sakura might burn alive from the inside out."

He swallowed and nodded. His throat felt oddly tight. "Yeah, I'll…yeah. You can count on me."

"Thank you." Tsunade's smile was brilliant and so warm, that Naruto ached. And he wished that the smile was really for him and not just for Sakura, through him.

He knew Tsunade loved Sakura the best. No, only loved Sakura at all. He had never wanted or needed such motherly affection but…

Sometimes he wished things had worked out differently.

Tsunade brushed Sakura's hair from her forehead, gently, and then sent them on their way. Their trip to the hospital would never be recorded.

**Apartment Complex, 1:47 PM**

Hanabi frowned and peeked around the door jamb to the bedroom. She had been picked up by Sasuke from Jiraiya's house where she'd spent her time bored stiff. Then she'd started messing around in the kitchen and making a mess of things, and she'd actually forgotten for awhile that she was alone and conceivably locked up and trapped if Team Seven died out in the field. The security on Jiraiya's house, well, just looking at with her byakugan gave her migraines.

She could cook now though, and Sasuke had come back in one piece, and she'd been about to offer making an attempt at cooking for him in their kitchen in _their_ apartment. Then Sasuke had muttered something unintelligible and had barely made it to the bedroom before falling dead asleep.

And here she was staring at him with all plans of cooking forgotten.

She sighed and stepped into the room. He was so out of it he didn't even stir when she removed his sandals, laid his weapons on the floor, and got his headband off. The scars on his eyes stood out silvery and violet, carved by brutality.

She almost reached out to touch them before slapping herself. He was sleeping and Sasuke _hated_ people even looking at his scars, so he certainly wouldn't appreciate her touching him. And it was creepy and she really tried not to do that.

Having eyes that could see through…everything, made her creepy enough, thanks.

She sat on the bottom of the bed and just looked at him, assuring herself that at least it was less creepy than touching scars. It had only been a day and a half she'd really been alone. It'd been like she hadn't seen Sasuke in years. She couldn't figure it out; it wasn't like she was running up to Naruto and Sakura's apartment just to get a look at them too. What did she want?

Sighing, she flopped onto her back and stared at the ceiling. Sasuke was…Sasuke. This fascination was just because he was all she had outside of her sister, and she couldn't even have her sister because of politics keeping them apart.

So she lived with Sasuke, saw Sasuke, lov—

"I'm not thinking this." She moaned pitifully.

The sunlight fell in from the window, long and sultry and warm on her. It was too hard to think when she was so comfortable, too hard to ponder over her denials. She was asleep in minutes.

**Within The Seal**

Hell fire eyes, crimson fur behind the bars, the milky shine of teeth...

It was something she knew more intimately than should have been possible.

Her slender body was laid out right beneath the gate and her hair fanned out around her head in a dark halo. She almost felt like she was dreaming, except she wasn't because she couldn't dream, but she was technically asleep so maybe this one time she'd count it.

Jade irises stared up at crimson ones, and the weight of him pacing reverberated into her back. His thoughts were heavy and his chakra lapped somewhere, distantly trying to touch her and crawl back inside her.

She gazed up at him, utterly indignant. "You could have warned me, that by the way my chakra coils were _burning out right now_."

He scoffed. "Oh I'm sorry; I couldn't hear you over the sound of your whining."

She hissed at him, and really, the blatant irritation that got her in return almost counted as fondness from him.

She chose her words carefully. "Fuck. You."

Okay, not really anything careful about it.

His tail slammed by her head but she just stared at him, unflinching. His bared teeth turned to a smirk he had no business wearing, and the tail curled around her and under her head and propped her up.

His teeth snapped. "You are an impudent little thing, aren't you?"

"I am what you made me." She answered sweetly.

"True." His hell fire eyes looked at something in the darkness behind him. "I would threaten to break you but I think you managed that pretty well on your own this time."

Her original question remained. "So why didn't you warn me what I was doing to myself?"

The mocking was gone but the heat of hell remained. "I hadn't realized, between the wounds and the poison and our...little rage feedback loop we indulged ourselves in, you took on more chakra than was wise when I wasn't looking."

"And how much was that?" She asked and she was genuinely curious. It had been too formless for her to get a good read on it but she'd known it'd been…

"Five tails, you were cresting into six when you killed that Akatsuki and took a step back." He answered dryly.

"Oh." She brightened considerably. "That's more than last time and I'm not brain dead. This just means…we haven't gotten the combination right, that's all."

His sigh sounded like a gale. "Something like that. I sent out more chakra to heal you and all those insides of yours started getting all…messy. You burned out halfway through while I was cleaning your blood and at that point you couldn't hear me anyways. Then you went walking around with more holes in your body than you have common sense."

"Ha." She laughed sarcastically. "I love you too."

"You dearly wish, wretch." He answered caustically.

She was glad their relationship had gotten to the point where he didn't bother pretending to care or love her. She preferred what they really had, as messy and acrimonious and fucked up as it was. Because it was real and it was _there_.

The Kyuubi and Sakura. Demon King and his Jinchuuriki. Power and his vessel.

They _were_ and that was all that mattered to her.

Sakura closed her eyes and relaxed into his tail. "I imagine most of the damage this time came from the strain on the cells in my chakra coils. The heat started breaking down proteins, which destroyed cell enzymes, which then stopped all the chemical reactions. No reactions means no regeneration, no regeneration means no new cells, no new cells leaves the holes…"

He looked down at her, considering. "We need to figure out a way to insulate your cells, or make them work with the heat…" His eyes cast off to the darkness again, and she shut herself off away from the enormity of the possibilities he was running though and discarding through faster than she could even fire her neurons.

She was still going to pretend this was a dream for awhile.

The Kyuubi rarely made mistakes and when he did it was next to impossible to make him admit it. It had taken her almost eight years to get him to say that getting himself sealed inside a human child had been an itty bitty error on his part. The fact that it only took a little berating and cajoling over an hour this time was rather nice. Either he liked her more or didn't want her to bitch at him until he did.

Or she supposed there was the third option: that she had gotten too used to him and he realized she could see right through him.

"What now?" She leaned back, drifting, so tired of everything.

His thoughts came back to her for a moment. "Sleep, the damage will handle itself soon enough. In the mean time I'm going to see if I can't tool around your cellular structure into something less useless…"

She slept and stayed in his tail. He grasped the entirety of her genetic chain and tested and held her.

Sakura knew, someday, she'd be his perfect little doll.

**Unknown Location, Rice Country**

"Kabuto." The voice was oil in blood, filthy and slick and staining everything it touched. Orochimaru's golden eyes peeled him apart, and from his throne of stone and human bone, the Snake Sanin looked every inch the devil.

Kabuto could only kneel and wait, his knees long gone numb. "Yes Orochimaru-sama?"

"I have an assignment for you Kabuto-kun, are you ready?" Orochimaru purred and under his pale skin, his muscles looked coiled like a snake about to strike.

Kabuto could not disobey, and from his position at the base of the dais he could only push up his glasses and nod. "Yes."

The Sanin chuckled darkly, oil sloughing. "Send the teams in and wait, your assignment will be last."

He did not know if that meant he was finally trusted more, or if Orochimaru was toying with and humiliating him still. Kabuto nodded nonetheless and made the signal, and a massive gate at the end of the room clanged open. Forty men moved in, shades in the hall, moving between the stone pillars that made this room look like some ancient subterranean forest out of a nightmare.

All the ninja quickly bowed their heads, bodies clothed in dark Oto armor that was standard issue. Weapons glittered a sickly white in the torchlight, and not a person dared to breathe as Orochimaru examined them. His tongue flickered out as if to taste the air and maybe taste their fear too.

Whatever he found in the air satisfied him, and the Sanin sat back languidly. "My precious Oto ninja, it is time to bring Konoha to its knees and shatter their resolve to fight. Kumo and Iwa will have their own fronts prepared and Konoha will be distracted, and we will use that to strike at their heart. Kill all who stand in the way of your targets but let me make this clear."

His voice dropped to a guttural hiss. "All those who fail me will die in an agony you cannot even begin to fathom."

The ninja all bowed, saluted, or just cowered.

The Sanin's cold fury melted to a sickly sweet smirk. "You are dismissed my precious children, go and do my bidding and your rewards will be great."

Stick and carrot, fear and ecstasy, Orochimaru played them all so well and Kabuto knew it.

In a flurry of movement the room cleared and Kabuto remained, bowed, knees cold and numb still. The silence stretched and the warmth leeched from his skin.

Kabuto swallowed. "You said you had special orders for me Orochimaru-sama."

He wanted to sneer and scoff but Orochimaru no longer brooked that impudence from him. Some months back Kabuto had arranged to assassinate jinchuuriki Sakura and failed, and Akatsuki had somehow traced it back to Oto and as a price decimated the body Orochimaru had been using at the time.

The scars Kabuto carried from that failure, from Orochimaru's fury, would never heal despite his medical expertise. Some things could not be undone.

"Ah yes, of course Kabuto." His master's voice was sibilant and hypnotizing. "First inform the assassins that were sent after Minato's heir to bring back the brat's head. It will make an excellent present to Iwa at out next negotiation on the war. Once that is taken care of your real mission begins. I need a certain someone from Konoha and you will fetch them during the confusion of the main attack. I need them alive and unharmed, our Kumo friends will not accept spoiled gifts my dear Kabuto-kun."

An envelope was tossed at his feet and Kabuto gathered it up.

Orochimaru kept speaking but it was more of a gloat. "Our good _friend_ Danzo sent that information in you hand along with the guard schedules and ANBU patrols around Konoha. Though that man is an arrogant fool, his information is impeccable. When you bring the subject back make sure to draw as much blood possible without killing them for my own experiments, then make the transfer to a Kumo facility." He paused and his smirk deepened. "Do I make myself clear Kabuto? One more failure and I will have your head."

"Yes." He bowed humbly, seething and still brought low. He couldn't fight it, not now.

"Good." Orochimaru was all the genial leader again. "Go lead the attack Kabuto-kun."

It sounded to him both like a challenge and an insult, and the medic rose swiftly. As soon as he was out of the hall he had the envelop ripped open and was feverishly scanning. His insides clenched and he knew Orochimaru was testing him in the worst possible way.

The only targets more dangerous than his own were the Death Squad, and his target would have at least one of them at her side anyways. With a snarl he stepped into his lab and tossed the papers into a vat of acid and watched them disintegrate vindictively.

Orochimaru would never really trust him again. He knew that the moment he'd seen the picture of his target.

Just before the Intel report completely fell apart that picture and a name were visible. The photo was of dark haired girl with the palest white eyes imaginable, beautiful and cold, untouchable.

Under the picture was the target's name.

_Hyuga Hanabi_. _Age Twelve. Main House. _

And most damningly:

_Companion of Uchiha Sasuke._

**Apartment Complex, Dawn**

With his head throbbing and his body screaming from being in one position almost the entire night, Uchiha Sasuke woke. The darkness was the same as always, the same as it would always be, and yet something felt off all the same.

He pushed the covers down to his legs and froze as something shifted beside him. The kunai from the nightstand was in his hand and then he had a fistful of hair and soft skin under him.

He froze, breathed in, and the smell was sweet and familiar.

She wiggled under his hand. "I was sleeping. Go 'way."

He sighed heavily. "Hanabi, why the hell are you in my bed?"

"Warm." She answered mutinously and rolled into the covers and onto him in the process.

He rubbed his forehead in exasperation. "Coffee. Only coffee will make this make sense." And he stumbled out of bed in the direction of the kitchen.

Hanabi made a whining sound behind him. "You were warm. Come back."

"No." He snapped back, and then he heard the soft patter of feet landing on the floor and following after him. Resigned, he went to the kitchen and made himself coffee. Hanabi hung off him the whole time, half asleep and humming a melancholy song.

Uchiha Sasuke, avenger, The Reaper, and member of the Death Squad: forced out of his own bed by a little girl and being hugged by same girl.

And he didn't even mind.

**Hokage Tower, Storage Room 16**

Sakura had woken at dawn to Naruto, their bed, and the quiet walls of their apartment. Her being awake though had quickly woken her boyfriend and it had taken the rest of her morning to extract herself from him and his trying to cajole her into promising not to use the Kyuubi's chakra again.

Like _that_ would ever happen.

She had nodded and made soothing noises and tried to distract him with making out, and as soon as she'd heard Tsunade wanted her at the Tower she had bailed. Sakura was and could be a lot of things, but once she was something she liked she wouldn't change for anyone.

Even Naruto.

Her childhood had been long enough in forcing her to pretend. She wasn't going to do that again just to assure her boyfriend because he was a bit twitchy over a slight, _slight_ overdose. It's not like the Kyuubi wouldn't fix her up again anyways.

She'd arrived at the Tower just long enough for Tsunade to see her, kiss her forehead (which Sakura had preened for), and then be thrown into a tiny room with Shikamaru to devise battle scenarios for the coming war.

Tables were pushed together, scrolls were strewn about, maps tacked to the walls, and on one end of the table by a dirty window two chairs were jammed together. Sakura and Shikamaru were so close together they were practically sitting on top of each other.

They looked at maps and ANBU intelligence reports with their heads together, shared the same pen as they mumbled, argued, cussed, beat on each other's egos, and generally bitched their way through the most complicated tactics and logistics session they'd ever undertaken.

They were both tired and irritable and probably the only two people who could stand each other right then anyways.

The village that morning had been subdued, civilians buying up provisions and looking over their shoulders, ninja whispering fears and rumors, and everything quiet as if a storm was coming.

And it was coming.

All over the tower similar sessions were happening with ninja being brought in from all units hoping somebody would have a brilliant idea that'd stick. At the end of the day Tsunade would take the best plans her ninja came up with and put them in motion.

There were rumors Jiraiya was rushing back in to assist before bolting back to his network to get ready for the war, but it was just a rumor. Sakura didn't know for sure but she hoped it was true, mostly so she could have a few minutes with him. Jiraiya doting on her always made everything seem better, somehow.

But for the matter at hand she and Shikamaru were still planning and bitching. And fourteen _troublesomes _and seven _what a drag's _later they finished. Shikamaru had bruised shins from her kicking him under the table, her arms was littered with bruises from him punching her back, and two viable plans sat between them.

Sakura tossed down the pen, sighed, and tried to rub the soreness out of her shoulders.

Shikamaru pulled out his fifth cigarette and spun it between his fingers. He had picked up the habit from Asuma over his teenage years and now used any excuse to get his vice on. Which was long as he wasn't with Temari, in other words.

And as Temari was somewhere in Suna probably still latched to Gaara's side, Shikamaru was free to light up as he pleased. She grimaced but then just wrote it off and grabbed the lighter from the table and flicked it. A tiny flame sprang up and she held it up. Shikamaru dipped his head, dropping the tip of the cigarette in the flame gratefully, and took a deep breath.

His sigh of contentment was laced with smoke, and she thought that maybe someday the smell of it would come to comfort her.

"You know these things will kill you, right?" She put out her hand.

He handed her the cigarette. "Hey, if we die of cancer we'll be the lucky ones."

"Too right." She agreed despondently. The filter tasted like Shikamaru and she knew that 'cause they were childhood friends and you figured that out along the line. The drag she took was deep and she blew it out slowly, neck arched back, and the trail of smoke was a near sin just to look at.

Shikamaru groaned. "Fuck, don't do that."

She grinned around the cigarette. "Too much?"

He rolled his eyes and she put the cigarette between her fingers and let out another breath of smoke, this one more subdued and not a mind-fuck just to mess with her friend.

Only when no one was there would the two of them share a cigarette, they had been friends since they were children and while such acts of familiarity were common they were not something they let others see. It was theirs and only theirs.

Naruto would get jealous, no questions asked, because what her and Shikamaru acted like was just too far off platonic to be innocent. Temari would probably not understand either, not that Sakura would blame the other girl any if she did.

They were just friends but Sakura would get as close and platonic-intimate as anyone would let her, and Shikamaru let her get away with anything. He loved her and she loved him. She wanted anything he'd give her and sometimes she swore her obsession with her friends had gone a step too far.

He had never objected. They were just friends; however it seemed on the outside.

"Come on." He made a grabbing motion and she smiled and handed the cigarette back off. He dragged and they leaned back together, and as he breathed out she breathed in, tasting the smoke.

His eyes were half lidded and everything felt so easy and comfortable. He asked her languidly. "So how pissed off was the council when you slipped out on a mission again? I distinctly remember _somebody_ being confined to the village three years ago."

Her chuckle was low and from somewhere deep in her chest, it almost felt like a contented purr. "They didn't notice, with war being declared Tsunade-sama was given emergency powers in order to run the war. They're so busy trying to get back their precious control my little fieldtrip didn't even hit the radar."

He snorted. "Wow. Seriously? Is our council that friggin' stupid?"

His father was on that council but neither of them said it. She said instead. "They are." And he didn't object.

He took a drag and exhaled, she inhaled, and their temples were resting together and the sunlight was warm on their necks.

It was moments like this that made everything she'd ever done worth it.

Their bruised shins and more bruised egos were already forgotten.

"You think these plans will really work?" He gestured with the cigarette at the ceiling, leaving a lazy ring of smoke behind. "I'm not exactly ambitious enough to think we can stop it all."

"I don't know." And she really didn't. "But if nothing else these might delay the war until we can get the fronts pinned down better. And if it really stops the war…I think there's a chance if we head it off just right."

She didn't even take the cigarette out of his fingers this time but just his pulled his hand over and put her lips on the filter. She took a drag and exhaled, he inhaled.

The calluses of his fingers were rough on her cheeks. She let his hand go.

They were the best of friends in the world.

"Come on, let's get this to Tsunade and let her deal with it." He kicked out of his chair and she followed.

"Fine by me."

And they really were just friends, as complicated as it was.

**Hokage Tower, Private Office, 7:43 PM**

Tsunade smiled up at him when he entered. "You made it."

Jiraiya made a flippant gesture and fell tiredly into a chair. "You don't know the half of it. Every time I get away from this village some kind of emergency seems to crop up that has me running right back. At this rate my network…"

She reached over, grabbed a bottle of sake, and poured him a deep shot. "Your network is fine. Drink, take a breath, and then come back. Then it's my turn to freak out."

"I'm glad we have a system for this." He mumbled and took the shot. And just like she asked he breathed deeply and seemed to calm before her eyes. He dropped the glass down. "I already know the gist of what's going on, if you want details on what the hell Kumo and Iwa think they're doing you'll have to let me out in the field for at least a month to get to my deep cover guys. In the mean time what's the plan?"

If nothing else, Jiraiya always knew how to get to the heart of the matter. She spread her hand at the desk. "The plan is there are lots of plans and we get to pick. Sorry if you were expecting something…grander."

He sighed and reached out his hand resignedly. "Fine, give me a bottle of sake and the first stack and we can see what happens."

They spent the next four hours pouring over battle plans and discarding them, drinking like the world was ending, and bantering far more than they had in years. By then end of it they had it narrowed it down to seven plans with an understanding only three at the most would be run. Any kind of attack could be imminent at the village or at the borders or the capital, and sending their ninja running around would only delay them getting to the right place before it was too late.

But two plans sat at the center of her desk and they kept looking at them disbelieving only to jerk away, afraid that the brilliance of them would be lost if they examined them too closely. Jiraiya looked at her and she looked back.

He licked his lips. "I think…well, I'll say what we don't want to say 'cause we're afraid of getting our hopes up. What Shikamaru and Sakura put together might stop this war before it starts."

Tsunade took an uneasy shot of sake before answering. "Are you sure though? What they suggested...it either goes perfect or we get some of our best and brightest killed and nothing else. And if we pin too much hope on a failure…"

Jiraiya surged forward with such intensity Tsunade felt lightheaded. He spoke rapidly. "But it could _work. _We can't afford a ten or even twenty year war like the last one. If this works Iwa will be too busy crying in a corner to worry about a war and Kumo will be crippled. That'd leave Oto open for us to go in and smash the hell out of them. It could be…it could be over in a year. Six months even. Less if…"

"Don't get carried away." She grabbed his arm tightly. "Look, we both know if there's a chance we have to take it. We can't let thousands of people die just because we didn't want to get our hopes up. We run the plans and cross our fingers and make every contingency."

He relaxed under her and then grabbed her hand. They remained like that for a moment, hands clasped tightly. He gave her a crooked smile. "All right, then let's look them over again and make sure _every_ bug is out."

And that's what they did.

The first plan involved sending Naruto and a small squad of ANBU to Iwa's border. They'd track until they could find a large enough platoon of Iwa ninja moving through. From there Naruto would use the technique that had Iwa trying to assassinate him since he was a child: Hirashin.

The Yellow Flash would return again.

The run on sight order still remained on Minato, decades after he was already dead. Their fear remained and Naruto would exploit it, leave one alive to tell the story, and faced with the same nightmare that had annihilated them the last time around Iwa would be too busy running from their own shadow to handle a war. They may even opt out entirely.

Then came Kumo. A much larger squad of some of their best young jonin along with a specialist ANBU squad versed in explosives would infiltrate the country and destroy every port, armory, and means of transportation they could get at. The hope was they'd finish the worst of the damage hard and fast within a two week window and then pull out.

If Iwa was out of the picture and Kumo's logistic capabilities seriously derailed…the war just might stop before it even started. There was a reason Konoha was one of the big five and Oto wasn't, and with the field cleared and Kiri and Suna at their back, they'd wipe Orochimaru's village off the map for good.

But that was a best case scenario; the two plans had to work first before anything else.

Jiraiya began drafting possible squad combinations while Tsunade finalized the orders.

Operations Nightmare and Sabotage would soon be approved, and their execution could mean the difference between total victory or a decade's long bloodbath.

**Konoha, One Day Later, Main Gate**

The sunlight was long and she could already feel the cool of evening, and for that reason she clung to him just a bit longer to remember his warmth.

"I'll miss you." Sakura whispered, her arms around Naruto's neck snugly. She leaned up for a kiss and Naruto ran his hand down her throat to her waist as their lips met. He dug his fingers into the fabric around her hips and for a breathless moment the kiss was so deep she worried about drowning.

They broke apart and it felt like a loss. His lips brushed her forehead. "I wish you could come with me."

She tried not to sound sad, or angry, or anything but loving. "Don't worry about it. This is an official _official_ mission, pretty much the only one going out right now and even the council would notice me missing then. Besides, someone needs to keep an eye on the village. Just…try not to die."

He chuckled. "I won't, promise. When are the others leaving?"

She had designed the plans so she knew very well what would happen next. "The other squads should be leaving as we speak from another gate. Between Sasuke, Neji, Lee, Kiba, Shino, Tenten, Chouji, and Shikamaru…the ANBU with the C4 will have plenty of company. They'll be gone probably longer than you. And trust me, the Hyuga girls all threw fits over their men leaving."

Of course Hinata was more demure about it then Hanabi, but the sentiment was the same when they realized they weren't going along. Hanabi had pouted and sulked at Sakura the entire afternoon while she explained the plan to Sasuke and the others.

Of course it being Hanabi it came out as amusingly adorable.

"What, and I don't get a fit for leaving?" Naruto whined.

She kissed him soundly. "I think that'd be better than a fit."

They both shared quite laughter and separated so they were only holding hands. They left the shadow of the wall and came face to face with the ANBU squad that would be going with her teammate. The leader was Shiranui Gemma, a man who had loathed her off and on over the years but was a good ninja nonetheless. His squad mates were Hagane Kotetsu and Kamizuki Izumo. All of three had been recruited to ANBU as soon as they had become Jonin and were one of the more talented squads.

It eased her slightly to know Naruto would have good ninja watching his back.

Naruto gave her a half hearted smile, and the next kiss felt like goodbye. They separated and his eyes stayed on her as he joined the squad. They were gone too fast for anything more to be said.

Naruto didn't look back. And every step he moved from her was one step closer to war.

Sakura didn't look back either. Her way to the village was silent and an eerie stillness shrouded her as twilight fell on the village.

Absently she fingered the chain around her neck and under her shirt. Three rings were strung on it, Akatsuki rings, still buzzing and hooking and calling out to something she couldn't name. She didn't know what to do with them and at one point Naruto had glanced at them and not seen anything strange, and Sakura had come to the conclusion being a jinchuuriki let her see what laid underneath the veneer. Gaara had recognized them too, even if he hadn't known what he was recognizing.

The road smoothed out and at the ext corner Ino and Hanabi were waiting for her. The two girls had just finished seeing off their boyfriend and guy-who-she-happened-to-live-with-but-of-course-wasn't-dating-because-he-was-way-older, respectively.

"I need comfort." Ino told her bluntly. "Your place or mine?"

Sakura decided now wasn't the time for a dirty joke. "I don't know, are you a screamer? The walls are thick enough at my place…"

Oh no, wait, it was _always_ the time for a dirty joke.

Ino grinned. "Well I do like to—"

Hanabi covered her ears and started humming loudly. Ino and Sakura laughed so hard they nearly cried.

"Well we may not need thick walls yet, but I do have ice cream and Hanabi's staying with me anyways, come on." Sakura offered.

Both girls accepted, though Hanabi really didn't have a choice in the matter anyways. The three girls settled in Sakura's apartment for ice cream and laughter and stories to pass the long hours until the ones they were waiting for came home.

Late that night Sakura felt a chill pass through her, hooks and clawing steel, and the rings heated up against her skin. She quickly muffled them with her chakra, silencing their frantic whatever-it-was they were doing before it became noticeable.

It had been a warning she hadn't quite understood, not then. The laughter of that night would soon be a distant memory.

**Half a Mile from Konoha, Midnight**

Trees swayed in the wind, their leaves rustling a shadowy green in the light of the moon. Guards moved along the wall by the forest silently, making their rounds every ten minutes like clockwork. Occasionally an ANBU would flicker by, watching but never quite stopping and they vanished as quickly as they came.

The trees were filled with more than leaves.

One by one shadows darted from the branches, taking the few minutes of precious opening between the guard patrols to clear the wall undetected. They would enter the city and lie in wait, and it would be hours until all of their number were in position and the strike would begin.

Kabuto adjusted his glasses, moonlight reflecting off them and signaling the next group to move across the wall. He would wait all night to do this, more patient than anyone had a right to be.

In all of this the Oto ninja infiltrating Konoha never noticed two pairs of eyes watching them and two more shadows in their number. The two were waiting to exploit the chaos the Oto ninja would inflict, and one pair of the eyes were pale white while the other's were bloody red.

Akatsuki had lost more than just members when jinchuuriki Sakura came after Sabaku no Gaara, and they'd have her and what she'd stolen by the time the moon rose next.

Kisame grinned. Itachi just watched on.

They were one step closer to ending everything.

* * *

Edit: changes made this chapter was Sakura's squad getting diverted back to Konoha because of the war became more serious, Sakura's passing out was explained better in context, Kakashi's conversation with Jiraiya about why he got exiled was cleared up, the fact that Hanabi spent her time at Jiraiya's house during the mission was added and her feelings about Sasuke were addressed here more, Kabuto's being out of Orochimaru's grace was given back-story, Sakura and Shikamaru's battle session was a bit more intimate but essentially the same, Jiraiya's return was added in along with the stress of the war situation between him and Tsunade, and the Akatsuki ring plotline was again and hopefully more logical.


	23. Storm

**Disclaimer: **I have no ownership of anything except my laptop. My poor, loyal laptop.

* * *

**Apartment Complex, 3:00 AM**

A loud crash from the kitchen sent Sakura's eyes wide open, and she immediately sat up on full alert. Her alarm was short lived when she heard a familiar voice cursing. Sakura covered her face and sighed.

It was only Hanabi.

She shook her head to clear the sleep away and looked at the clock on the night stand. It blinked 3:00 AM in bright red, cutting through the hazy sleep still hovering at the edges of her mind.

The bed felt like a cocoon. The sheets were sticky, humid, and they clung to her skin as she practically had to peel herself out of bed. It would be the only time that she would be happy about the fact that she had slept alone for the two hours it had lasted.

She hit the floor and shrugged on a t-shirt that she vaguely recognized as Naruto's and then stopped, pulled back her hair, and fanned her face. The humidity in the apartment was unbelievably thick for that hour of the night and even though she could hear the air conditioner running, the heat was stifling.

Unhurriedly she made her way to the kitchen, and as her eyes were still adjusting from the few hours of sleep she'd managed, she did not bother turning on the lights. When she got to the kitchen she opted to open the blinds and thin bars of fluorescent orange filtered in. It allowed her to see a large dent in the wall and a cabinet with the door broken off. Hanabi was sprawled across the floor, looking for all the world like she'd given up and decided the floor was as good a place to lay as any.

Sakura cast a glance to the futon in the other room and noted the twisted sheets. Hanabi had gotten some sleep before mauling her kitchen, then.

There was a broken chair over by the wall as well, but Sakura distinctly remembered that furniture-casualty from when Ino had started choking on a spoon last night while laughing.

"Hanabi?" Sakura question. She may have prodded the girl with her foot just a little, also.

"What?" The Hyuga snapped back but the bite of the retort was muffled by the floor.

She replied lightly."Just wondering what my kitchen ever did to you."

Hanabi rolled over, seemingly still content with the floor. "I can't help it. Sasuke's apartment isn't like—" She didn't get any farther because at that moment, lightning streaked across the sky and thunder followed it with a roar. The windows rattled and the clamor lasted nearly half a minute.

"That and the lightning woke me." Hanabi finished flippantly.

Sakura rolled her eyes. "Just fix the damn cabinet."

The girl nodded and pushed herself up. The jinchuuriki watched as Hanabi attempted and failed to get the door back on the hinges. It rapidly became apparent that nothing was getting fixed tonight if ever.

Sakura flipped the stove on and then opened the fridge. "Forget it. I'm making food, what do you want?"

Hanabi quite eagerly let the broken door fall and sat at the table. "Eggs. And bacon. And toast and…"

"Yeah. Full breakfast, I got it." She grabbed some eggs, a packet of bacon, and a pan and got to work.

Hanabi hummed happily and watched her work. The girl being a Hyuga had never learned to cook, and Sasuke being blind made anything more than toast too much trouble for him (though she supposed if Sasuke really wanted something he could have managed) so the two of them had lived off of takeout and Sakura and Naruto occasionally cooking.

And takeout got old, fast.

"So not that I'm ungrateful or anything, but any reason we're having breakfast at three AM?" The younger girl asked.

Another peal of lighting lit the room and the resulting thunder shook the entire building. It was an answer in itself, but Sakura elaborated anyways. "My instincts are going haywire. Being a ninja makes sleeping through storms…difficult. You're welcome to go back to sleep after you eat though."

"Naw." Hanabi answered. "The lightning's what got me up. If you're awake I'm awake too. Besides when I'm with Sasuke…" She trailed off uncertainly.

The two girls were close enough, not necessarily the best of friends, but comfortable with each other all the same. If the politics of the situation hadn't forced them together for these past months, Sakura doubted she would have ever seen or thought of Hanabi much again. But the girl was Sasuke's whatever-she-was and was part of the package of putting up with him. And the jinchuuriki had been wondering just what her teammate and the Hyuga's relationship had been morphing into lately.

So she asked. "You always follow him around?"

The kitchen was dark but she saw Hanabi duck her head shyly. "Yeah. I suppose. So what?"

And Sakura finally knew. The girl had it _bad_, but the jinchuuriki would let nature take its course. She tipped the pan and let the first scrambled eggs fall on a plate, the air wafting up was hot and Sakura felt sweat curl down her back.

Standing over a stove wasn't fun in this kind of humidity.

She dropped the plate in front of Hanabi and got back to cooking. They ended up eating in silence but neither girl minded. There wasn't much to say anyways.

**Konoha, Commercial District, 6:03 AM**

Yamanaka Ino stepped out of her parent's flower shop and looked up at the black sky dubiously. Another flash of lighting danced between the clouds and the thunder rattled the entire street. It would rain on her; it was only a matter of when it would be the worst possible time for it to happen.

Ino and the weather had a long standing disagreement with each other.

Unfortunately, her job at the Torture and Interrogation department as it was in the _Torture and Interrogation Building _meant there wasn't any surprise shushin-ing in anytime soon. Ibiki and the seal matrixes frowned heavily on that sort of thing. With a sigh she closed the door on the shop and slung a small bag over her shoulder. She took her first few steps out from under the awning while silently daring the sky to rain on her.

Her neck hairs stood on end and she picked up the pace nervously. Her skin buzzed like someone had their eyes on her and she fought to keep her own eyes forward.

It wasn't that unusual, hell, it was downright normal in the village for her to get watched. The ANBU had a policy to pick people at random and follow them around for a few hours to make sure everything was nice and legitimate. It was annoying as hell but it kept all of the shinobi in line and healthily paranoid.

Ino had her own theories that the ANBU were just fucking with them, but she didn't share them.

All the same she hated the feeling and with the storm rolling in since early that morning, her nerves were already frayed. She doubted single shinobi worth their salt had slept during all the noise. Shinobi may have been trained to catch sleep whenever they could, but most had honed their instincts too much to be able to ignore what sounded like the end of the world outside.

It was surprising that anybody ever slept in this village at all.

Screw it. The ANBU could follow her another day. Without warning she quickly ducked into an ally and took to the rooftops. She'd be at the T&I department in minutes.

When she flickered from view two pairs of eyes narrowed. From the shadows of the trees lining the street, two men watched her go.

"Should we follow her?" A raspy voice asked. The man licked his lips. "Be a shame to let one that pretty go."

The other man scowled and his Oto headband shown dully. "No. The Yamanaka's are the primary targets. Their little girl is only a bonus if we stumble over her again."

The two assassins crouched silently in the tree a minute longer, thinking over their kill orders, considering.

The first with the raspy voice, like gravel on gravel, spoke up again. "What a bonus." He sounded almost wistful. "Maybe she'll be back."

The second rather doubted it. "Just shut up and wait for the signal."

**Konoha, Half a Mile From Hokage Tower, 10:20 AM**

Sakura reclined back on the grass and gazed up into the rolling black sky thoughtfully. Inwardly she was making silent bets with herself when it was going to start raining. She hoped it'd be soon, the rain would take away the horrible humidity that had her hair plastered to her skin.

She had on a green jonin flak jacket with the sleeves cut off, and it was unzipped as low as she could have it without her being indecent. The wide swath of skin revealed had a glimmer of iridescent green in the center. Sakura still wore the necklace Tsunade had given her without fail. It was one of her most cherished possessions and a constant reminder that she was loved. She toyed with it absently and ignored the second, longer silver chain looped around her neck.

The Akatsuki rings that hung off it rested on her stomach, and they were wreathed in a genjutsu to make them unnoticeable. The damn things had been humming and buzzing and hooking at her since she'd woken. As soon as she figured out what they did, and whether they were useful, she was melting them down to scrap. Wonderful, silent, not bending-reality-with-seals scrap.

She crossed her bare legs wearily and tried to ignore the rings as best as she was able. Her shorts rode high and her sandals were still getting broken in, and overall she felt irritated at the state of the world.

She and Hanabi had arrived at the Hokage's office at dawn and had found Tsunade awake, frazzled, and most damningly doing paperwork just to pass the time. Sakura had been drafted in and a few hours later with her fingers numb and sore, she'd pleaded for a break and made a quick exit.

Hanabi had followed, but after spending the morning lounging around Tsunade's office watching Sakura toil, the younger girl claimed she was exhausted enough for the both of them and heading back to the apartments to take a nap.

Sakura had not bothered asking which apartment, the jinchuuriki's or Sasuke's, that the girl was going to sleep in. Neither had occupants right then and Sakura didn't particularly care where the girl ended up. They made stilted goodbyes and parted, and Sakura had wandered her way to a park and lowered herself onto the grass.

The grass ended up being dry and itchy under her, and she felt cheated that with the humidity in the air that the ground felt as parched as sandpaper on her back.

A familiar voice called her name. "Sakura!"

She sat up and a genuine smile was on her face. "Maru!"

Without a second thought she opened her arms and Konohamaru, grinning and in full gear and in a Konoha headband, bounded over and threw himself into her lap. They cuddled for a moment before she got a good look at him.

There were dark rings under his eyes, new calluses on his hands that had never been there before, and healed over nicks and scratches that had probably accumulated for weeks. He looked like he'd been training hard without a good night's sleep in ages. She frowned.

He'd been doing a lot of independent study and when she could she tried to help out. However, he and Naruto did not get along and if they ended up in the same room they spent most of the time bickering and fighting for her attention. It was normal that only on her office hours when she was working with Tsunade, that Konohamaru would come to see her. By then Naruto would be long gone to train with either Jiraiya or Sasuke.

So really, Konohamaru did a lot out of her notice. Including this time, what seemed to be an attempt at working himself to death.

She didn't voice the worry, at least not yet. "No missions today?" She asked instead, resting her forehead on his.

He smiled cheekily. "Nope. With the war and all they're only sending missions out to the older teams, and those ones are in-village anyways." He gave her a look that told her he thought this was a grave travesty.

"Your life is a tragedy." She deadpanned. "They're not going to be sending you to the front lines Maru, quit looking so disappointed."

He pouted and twisted the necklace Tsunade had given her around the palm of his hand. He examined it distractedly. "Whatever. It's just…we had more mission when we were in the Academy. This _sucks_."

She had to concede that point. "I suppose." And she rested her cheek again his hair. He accepted the affection by leaning against her and Sakura became very aware of just how tall he was getting.

Konohamaru wasn't the little boy she could carry around anymore.

And she'd played a large part in that. A new policy had been put into place on mission assignments since her genin days, mostly on her initiative and a lot of politics in the Hokage's office being involved.

Simply put D-class missions _could_ be done by Academy students, and for the past two years more experienced kids from the Academy were given missions to complete during the school day instead of going to classes. It better prepared them for when they became real genin and ironed out teamwork early on through multiple team combinations since squads weren't yet determined.

It freed up the genin for higher D-rank and low C-rank, chunin for high C-rank and low B, and jonin didn't have to waste their skills on low class missions anymore, not to mention that the ANBU pretty much managed to hoard all the dangerous missions for themselves without the Jonin complaining.

She'd watched Konohamaru work his way through D-ranks and then graduate, go on a squad, and immediately move to C-ranks. He was talented and driven and worshiped the ground she walked on, and by those measures alone perfect. But with the weight of them curled together she was reminded how little child was left in him, if any was at all.

The world kept moving and she couldn't dwell on what once was, and neither could he. "Look, wars suck and the higher ups don't want you kids running around outside the walls getting yourselves killed. Train up while you can, if things get ugly out there even the genin will get pulled into the grinder."

That's what had happened in every war before. As soon as enough casualties occured the genin were thrown on the front lines as fodder and the Academy would churn out graduates barely ready to hold kunai, let alone fight, and send them straight into battle. That was war and there was no reason to look forward to it.

The pout vanished. "I guess." The necklace fell from his hand and he rested his head against her shoulder.

Sakura murmured condolences half heartedly and twisted a lock of his hair around her finger. She laid down and they sprawled there together, watching stormy sky with distant gazes.

Konohamaru's eyes nearly slid shut, becoming nothing more than bright slits in his face. "Then if war's coming train me up. I want to fight and protect this village."

She saw the bruising under his eyes. "Aren't you training enough already?"

He rolled over and stared at her defiantly. "You said war's coming, right? No avoiding getting there, I can't be ready enough."

She gazed up at him a long moment, calculating. A tight smile pulled at her lips. "Good answer. Fine, let's see what you've got."

He leapt to his feet and pulled the snowboard goggles sitting atop his forehead over his eyes. "I've got a new jutsu I've been designing. Wind type, I've got the first stages worked out but…"

She raised an eyebrow, half impressed. Designing new techniques as a genin was three kinds of crazy and another three kinds extraordinary. "Show me."

And he did.

Another streak of lighting crossed the sky and thunder rolled after it, and Konohamaru unflinchingly moved his hands through a string of seals. In a burst of chakra an absolute gale kicked up the dirt around him, swirling and tangling and lashing at everything.

It had power but no direction to quite give it the deadly punch it needed. She'd seen Naruto's shearing, blade edged storms, and while this was similar she could see the different direction it was branching into.

"That's…" He paused pointedly and the wind died down. "…as far as I got."

"Well it's not a complete loss; you just don't have the control to turn the wind into blades just yet." She tapped her fingers against her jaw thoughtfully. "We'll have to improvise giving it the kick until your elemental manipulation can manage alone."

She stood languidly, dusted off the dirt from her legs, and pulled a few leaves up that were scattered on the ground.

He eyed the leaves in a mixture of caution and eagerness. "How do you figure?"

"That wind isn't enough to fling around kunai yet, and really, your enemy will see them coming." She gave him a maniacal grin. "But a few leaves mixed in that just happened to be chakra sharpened better than any blade? That's a whole new ballgame."

Konohamaru's face broke into a nasty grin.

She dropped into instruction and he hung off her every word, eyes glittering fervently. She didn't realize right then that Konohamaru wasn't the only one watching her.

**Hokage Tower, 10:45 AM**

An assassin slid through the door more easily than he had any right do. Here he was in the most well protected, most strategic building of his enemy's village, and they just let him _waltz_ in. His normally sinewy body was already cloaked by genjutsu and it wasn't like he was in the Bingo book, but he still felt insulted on the principle of the matter.

He watched the hustle of the offices before him: ninja drifting in and out, secretaries bickering and searching for files, a few mission handlers making their rounds through the rank and file of waiting ninja. It was all and all a normal day in the shinobi life of Konoha.

It was like these idiots didn't know they were in a _war._

But he wasn't here to look a gift horse in the mouth, and he ignored the commotion and instead ascended a staircase that would take him to the top of the tower. No one questioned his presence and for another few seconds he wanted to grab one of these stupid leaf ninja and shake them.

Unfortunately his mission came first.

He had taken the face of a higher level jonin in the ranks, not too famous or skilled, but still well respected enough that he'd be given clearance to the higher offices. Respected enough no one who go poking at him too closely and finally reveal this deception.

It was all courtesy of Danzou. That traitor knew the procedures and little quirks of this system like the back of his hand, and had handed them over to Orochimaru on a silver platter on the off chance the snake Sanin would remove his enemies. It would have been next to impossible for the assassin to have performed his mission without the information given by the traitorous ROOT leader.

But still, the leaf ninja letting him waltz around had no freaking excuse for this lax kind of security, traitor or not.

A smirk crossed the assassin's face, and his fingers ran down the handle of a specially poisoned kunai. The poison had no antidote and once it hit the bloodstream it was game over. It had been given to the assassin by Orochimaru himself and it was special made for one target alone. The assassin had even been told the spot _just_ where to stab.

He would not to fail, his was the preemptive strike that would throw chaos onto this village. His was the strike that would kick off the assassinations that would bring this place to its knees.

The stairs ended and walked down a blissfully, stupidly, empty hallway to the final set of doors between him and his target. This was too freaking easy. He rapped on the door three times and waited.

"Come in." A throaty, feminine voice called.

His pulse turned thready, excited, and the palm he had on the kunai felt clammy with sweat. The assassin caught his breath and tried not to give himself away as he opened the door. On the other side of the room sat a blonde woman behind a desk and she was more beautiful than the assassin could have possibly imagined, and she was the woman he was here to kill.

The lady Hokage Senju Tsunade was less than twelve feet away, and the assassin had a kunai with her name on it.

The Hokage was being attended by her assistant, the slim brunette Shizune. The assassin needed her to go.

"Hokage-sama I need to speak with you privately. I have a top-priority message from the decryption division… " The words had been fed to the assassin by Danzou, words that would clear a room in an instant.

"Of course." Tsunade said, and from this close the assassin could see the rose curve of her lips and the honey hue of her eyes.

The assistant was waved out of the room as another crack of lighting lit up the sky outside. Shizune closed the door behind herself with a soft click, and his grip tightened on the kunai as he stepped forward. The space was eaten up between him and his target and soon they were only an arm's length away.

Tsunade was no less stunning up close and the power of her chakra radiated straight through him.

He tried not to grin a grin that would have too many teeth and far more excitement. Today he would kill a legend.

**Apartment Complex, 11:05 AM**

Kabuto adjusted his glasses and looked up at the sky from position on the roof. Without a second thought he lit off a firework. He watched it make a lazy trail through the sky before igniting out high above the city in a burst of color and noise.

The signal had been sent.

Children playing on the street below screeched with delight, but they were the only ones who really noticed it. Amongst all the thunder it'd been barely audible, at least, not audible unless one expected it. And the practical _army_ slipped into this village had been expecting it.

Kabuto returned his gaze to the apartment building below him. Hyuga Hanabi had entered not an hour prior abd thankfully alone. He couldn't believe his luck, when he'd seen the little Hyuga keeping the company of the jinchuuriki that morning he'd thought he'd signed his death warrant. Then she'd come waltzing back alone. No jinchuuriki, no Uchiha Sasuke, no Death Squad to protect her.

His grin was skeletal.

All around the village compounds were being surrounded, offices infiltrated, and houses entered with the utmost stealth. At the Aburame a toxin would be leaked into the area, a nerve gas that they hoped would kill any bug it touched to soften them up before the real fun began.

The Yamanaka flower shop, home of the infamous Yamanaka Inoichi of Ino-Shika-Cho would entered by two assailants through a back window. The compounds made of dozens of homes belonging to the Akimichi and Nara would be infiltrated like clockwork. The weaker occupants and civilians would fall first from quick knife work.

The conference room where Koharu and Homura were having their morning tea before their council meeting already had been sabotaged for them, and while the occupants were originally ninja they were too far past their prime to know what was happening before it'd be too late.

Hyuga Hinata and Hyuga Hanabi, separated by miles of city streets and assassins, would both wake when they heard a clatter that just didn't sound right. They'd search it out with soft footfalls and wary eyes.

The Sarutobi residence was being broken into just as the retired Hokage Sarutobi and his son Asuma were having their morning coffee.

All over the village violence would rain down. Reports would soon be surging in and the ANBU would scramble and yet there would be no response from the Hokage's office. Chaos and fear would grip the village and for the first time, Kabuto was certain they'd win.

And it was all going according to plan.

**Half a Mile From Hokage Tower, 11:10 AM**

It had all been going fine, until it wasn't going fine at all.

"GET DOWN!" The scream ripped itself from her throat, and Sakura threw herself at Konohamaru. By likely only a miracle alone did she manage to snag him around the waist and shove him to the ground. A slew of kunai skimmed their backs and embedded in the ground right where they'd been standing.

The entire thing had taken three seconds, maybe less.

Konohamaru's dirt scuffed face looked at her in surprise and then around them as far as the hand Sakura had placed over his head would allow. "What…where…"

"Not now." She hissed. They were under attack in the middle of their own freaking village and Sakura knew this was _definitely _not the time to ask questions. She eased away from him but stayed relatively low to the ground. They were in an exposed zone and getting some cover would be their first and foremost objective.

Another slew of kunai came straight at her chest and with a careless flick of chakra she blew them away. The attack had come from the tree line and suddenly cover was the furthest thing from her mind. Those idiots had just given away their location. The chakra exchange she made was so seamless no one but her noticed.

Konohamaru was left on the ground, staring up at a shadow clone. The clone gave him a significant look and he cycled between confusion and fear that then faded to a look of understanding. The clone was there to hide the fact the real Sakura had gone to root out their assailants, and they would be the distraction until then.

He could handle that. With a smirk he placed his hands on the ground. The wind jutsu he kicked up shredded the ground and blew up a cloud of dust that choked the whole clearing.

As the cloud spread across the grass, shadows moved through the trees that surrounded them to get a better vantage. Their assailants. Konohamaru felt an arm go around his waist and lift him, and when the dust cleared neither the genin nor the clone were there.

From the trees, one of the assassins let out a panicked hiss. "Where the hell did they go?"

"Here." Sakura breathed against his neck. The kunai in her hand sliced all the way from the base of his spine to his neck. The assassin shuddered and blood streamed off his back. He then slumped forward over the branch and didn't move again.

"Oh, I'm sorry, did that hurt?" She mocked, and a second assassin sitting less than a few feet away from her turned just in time to see his squad-mate nearly cut in two. Before Sakura could even turn the second assassin had a dozen shuriken flinging from his hands.

Sakura pitched forward as the shuriken shredded into her back and neck, and with a small pop she turned into a cloud of smoke.

The second assassin's eyes widened just as the same kunai that had killed his teammate was rammed through the base of his skull, shattering bone and spilling brain matter.

"I really don't appreciate having shuriken in my back, thanks." With a jerk she slid the corpse off her kunai and let it drop. Her ears picked up the sounds of a third ninja who'd been acting as a lookout for the assassin team, fleeing away from her.

It was the first smart thing her enemy had done all day.

She let the lookout go because thirty feet away he was met by the cheery face of the genin he'd been sent there to kill.

"Hi there," Konohamaru grinned and joyfully waved the kunai in his hands. "Catch."

The assassin rolled to the side and out of the kunai Konohamaru threw at him, and the killer's mind was racing.

The kid was supposed to be a genin barely out of the academy, but somehow the brat had managed to get around the scout and behind him to cut off his escape. It should have been an easy kill, the kid was only supposed to have a chunin bodyguard at the worst.

He wasn't even the grandson of the reigning Hokage anymore.

That was as far as the assassin got when he felt a blade spattered with blood pressed to his neck.

"So what are you doing here?" Sakura pressed herself to his back, holding the blood spattered kunai tighter. Her voice was sinuous, poison wrapped in silk. "Besides trying to kill us of course. That part is _obvious_."

The assassin stiffened and slammed his elbow into her stomach. She absorbed the blow and spun away, and let a second kunai drop into her off hand. She'd need it, she'd left the first embedded in the enemy's shoulder and he howled in pain. He tried to punch her and she flipped over him easily, grabbed the blade in his shoulder and _twisted._ The wet pop of his shoulder dislocating was audible.

Her lips curled into a smirk as he screamed, and she let the momentum of the spin carry her as she brought her knee smashing into his ribcage. The crack of ribs shattering wracked the air, and the assassin stumbled one last time before crumpling to the ground. It was all and all a rather pathetic thing to watch.

And judging by Konohamaru's expression, rather boring too.

She crouched next to the fallen assassin and pulled out a senbon needle from the inside of her vest. She spun it through her fingers a few times before bringing it to his jugular. Konohamaru hovered over her shoulder, watching everything she did with avid eyes.

The poison and silk was gone from her voice, and all that was left was the bleakness of ice. "What are you doing here?"

The assassin tried to squirm away. She scoffed and stabbed the man through the palm, pinning his hand to the bloody ground and keeping him in place. He shrieked but stopped trying to crawl away from her.

"Good boy." She pulled another needle and put it at his throat. "Now let's start this again: why the hell are you here?"

The assassin swallowed but didn't answer. She sighed dramatically. "Fine, you had your chance. Maru, honey, come here."

The genin moved over to stand beside her, pulling off his blood spattered goggles. "Yeah sis?"

What she said next was as much as benefit for him as it was the injured assassin lying on the ground. "Did I ever teach you torture?" She purred.

Konohamaru's eyes lit with an unholy interest. "No."

The assassin let out a sharp, keening noise. Mental games were _so_ easy.

Sakura lit up. "I guess I've been slacking off on your training, let's get you started. Lesson one in interrogation and torture: when using a blade make the cuts shallow so the subject stays conscious longer." And then she took the needle and _carved_.

Thin, spindly, snaking wounds were sheared up and down the enemy's face and arms and chest. The ninja moaned in agony the whole time. It went for five minutes and the assassin still wouldn't talk. The coldness of her cracked open into a feral grin. "You may be more fun after all."

She raised the senbon caked with blood in the air so every one of them could see it clearly. The feral joy of that grin was in her voice. "Let's step it up then." The needle glowed red hot as she channeled chakra through it, and the blood turned to steam. In a matter of moments the blood on it had burned away leaving the blade clean and shimmering with heat.

The smell of it was nauseating.

"Lesson two: when dealing with heated instruments the depth of the cut doesn't matter. All wounds will be cauterized on contact." She didn't flinch as she drove the searing metal into each of his knuckles, the skin charring and peeling back with the heat. This smell was worse.

The moans turned to screams. Konohamaru didn't flinch.

The assassin's hands were fast becoming blackened stumps of mangled flesh when he finally cried out. "I'll answer! I'll answer please, just stop. Just stop, please."

The needle fell away. Sakura smirked. "Pefect. I know you're one of Orochimaru's dogs so let's cut the crap and get to the heart of this. What's your mission here, objectives, targets, everything."

The assassin answered and sounded hoarse. Torn some vocal cords from all the screaming, probably. "My squad was sent as a part of a larger assassination platoon. We were all assigned different targets to destabilize the government in Konoha to make it easier to wipe out."

She frowned and dragged the needle back into view. "That doesn't explain why you were after Konohamaru, or why you attacked when I was sitting right next to him."

The assassin swallowed hard. "H-he was an easy target! We were supposed to leave his body in a visible spot to demoralize the civilians and the Sarutobi. Our team was supposed to wait for the signal to attack, but when we thought he was out in the open with only a chunin babysitter we couldn't pass it up. We didn't realize…we didn't realize…"

"Didn't realize you were attacking a goddamned jinchuuriki with only three men?" She sat back in shock. "Good god, are you that stupid?"

The assassin didn't answer but the question had been mostly rhetorical anyways. She looked back at Konohamaru but he seemed to be easily taking it into stride that he'd almost been murdered and mutilated. Comfort could wait if it was needed at all.

She turned back. "Signal?" But then a loud cracking sound had her looking up to see a bloom of fireworks lighting up over the village. She knew what that meant.

The assassin panted. "That signal. The only one who was supposed to act before the signal was the ninja sent in to kill the Hokage—"

She slammed him up onto his feet, holding him by the hair and listened to him scream. She shook him and nearly peeled off his scalp. "If you're lying to me I will personally skin you alive, has the Hokage already been attacked?"

"Yes." The assassin screamed.

The coldness was back inside her, fissuring through and spreading frost and ice and _fear_. Tsunade was in danger, already in danger. Leader, teacher, almost mother. But Sakura was a monster first and foremost and a ninja second and then maybe a human somewhere very far down the list. There was nothing she could do right now except ask. "Who else is under attack?" The needle was now barely a fraction of an inch from being in his eye.

The assassin gasped in pain. "I'm not sure! Most of the clans and council. Both of the Sanin, your team, and the Hyuga heiress."

Hinata or Hanabi? The friend she loved more dearly than her own life or the child that had become her charge? One of them could be dying right now and Sakura wasn't there.

The coldness deepened, it was more of a prism now, shooting her through with different possibilities of horror. New fears, new pains, and all part of the same ice-faced ugliness inside her. "Which Hyuga?"

"The older one…I…I think." He spluttered and blood spilled down his chin.

She barely noticed. "How did such a large group get in undetected?"

"Danzou." He whispered and she dropped him back to the ground.

And the horrifying contours of the situation took full form. She needed to get out, get to Tsunade, get to Hinata, then get to Hanabi too just in case. The alarm had to be sounded and—

The wind shifted and a chill crawled up her spine. Something familiar slid into her skin, and the Akatsuki rings hanging around her neck buzzed joyfully.

The man that spoke behind her was blood and moonlight and all the malignant fears of her childhood. "Are you done playing with your food yet, little devil?"

She turned on the man and Konohamaru was behind her, hanging on her jacket with shaking fingers. She breathed. "Itachi." And it felt like half a prayer and half a curse.

Killing intent crackled across the clearing. Itachi stood above her, as pale and crimson eyed and imposing as ever. Kisame stood at his shoulder, tall as damnation and his blade already unraveled and bared.

"My, my." Kisame licked his lips and the red looked ghastly against the bloodless blue. "Look at you Sakura, all that angry chakra wrapped up in such _tasty _flesh_."_

She shuddered. Kill or fuck. She never had figured out which one Kisame wanted when his eyes raked down her skin.

The killing intent ratcheted up and Konohamaru buried his face in her vest and had his eyes firmly shut. Sakura wished she could have hid away just as easily. She shifted the boy in her arms and considered the possibilities.

Itachi stepped forward and didn't even glance at the half dead assassin now long forgotten at her feet.

"Lesson three in interrogation and torture little devil: never take a subject's word at face value." He knew the rules. He had been the one to teach them to her when she had still been a child. Had carved every one into her skin, taught her every one with her own blood. He had helped make her into the monster she was today. Stripped and sanded and bled away all the weaknesses, but he'd left the fears.

Sakura flipped the needle in her hand, and with a snap of her wrist let it bury in the assassin' eye. Blood and fluids oozed out as he twitched and died.

"I think we're far past lessons." The tilt of her head was defiant. "And you never were the sentimental type Itachi. Let's stop playing games. I have a village to save."

His Sharingan bored into her. "You know why we're here; you're not getting back to that village again. And you have…something that Leader-sama desires."

"You mean beyond my awesome demon-imbued flesh?" She grinned wildly. "I suppose those rings aren't just gaudy join-the-club trinkets then. Not if you're willing to come right into the village to get them and me." The rings buzzed against her skin as if agreeing with her.

He didn't answer, didn't bother answering because a sword that glittered like scales was coming straight for her chest. Her eyes blazed crimson and she rolled sideways, dragging Konohamaru into her arms and with her.

Kisame surged after her. "Come on! Let's see what's under all that clothing and _skin_!" And the blade bit into her back, tearing vest and skin and spattering her blood everywhere. She twisted out of the worst of it and flung herself into the trees.

There was no sound behind her, but shadows were pressing down from all sides as the forest turned black and bloody—

She dispelled the genjutsu in a flash and turned sideways. A fire jutsu hotter than a volcano roared over her, searing her skin and burning off her eyelashes. Konohamaru yelped as the heat bit at him. "Sakura!"

"I know!" She blurred sideways, trying to leap into a shushin only to get hit by a cancellation that left her in place. Her gravity seals dropped and she just flat out ran. "I'm going to distract them both! I don't think they'll follow but run like the devil is after you! Get to Tsunade-hime and warn her about the assassin, but if she's..." Sakura swallowed down the lump in her throat. "If she's dead than get to Jiraiya. Now go!"

Konohamaru hugged her, and as soon as he let loose she threw him and spun around. The wind jutsu she kicked out ripped up the whole forest for half a mile.

Konohamaru got twenty feet when he almost ran into a wall of black and red, and the blunt end of a kunai caught him in the side of the head. Sakura didn't have time to scream, but Konohamaru crumpled to the ground knocked out but alive. The clone of Itachi that had gotten him smirked at her and vanished.

Sakura snarled and pulled exploding tags into both of her hands. They glowed as she super charged them with chakra. Kisame was behind her and his blade swung. In a flash she turned and let the tags fly. The forest went up in a roar of sound and flame.

Crimson chakra boiled under her skin but she fought it down as ash and bile coated the back of her throat. She couldn't use demonic chakra, not in-village like this. The council would be screaming for her head on a platter by sundown if she wasn't already dead.

The curtain of flame burned out and Itachi stood in-between her and the village, untouched by even one speck of ash. She could hear Kisame breathing behind her; practically feel the threat of his breath on the back of her neck and his blade peeling under her skin.

Her hand swung around to her back and drew her katana. The blade glittered like hell in the light of the fires. It distracted them from the fact she was forming seals with her off hand.

A dragon of water formed in the air above their heads and dove down into the flames. A deafening wave of hissing steam rolled out, turning light to darkness and extinguishing the flames.

Above them lighting crackled across the sky in blinding arcs and the roar of thunder covered the sound of metal hitting metal in the smoldering trees. With the chaos going on in the village, no one even noticed the fact that a forest was burning.

**Aburame Compound, 11:50 AM**

Hinata rubbed her eyes with the sleeve of her kimono and looked out warily through the rice paper doors. She'd been asleep on a long, low leather couch in her private lounge, and a noise of something hitting the walkway had interrupted her slumber. Now here she was awake and irritated and still a bit touchy over her fiancé being out of the village on a mission.

She missed him and he was barely a day gone.

She stood up and put her hand on the door before sliding it open. At most, Hinata had expected to chastise one of the younger Aburame children from playing too loudly outside her door in the garden. Instead, at her feet was one of the Aburame women who had been taking care of her while she lived in the family wing of the house. The woman was barely conscious, and her breathing was labored as her bugs buzzed around her skin. One by one, the dark beetles went still before falling from her skin and clattering to the floor.

The woman had crawled to her door and left a trail of dead bugs out behind her. "Hinata…Hinata-sama…attac—"

Hinata quickly sat down and pulled the woman up, but nearly fell herself when the Aburame went slack in her arms.

The woman raised a trembling hand to Hinata's face, and her fingers were so cold. "You need to run. The compound has been…has been infiltrated. Some kind of poison—" She seized up, eyes rolling into the back of her head.

Hinata did not know if she was dead or alive, and with growing terror she set the woman down carefully and looked up. A strange kind of fog rolled across the ground, licking at the lawn and it was coming closer to Hinata with each passing second.

The Hyuga quickly ripped off the sleeve of her kimono and tied it over her mouth to keep most of the gas out. It wasn't exactly a poison mask, but she could keep her blood clear enough with her own chakra until…well…

Hinata bolted.

Infiltration, poison, without a word of warning. They were under attack from the worst sort of enemy.

She nearly stumbled on the next grouping of bodies, all of them unconscious and covered with dead bugs. There was no time to check if they were alive because the message of attack _had to get out_ so she spun down another walkway and ran. The poison was riding heavy in the air, and she could feel her blood starting to buzz with it.

With a fearful burst of chakra she cleared her system, but Hinata was no medic and this stopgap measure wouldn't last forever. Shino wasn't here. So she'd find…she'd find Shino's father. The Clan Head, if anyone would have survived the initial poison and attack it'd be him.

That was as far as Hinata got. Her bare feet barely skidded to a stop as a massive man landed on the walkway in front of her. The walkway buckled under his landing and the Oto headband over his brow shined.

Her Byakugan unconsciously activated and it was out of fear as much as it was fury.

The man was the size of a building and covered in dark armor. The only thing visible to her were his onyx eyes, and the irises were so dark it was nothing but a circle of blackness in his eyes. And those eyes stared at her hungrily.

She fell into the jyuken stance that had been pounded into her since she was a child, hands already loosening her kimono so it could flare with her instead of encumbering her. There was no waiting in this and she flung herself at him.

Her first feint was to the left to dodge a punch, her second feint was to the right as she spun on her heel and pressed her hand along the tenketsu on his arm. His arm immediately went limp, but she couldn't move fast enough to get out the way as he backhanded her.

Her head snapped back and the blow lifted her off her feet and sent her tumbling. She rolled and came back to her feet with ease, ignoring the ugly purplish mark already forming on her cheek.

The Oto ninja laughed and it sent her neck hair standing on end. She watched in horrified fascination as the blocks she had placed over his arm were overwhelmed by chakra, and one by one slowly began to open back up.

"That's not…" She almost said not possible, but Hinata knew better. Her friendship with Sakura had taught her that there were powers in the world that couldn't be contained by jyuken

He flexed his arm and his eyes gleamed maniacally. He rasped. "Nice try little Hime, but no Hyuga can kill me."

She flared her chakra. "We'll see about that."

He loomed over her. "Hardly. There's no help coming and you can't win. The nerve gas has already killed all the Aburame here."

The pain of that statement wracked through her, but she couldn't let herself believe it. She hadn't gotten the chance to check on anyone and they weren't dead until she saw them dead. She had to believe that.

Had to.

"Come on Hime." His grin was skeletal. "I want to have some fun before you die."

She settled back into a stance, determined not to stop. She wasn't the strongest or the bravest person there was. She was painfully shy and could barely stand anyone looking at her for more than ten seconds and she'd spent a lot of her life crying and even more of her life afraid.

This was the worst sort of situation that she had always feared would happen.

But if there was one thing she couldn't stand it was the people she loved hurting and dying, and this man and whoever else was with him had attacked her new family. And Hinata would kill to save them, die to save them, so she charged straight into what was probably her demise without one shred of fear.

**Apartment Complex**

Hanabi flopped onto the empty bed and inhaled slowly, enjoying the faint scent of Sasuke still left on the sheets. Her face flamed and she rolled over to look at the ceiling, she wasn't thinking about this. Was. Not.

She was just sitting here kept awake by the thunderstorm, thinking that the bed still smelled like Sasuke.

…that didn't sound any better.

Hanabi slapped her forehead. It wasn't like anybody was there to ask her what she was doing, anyways.

A soft sound like a window sliding open caught her ear. Blood rushed to her head as she threw herself up. Sakura would have used the front door to come and find her.

Someone else was in here with her.

Her knives glinted on the floor and she swooped down to grab them. She left her sandals off and tiptoed to the door of the room before sliding out. The hallways was filled with nothing but shadows and the flash of lightning from the sky.

This didn't seem ominous at _all_.

The long white shirt she was wearing brushed against her thighs and the sweat already slicked there. Another soft sound, footsteps, echoed to her. Veins flared around her eyes, byakugan coming fully to life and it was just in time to see the smoke bomb rolling to a stop at her feet.

It exploded and the smoke hit her lungs and the back of her throat like hot pepper. She choked on it and her eyes watered. She tried to cover her nose and mouth but the coughs that wracked through her body had her doubled over.

Her byakugan deactivated just as rapidly and she screwed her eyes shut against the smoke. The scalpel was nearly in her shoulder before she blocked it, still blind. How Sasuke did this all the time was a miracle, and she tumbled backwards and landed hard on her back.

Another cough wracked her and she opened her watering eyes. "Kabuto." She spat.

The silver haired shinobi gave an almost friendly smile, like he was freaking delighted to see her. She hated that smile the moment she saw it.

So she kicked him in the ankle and sent him to the floor. "Bastard!"

"Not quite the Hyuga I expected." Kabuto chuckled and grabbed her leg and slammed her into the wall. Her breath rushed out of her and he stood over her, still talking like they were the best of friends. "Hanabi-chan, I think you've stayed with these murderous animals for too long. Where's all your vaunted Hyuga pride?"

He hauled her up by the front of her shirt and she tried to slam her blades into his sides. He knocked the first one away and casually grabbed her other wrist. In sheer anger she sunk her teeth into the hand holding her up. He didn't even flinch and she spat his own blood back at him. "Go to hell."

He wiped away the blood and murmured lightly. "Yes, you're not a princess anymore with those manners, are you?"

Hanabi planted a foot in his stomach as hard as she could and twisted out of his grip. He wheezed and stumbled back and she snatched up the blade that had fallen from her hand and went back on the attack.

Another tongue of lighting crossed the sky outside. The light of it slashed the air apart and for a second let her see the twisted grin on his face and the shine of the scalpels in his hand.

The taste of his blood still floated on the back of her tongue. "I don't need to be a princess to kill you." She snarled.

Then it was back to shadow and the fight was on.

**Hokage Tower, 12:05 AM**

The lobby was empty, the shinobi and guards and ANBU were all gone to respond to reports of violence breaking out all across the village. The civilians who had been working there had been evacuated as a precaution, everything else had been locked down. Communications had gone down but everyone else had left when the emergency signal went out over all the channels, and hadn't been there to notice the lines going dead anyways.

It was an evacuation signal and well known by all ninja, and it was all done by a splicer brought in with the assassins who had infiltrated the village. They only knew the signal thanks to Danzou.

Shizune had left to make sure everything was still secure at the hospital. The Tower had almost completely emptied out. The chaos had destroyed all semblance of cohesion and security, and Konoha would come apart at the seams as the price.

And yet in the highest office in the Tower, the assassin sent to kill Senju Tsunade grimaced. The fireworks had come and gone, the signal sent out. He'd missed his deadline to kill the Hokage. She had not gotten in just the right range for him to be assured of her death and so he'd waited. And waited.

And waited.

The kunai hidden in his sleeve was getting heavier by the moment.

He'd delivered his fake message and tried to angle in closer, just one more step and he'd be home free. That step hadn't come.

"Are you sure…" Tsunade trailed off and both victim and assassin turned to the window. A spike of chakra had gone supernova less than a mile from the tower. In one smooth motion she stood up and walked to the balcony and the assassin followed.

The steps vanished one by one and the kunai got heavier.

"What was that?" She asked. Tsunade was standing by the glass doors now and almost had them open.

"I don't know Hokage-sama." And he didn't really care either.

It all happened faster than he could blink. She pushed the doors open and the kunai in his hand came up and went down. Blood spattered across the glass doors and a scream rang in his ears. Agonized.

_Furious._

She shouldn't have turned her back on him.

**Half a Mile From Hokage Tower, Five Minutes Prior**

Sakura pressed her back against a tree, trying to stem the flow of blood coming from a kunai lodged in her thigh. That spot where it was jammed ached but she couldn't do anything about it. Both of her arms hung limply at her sides, dislocated. Kisame had done it himself and held her so tightly some bones had broken in them, too.

She had pulled out nearly every trick in the book trying to get out of this freaking forest and back into the village, but each had failed miserably and she was pinballing from nervous to worried to downright having a freak out. Whenever she had managed to get an advantage over one the other Akatsuki would step in and disrupt her.

If her jutsu got too close to Kisame a genjutsu by Itachi was ensnare her. She landed too many blows on Itachi and suddenly Kisame's blade was eating into her back. They were S-class monsters specifically sent to break her.

And they were breaking her.

There was a reason they'd come after her in-village apart from the rings she'd stolen and the distraction posed by the Oto assassinations. In village she was forced to spend half her attention fighting down the Kyuubi's chakra, and his growing rage flooding her and maybe some of her own rage too.

She couldn't use that chakra in-village. Year after careful year had been spent to keep that secret of her power firmly under wraps, and she was not yet at the point where she'd be safe if the council and half the ninja and all the freaking civilians called for her head for going demonic in their own backyard.

It didn't matter if her life was in danger, they feared the fox that much. They'd be happier to have her dead.

And they just might get their wish.

She clenched her teeth. _Screw that_. Dying out here in this stupid burning forest wasn't on the menu.

With a grunt she put the handle of the kunai against the tree and brought her foot up to hold it in place (and it was a miracle she was this flexible, thank you). The leg that was impaled spasmed back, leaving kunai pressed against the tree by her foot, while her now not-stabbed-leg was sticky with blood.

The skin sluggishly tried to knit closed, but her human chakra was running low and the Kyuubi's had to stay under—

A fist slammed into her face, sending starbursts and blood flashing to the very back of her skull. Through the pain she barely dodged the sword smashing into the tree and splintering it to pieces. She coughed weakly and her face burned and tears came to her eyes.

Her nose was broken.

Her fingers grabbed cartilage and bone and wrenched it back into place. The static and starbursts cleared, but the blood stayed gushing over her hands.

"I'm sorry." Kisame called out gleefully. "I didn't mean to ruin the face of such a pretty monster, you'll forgive me, right?"

That had just been to distract her from the massive fire jutsu baring down on her back. Panic had her flipping out of the way but starring at the burning crater. There were times to stay and fight and times to cut her loses and run.

This time was one of those latter kind of things. She bolted.

Itachi's hand struck out, trying to grab the chain with the rings hanging around her neck to garrote her. She leaned back and the metal chain slid just out of reach. The rings hooked and buzzed and screamed against her chakra.

She poured out her chakra and let hundreds of shadow clones flood the area. It was one of the few jutsus she had spent the time learning to do without hand seals, and she was never more grateful for that. Immediately they began running every which way and scattered in a matter of seconds.

Itachi fully activated his Sharingan to try and find the real her, but she was already long gone.

Grassy fields became rooftops, rooftops became tangled streets. Soon she was leaping from building to building in a mad dash to the Hokage's Tower and she was surprised to find she'd been almost on top of it the whole time.

Why the hell had no one come to help her?

She looked around beneath herself as she went and found she still hadn't caught up to Konohamaru. Or she'd already passed him. That thought sent a chill down her back.

Then the Tower was filling up her vision and there was no more time to think. She angled her leap to the balcony just outside Tsunade's office and skidded to a stop along the smooth stone. None of the guards yelled at her for not using the doors.

They always yelled at her for not using the doors like a good little ninja. That meant no guards were here.

"What the hell…?" She slipped towards the glass doors only to stop for a split moment to press her dislocated arm against a wall, wrench it upwards, and relocate it. "Better."

The doors clicked open and a familiar swathe of blonde hair filled her sight. The knot of tension in her back loosened as she saw Tsunade pushing the doors open, and her sigh of relief nearly had her on her knees. It caught in her throat.

A flash of silver followed Tsunade and it intersected with her neck. For a moment Sakura let herself pretend it was anything but what she was seeing. Blood spattered across the glass panes and Tsunade slumped down, a blade driven straight through her neck and out. It cut an ugly, open red wound out of the other side.

Blood and desperate breaths spilled out of her throat.

"TSUNADE!"

The need to suppress Kyuubi's chakra was forgotten and it ripped away from her body. There was nothing in her but fear and fire and pain and it became a howling whirlwind of crimson light. It became a vortex that would suck Sakura down to the center and rip her apart until her blood was on fire.

Until everything she touched was on fire.

The windows and doors shattered and glass came down on them like glittering rain. It sliced into her as she ran with only one goal in mind: rip the man who had murdered Tsunade limb from fucking limb.

The sprint was cut short by kunai ripping into her ankles and Achilles tendons. Fire of a different kind rolled up the backs of her legs and she smashed to the ground like a puppet that had its strings cut. Blood spattered everywhere.

That wouldn't stop her, she was on her knees and almost crawling when a foot planted itself in her back and slammed her back down. The assassin who had stabbed Tsunade ran backwards from her, but was quickly cut down by Kisame.

Sakura shrieked. "He was mine to kill! I was going to kill him you stupid bastards—"

Sakura pushed out another wave of the Kyuubi's chakra, trying desperately to throw Itachi (and it had to be Itachi) off her back. Instead a cold wave covered her, slick and cloying, filling her veins and shoving down her throat and pushing the fire down. It left her cold and frost ridden everywhere it touched.

The seal on her stomach curled in and the Kyuubi and his chakra sank into it like it was a whirlpool, and they went down and down into the dark away from her. Fear and fury had her thrashing but Itachi pinned her arm with his other foot and broke her wrist with one wet crack.

This time she was trying to pull the red chakra up but the ice was freezing her, letting the red chakra run through her fingers. The sensation of it was so filthy she expected herself to be covered by oil and muck and ice.

But all that was on her was blood. "KYUUBI!"

It was Itachi's chakra festering on her skin, sealing the Kyuubi from her.

The demon in her clawed for her one last time, claws sinking somewhere deep in her chest. "_The Madara. This foul chakra only flows from that blood…_" Then even the claws were gone. Her partially healed wounds reopened and spilled out even more blood.

She looked mentally inwards but there was only blackness inside her. Her terror was climbing to astronomical heights and her eyes smoothed to jade and looked back at the world. What waited for her outside was just as horrifying.

"H-hime?" Sakura whispered. She tried to reach her broken hand out to Tsunade. Leader, teacher, almost mother.

Those eyes of hers weren't honey anymore, just fractured and broken amber. Shattered a million times and going dark. Gone, gone, _gone._

"Hime?" Sakura tried again. "Hime?" And again.

No sign, just blood dripping on the stone.

"HIME!" The thunder drowned out her sobs. Sakura felt her cheeks grow damp, tears were falling down her face and discoloring the cement beneath her. Discoloring the blood too.

One by one the tears were joined by rain, and with a burst of lighting the heavens opened and the rain poured down. It mixed with the broken glass and blood on the ground around her. It mixed with the loss.

And there was nothing to hold onto.

* * *

Edit: Changes made to his chapter in the rewrite were more foreshadowing over Hanabi's feelings, the assassin going after Tsunade got a bit more charaterization, most of the scences were cleaned up and streamlined and made a bit less melodramatic, the torture scence was touched up but still just as torture-y, Sakura seriously freaked out over what the assassinations meant this time and knowing people she loved were in danger, besides that everything was basic rewritting of how things were said with the plot entirely intact.


	24. Oblivion

**Disclaimer**: Even in a vicodin induced haze (sweet, sweet vicodin) I still know that Naruto does in no way, shape, or form belong to me.

* * *

**Hokage Tower, Balcony, 12:11 PM**

Itachi crushed her against the cement, his knee digging in her back, his elbow jammed into her neck. She shook with broken sobs and all of her had gone cold.

Itachi sort of doubted that she was quite mentally _there _anymore. Her shattered wrist was still grasping in vain for the very dead body of the Godaime Hokage, and that sort of reaction had long gone from sane into desperate and then skipped its way past a psychotic break.

Rain continued to fall around them and the patter of it was heavy on his shoulders. It soaked them both through, but neither of them cared as it dripped down their faces and into their eyes and mouths.

"I think we broke our pretty monster Itachi." Kisame grunted and slung his blade back over his shoulder. "We should get going, no telling how long this window of opportunity is going to last."

Itachi half nodded, and raised his hand to strike the blow to knock Sakura unconscious so transporting her back to the Akatsuki base would be merely _difficult. _That's when he heard someone falling in on his right.

"Get away from her!" A child's voice shouted, and Itachi looked over dispassionately to see a very livid and fully conscious Konohamaru. An ugly purple bruise had bloomed over the side of his face from when he'd been smashed upside the head, and charka crackled around his body like electricity. The boy's hair stood on end and his blood shot eyes were widened with rage. The child flung a handful of leaves into the air that multiplied to hundreds, and then a gale formed at his fingertips and drove the now blade-like leaves straight at the two Akatsuki. It was so abrupt Itachi had no choice but to jump away.

Sakura was left lying on the concrete open to the full brunt of the attack, but the leaves that had been heading straight towards her faded away as they touched her skin, revealing them to be nothing more than genjutsu. The others that had been thrown wide of her, however, cut through stone and embedded themselves along the balcony.

Kisame flickered behind the boy and back handed him so hard the boy's neck cracked as his head snapped backwards.

"Woops." Kisame laughed.

The genin tumbled and his shoulder met the railing. There was a crunch as shoulder gave way and the tumble continued unabated. The boy tried to stop his fall, but only managed to send himself spinning and skipping along the balcony.

Smears of blood were left behind where he skidded. Just before he was nearly gone and off the other end of the balcony, Sakura pushed herself up and with the arm that was still in its socket and caught the boy before his head was bashed clean across the ground.

Her eyes were dull, fogged by some unnamable pain. Konohamaru moaned and collapsed into her arms. She stood shakily and the torn muscles of her Achilles ripped further up her leg. She didn't even flinch and if nothing else, Itachi had to admire the tolerance for pain his little jinchuuriki had built up for herself.

Even as she rose though it was obvious that she could so little else but stand, and walking was clearly out of the question. Running away was less than a bad joke at this point.

Itachi landed on the railing gracefully and Kisame crouched next to him. "Ah, she's not down yet. Can I take a few layers off those pretty thighs this time?"

Itachi ignored his partner and looked to the jinchuuriki. "Come with us,or that child you're holding will die."

Sakura began to laugh bitterly, her eyes glazed by madness. She was gone, gone, _gone_ and Itachi wasn't getting her back. She let her neck arch and the rain washed away the blood and tears on her face. "Too late for that."

He didn't get a chance to really think about that, or ask, not that he would have.

Sakura smiled wildly at him and hooked her arm around Konohamaru's stomach. They fell straight back into the Hokage's office through the broken doors. Just as she vaulted back, Itachi felt the ground beneath him shudder and then the balcony just _buckled_ beneath his feet and broke away from the tower.

They were in freefall. How had the broken jinchuuriki gotten the drop on them?

Kisame cursed and jumped into the air. Itachi was too busy scanning the area looking for the source that had sent the balcony breaking away.

With his Sharingan fully activated he caught sight of the Hokage's body falling with the rubble. The corpse smoked and sizzled and then faded out like a mirage. The dead body of Senju Tsunade was replaced with the blood soaked corpse of the Oto assassin.

A poisoned kunai was rammed through his neck.

His adrenaline immediately spiked because Itachi knew just what that meant. He looked for the "_assassin"_ that Kisame had killed, only to see that supposed body turn to a broken chair and the blood becoming water.

Sanin were always so troublesome about dying easy.

The ground was coming up to meet them alarmingly, and t before his eyes it split, stone rising up like spikes as a fissure spread as if the ground was glass and it was shattering. He flipped and dove and his Sharingan spun, and he barely made it the ground without being impaled by a razors edge.

Kisame landed next to him, arms and face gouged open, and his partner snarled. "What in the hell happened?"

But Itachi knew and his eyes traced the woman getting up from the ground, freeing her hand from the earth as she did. Her eyes were fractured amber, burning gold, and molten with a fury Itachi could not even begin to name.

Blonde hair swirled in the storm, rain plastering it to her neck and face, and a crack of lighting from the sky illuminated her. A violet tattoo, a diamond slash on her forehead, glowed from her skin like a beacon.

Tsunade of the Sanin stood before him and she was a goddess of rage incarnate.

"Your genjutsu was quite impressive." Itachi murmured. "You even had my Sharingan fooled for a moment with that fake corpse. Your little jinchuuriki wept over it."

Tsunade's head tipped back, fury and pride. She sneered. "My genjutsu fooled you twice."

And then her fist was in his back and the Tsunade before him was nothing but mist, and just before his ribs were in his organs Itachi twisted away. Her next kick nearly tore him in half and after dodging it, her heel smashed the ground and reduced a slab of concrete to dust.

This was a fight for his life and their window had already closed. Itachi was not one to drag out a failure. In an instant the Uchiha leapt back. "Kisame, we're leaving."

Kisame licked his lips furtively. "Aw, and this was just getting good—"

And Itachi wanted to break his teammates skull because he'd already delayed them too long. Suddenly Tsunade was at Kisame's side with a hand pressed to a gash on his face. She purred. "You didn't think I would just let you leave after hurting my daughter now did you?"

And she pushed her chakra in and Kisame went to his knees, his eyes flown wide, a choked scream dying in his throat. Tsunade cooed. "Tell me, how does it feel to have the blood in your veins brought to a boil?"

And the skin around the cut on his face began to blister and char, and Kisame just screamed and writhed under Tsunade's hand, the burns spreading like corrosion through his veins.

Itachi almost had a kunai buried in her shoulder before Tsunade flickered away. Kisame sprawled to the ground, reddish steam rising from his face, it smelled like charred blood.

Itachi grabbed his partner and flickered his gaze to the Sanin. Someday this fight would be finished, one way or another. "We'll be back for that jinchuuriki and what she has of ours. She can't cower behind you forever, Tsunade."

With those words he flung them away into the wind.

Tsunade stared at the spot her enemy had stood, a few smoldering drops of blood still lingering on the ground hissing in the rain. Her lips peeled off her teeth and a furious, wordless howl tore out of her.

The ruse had been a quick one when she'd felt Sakura bearing down with two S-class ninja on her tail. Tsunade had switched places with the assassin (and he was damn lucky she'd only had a split second to kill him, and not the _hours_ she'd wanted to teach that upstart a lesson) and then get in position to watch what happened.

Sakura unhinging had nearly torn Tsunade's heart from her chest. Sakura was a sociopath if not complete psychopath, but the capacity she still had in her to care for others sometimes staggered the Hokage in its depth.

For a moment she considered trying to catch up with the Akatsuki, but the village seemed to be going insane around her and there were assassins lurking in every shadow. She dismissed the idea and leapt to the large gash in the tower wall.

She landed on the lip of her office doors where the balcony once was, balanced there for a moment, and looked into the dim room. The smell hit her first. _Blood._

Thick, congealed, and yet still fresh _blood_.

Lighting shot across the sky and illuminated the shattered glass scattered around her, and it was like standing in a field of fractured light. The lightning faded and the glass dulled. Her stomach twisted as she stepped in and felt the carpeting under her give with a sodden squish. Every inch was soaked through with blood.

Another lighting strike turned the room to day, and in a pool of ruby bright liquid laid Sakura, her eyes shut and her body still. Konohamaru was kneeling next to her clutching one of her hands. Whispers poured from his lips, maybe assurances of safety, but Sakura barely stirred. He looked near hysterical and when his head snapped up to look at the Hokage she could see the terror written on his face.

He was barely holding in the tears. "Hokage-sama." It came out as a plea.

"Sakura are you...?" Tsunade kneeled down, trying not to gag as her knees were soaked.

Sakura cracked an eye open, the jade within her irises dark and cloudy, not a sliver of red in sight. "No, I'n not okay. I think the blood loss is making me delirious, or I'm dying. He took the Kyuubi's chakra from me…just took it. I can't feel him, nothing's there, nothing's there, nothing's…"

"Sakura. Sakura! Focus!" Tsunade shouted, her hands quickly gathering healing chakra within her palms.

The jade sharpened, but the smoky distance to her eyes deepened. "The fight in the forest drained my human reserve. And I can't feel the Kyuubi. Dying…I think I'm dying…or maybe I'm hallucinating again."

The raining was still pouring in the broken doors, thunder and wind roaring outside, and for a second Tsunade wished this was all only a hallucination. Next to her, Konohamaru sobbed.

She reached for the jinchuuriki but then the Sakura gasped and arched. Bone rattled and cracked and she twisted on the floor. Tsunade grabbed for her but crimson chakra burst onto Sakura's skin, burning the Hokage's fingers and forcing her into retreat.

Sakura rolled onto her stomach, twisting, and then arching like she was stretching. Bone popped into place and blood sizzled and she languidly laid herself back down. "Kyuubi…"

And then Sakura fell unconscious and the chakra engulfed her in a cocoon.

Grudgingly, fearfully, Tsunade took Konohamaru's hand away from Sakura and moved him back towards the open door. The rain was still pouring in cold on their backs.

"What is that?" Konohamaru asked, trying to get a glimpse at the almost liquid chakra wrapped around her body.

Tsunade gave his hand a sharp tug and snatched him back from trying to touch it. "The Kyuubi's doing." Tsunade wanted to stay, wanted to make sure Sakura's _wasn't dying_ anymore, but the village was going insane on her. There just wasn't _time. _"I need you to watch over Sakura until she wakes back up, don't leave this office."

The Sanin dropped his hand and turned to leap from where her balcony doors had once been. She snapped one last threat. "And no touching it!"

Konohamaru's hand snapped back, inches from trying to poke the chakra. He shuffled away sheepishly.

Tsunade wondered how the boy had lived past seven. The thought left and she thrust chakra into her legs and jumped.

Konohamaru rested his head in his hands and just sat there, watching the red glow flicker along the walls.

**Within the Seal**

"You've been keeping secrets from me." The anger in her voice came out more like a purr, but it did nothing to hide the fury building between her shoulder blades. "Aren't you going to tell me about this Madara and why that freaking _blood_ can take you away and nearly get me killed?"

"Feeling cocky right now are we?" The Kyuubi mocked, and his head was on her level, the heat of his breath scorching her. "Be careful with that tongue of your's or I might let it stay gone the next time you chew it off in one of your little rages."

It was a low blow, calling her out for those little psychotic breaks she happened to have everytime she overdosed on his chakra.

She snarled. "Oh _sorry._ I didn't realize it was a crime to feel inclined to know what almost caused me to become a blood stain on the Hokage's carpet!"

In a flash a tail snaked its way out of the bars and wrapped around her throat, hauling her off her feet, and squeezing the air out of her. She gasped and choked, black and red filling her eyes.

His irises were an unholy fire. "Tell me why I shouldn't snap your neck for your insolence?"

"Because you'd _miss_ me Kyuubi-sama, don't you love me the best?" She cooed mockingly.

"You are insufferable as always." He hissed and dropped her, leaving her sprawled before the gate like a child before an altar. Hate and revulsion sliced out of her and she seethed at him.

He smirked. "Don't flatter yourself."

"Oh don't worry about that." She spat. "You've carved me down too much for me to be capable of that." And that was true, sadly enough.

The rumble of his voice split the dark. "Don't pity yourself, it's unbecoming."

She sighed and rested on her knees, kneeling, the fight out of her. "I apologize then, now the Madara?"

He measured her up and whatever he found must have been good enough. "It began long before you were born. Uchiha Itachi is descended of an abomination of a bloodline, and the Madara was not a thing but a person…"

**Konoha, Aburame Compound**

White silk trailed out behind her like feathery wings, her bare feet pounding against the wooden walkways as she sprinted. If it wasn't for the grime and blood caked on her legs and up her thighs, most would have mistaken her for a heavenly being.

Her sprint came to an abrupt end when her feet came in contact with something slippery and she fell, knees landing in a large pool of blood.

Hyuga Hinata stared down at the body the blood belonged to. Her mind took a few moments to catch up to her panicked state enough for her to recognize him as one of the Aburame guards that protected the family wing of the house. A long gash an inch deep ran from his right shoulder to his abdomen. He hadn't seen the assassins coming and it had cost him. But the longer she looked at the wound and the blood, the more Hinata thought that it wasn't enough red for him to be _dead_.

Her fingers frantically searched for a pulse and she looked over her shoulder. She'd barely slipped her attacker but she knew he was still hunting her, toying with her, waiting for the right minute to take the skin inch by inch from her face…

But that was later. A ghost of a smile graced her lips as she found a heartbeat thumping against her fingers. Not pausing, she pushed the Aburame off the walkway onto the rain splattered grass and ripped off part of her kimono's skirt. The bandage was a patch job at best, but it was keeping the blood in and that was what counted. As soon as she was sure he was safe she was sprinting again, she couldn't wait long, she had to save more of family that had taken her in.

Save more of the family that had become her own.

"You can't run little Hime, you're going to die either way!" The assassin's shout rang down the hallways, a ominous echo coming from everywhere and nowhere at once. In the rain and howling wind she couldn't see where he was. Fear crawled up the back of her throat like bile and the flesh on her neck prickled.

She was being hunted, chased down, and when the end came—

Hinata spun around with lavender flaring. The assassin was behind her with his fist aiming for her back, and she wove around the attack and jammed the heel of her foot into his ankle.

He went down but let out a laugh, and the deep sound echoed off the walls. "Not enough, not nearly enough."

She shivered so violently her teeth rattled.

Everything that happened after that was a blur to her: strikes, kicks, and punches traded so rapidly it all became a disjointed nightmare. Slowly but surely her movements were becoming sluggish and her blocks sloppy. He knocked away one of her arm and with a powerful thrust drove his elbow right into her throat.

She went down, blackness exploding in her eyes, and her head bounced off the walkway. He drove his forearm into her stomach and smashed out whatever air was left in her lungs. Then he pressed an arm to her throat, putting all his weight down and his dark eyes burned above her. "Keep those eyes open little Hime, I want to see every squirming moment as you cling to life."

She clutched at his arm and tried to pull it away so she could get one breath of air in. Her vision sparked and closed down, static and black and red filling every corner and closing in. Her nails dug into the fabric on his arm but his elbow didn't move an inch and she was dying too fast to do any more.

She could feel herself slipping away.

"Just a little longer." He rasped against her neck, his voice breathy with some sick thrill. "The pain will go away soon. When death comes you won't feel anything at all."

Static. Black. Her chest was burning so badly like an inferno was going off inside it, charring her ribs black and scorching her lungs. This is what suffocating felt like.

It hurt worse than she could have possibly imagined.

Her free hand clawed at the floor, peeling back the wood with her nails and leaving streaks of blood behind. Her knuckles hit something sharp and the pain shocked her out of the burning and static for a lucid moment.

Out of the corner of her eye, blurry and crackling as her sight left, she saw the dull gleam of a kunai. Her arm stretched to its limits she wrapped her fingers around the handle. She jerked it loose and raised it up behind his head, and when there was _nothing_ in her eyes she plunged it down.

Blood poured down her face. The weight left her and sweet blessed oxygen flowed into her chest, dousing the flame.

"You were right, there wasn't any pain." Hinata whispered to no one at all. The body was dead, kunai through his neck and twisted, and she pushed him off.

She just laid there for what felt like decades, too tired to move on, too tired to look for help, too tired to even crawl away from the corpse.

Somewhere between sleeping and waking she heard a voice and then saw a face hovering above her. It was stark white and brilliant red, inhumanly cold. It took her a few addled seconds to recognize that the face was actually an ANBU mask.

The ANBU kneeled down next to her and checked her over efficiently, fingers brushing her wounds. He shouted to someone she couldn't see. "Found another one!"

Another one. Did that mean survivor or casualty?

He slung her into his arms. "Hold on Hyuga-san, we'll have you at the hospital soon."

Safe. God, _safe_. It was too much to hold onto and Hinata closed her eyes and slept.

**Apartment Complex**

Hanabi stood between the broken furniture, dark hair covering her face and hiding the movement of her eyes as she gripped her blades with a white knuckled grip.

Kabuto stood back up on the other end of the room, his arm sporting a nasty gash that closed in a matter of seconds. All that was left behind of the wound was a smattering of blood and she couldn't help the snarl.

He pushed his glasses up his nose with one finger. Her appraised her and remarked wryly. "Careful, you're starting to sound like those monsters you fell in with. Surely you can do better than that Hyuga_-hime."_

She seethed in agitation and edged to the right, her eyes calculating as she stared him down. Wounds wouldn't stick on him, light or heavy. Which meant a killing blow might be the only thing that'd bleed him fast enough to keep him down.

She hoped.

They both began to circle one another, the same twisted grin still on Kabuto's face. Their feet trailed over broken furniture and shattered glass. It was the life she'd built here with Sasuke shattered around them. She hated Kabuto so much for that, and the hatred ignited inside her burned like a star about to go thermo-nuclear.

Why the hell did people keep coming in to try and ruin her life?

Her body tensed as a surge adrenaline poured into her veins, and in less than a second she covered the space between them, a blur of fury and blades. Planting her right foot on the floor, she made an upwards slash and nearly cleaved Kabuto in half before he stepped out of the way.

A chuckle was on his lips as he batted her next strike away. The almost-thermo-nuclear was far past almost.

"Why do you keep trying? You're nothing but a genin and there's no one here to save you." His head tilted. "Though I doubt they'd come for such a worthless thing like you. You're nothing but a pet for them, something to play with until they get bored. You're never going to be good enough for them to keep."

The words hit somewhere back and deep in her chest, opening a thousand little stinging fears. She told herself that Sasuke and Sakura and Naruto looked out for her because they cared. They had to care. She wasn't a burden anymore, she wasn't, they'd taken her in and she'd proved herself.

They'd sacrificed so much for her, more than they would for a deadweight. Right?

She had to believe that.

Hanabi jumped away, trying to put some space between them long enough for her to work out a plan. Her mind was reeling, her chest was aching, and her body was reaching its limits. She was only a genin no matter how much Sasuke had taught her. This man in front of her was the most dangerous kind of jonin.

Sweat slithered down her back. Her chakra enhanced eyes looked down as the floor. She just needed a few minutes to breathe, a few minutes to plan.

A few minutes had never seemed so out of reach.

Her voice came out desperate. "I know they aren't going to keep me here forever. It's only temporary, until my family finally stops being jackasses." Her head came up and she was steeled. "But if they could come help me now they would. So shut the hell up."

He raised his eyebrows. "Is that it?"

And her memory crashed down on her. Images of Hinata playing with her when she had been younger, back when they'd almost had laughter and hope. Neji watching over her carefully, holding her hand the first time she'd twisted her ankle in a spar. Sakura teaching her a jutsu while she was working with Tsunade, swearing the younger girl to secrecy on them slacking off. Naruto showing her tricks to fight in between spars were he and Sasuke would beat the crap out of each other, smiles on their faces. And Sasuke…there was too much of him in her heart for her to even know where to start.

He was countries away and here she was, alone. It nearly brought tears to her eyes.

But she was a kunoichi and with a shout she threw the blades in her hands.

Caught off guard by her sudden attack, Kabuto barely managed to doge the first blade. The second caught his arm and opened an ugly gash of a wound, but he barely even flinched as blood poured onto the floor.

She was following right behind the blades and her first kick went for his neck.

He bent out of the way of her kick and grabbed her leg with one hand and spun her. The world went sideways and and she went headfirst into the wall. Static and starbursts filled her eyes, and when came to she felt shattered glass around her and rain pattering against her skin. Her impact had been right below the window and the wide pane had shattered clear open.

And then there was a kunai coming straight for her chest. There was no time to dodge and it sliced into her, jamming into her white hot and the cold flood of rain could do nothing for the agony in her chest. She screamed and rolled, blood splashing everywhere.

She clawed her way to the window sill and her legs were rubber under her. Her head felt hot and sodden, like it'd been dipped in helium and then molten steel. Her chest hurt far worse. The white shirt she wore bloomed scarlet across her heart, and it almost looked like a flower coming into bloom.

Almost.

Staggering and shuddering, she fell back on the window sill and felt her arms turn weak from blood loss. It dripped down her fingers and onto the wood, and everything felt sticky to her touch. Her head spun and she looked out the window and to the few hundred foot drop outside.

Kabuto snorted but the sound was so far away. "Don't try."

Try what? Her body slid farther back on the sill and now the rain was lashing her, chilling her already numb limbs to ice. Her chest still flamed with agony.

Then it clicked and despite the magnitude of the situation hysterical laughter (that sounded more like sobs) bubbled from her throat.

Kabuto looked at her strangely. "Get over here and I'll make sure your death isn't painful."

Hanabi cut him off mid stride with another mocking burst of giggles. "You need me don't you? That's why you've only been half fighting me! If I die you're going to fail at whatever mission you were sent here for and then your master will be _all_ mad at you." She grinned brokenly, blood bubbling past her teeth. "Well I have something to tell you. I don't lose, even when I can't win."

A silent prayer went past her lips, and the laughter almost felt like sobs as her eyes burned.

"Don't." He snarled and this time she saw the panic in his eyes.

But Hanabi smiled serenely with her eyes lost, and he knew right then what she was going to do.

She looked to the rain strewn city and boiling clouds, and the hard, _hard_ concrete far below it all. There laid oblivion waiting for her to smash her skull across it.

A ghost of a smile touched her pale lips and she let gravity carry out the window. She heard him cursing and it was a poor comfort. His hands barely brushed at her cheek, her hair, and then she was out of his reach. The open air whipped at her and her hair swirled around her like a halo as lighting tore through the sky.

The concrete was getting closer. Oblivion was going to be cold and hard but maybe it'd be quick.

Her eyes drifting shut so the tears wouldn't fall. The kunai dug deeper.

And then she was _gone_.

**Interrogation Building, T&I Department**

The hallway was lit fluorescent, and it was a dull buzz that never went silent. White walls and whiter floors stretching in each direction, and the corridors of it was nearly blinding.

Nearly maddening.

Ino left thin black streaks on the clean floors as she skidded and ran. Generally if she had to express how she was feelling right now, she was about to full-on freak out.

"IBIKI!" The shout tore out of her and countless, nameless doors flew by her as she ran. The building had been made to be a maze and even after working there for a year she still got lost. Ibiki always had made fun of her for that.

A scarred face, grim and looming, was suddenly right in front of her. Somehow he'd slid into that fluorescent hallway with barely a whisper of sound. The smell of chemical tranquilizers wafted off him. "I told you this is a quite area Ino so keep your voice down. We wouldn't want to wake our…guests."

She didn't give a flying _fuck_ what their prisoners heard. "The village is going INSANE out there, I think we have bigger problems than some noise!"

His face twisted, scars pulling ugly and tight. "Watch your tone Ino. We're in lockdown and whatever is happening, we'll wait for it to pass."

"No." She snarled back and panic burned up her chest. "My team, my family, my friends are out there! I'm not going to sit back all safe and tight when people might be dying!"

He stared at her, calculating. "I suppose an Intel run might be in order."

She tried not to let her soaring joy show.

He smirked because he saw right through her. "That means an ANBU squad is going with you."

She smiled and tried not to do a victory dance. "Yes _sir_."

The momentary amusement flickered and died on his face. All she saw was desolation. "Be careful out there. Once you're out you can't get back in. Don't die, I'd hate to break in a new assistant. No one has ever quite had the flare with a straight razor that you do..." He almost sounded fond.

It was a nice complement for him, if the world wasn't probably falling apart outside these sterilized walls.

A knot formed in her throat and it was jammed in there tight. "I understand."

It was far too late for her to back down now, people were dying and she wasn't going to stand idle.

**Konoha, Hokage Tower**

Konohamaru's eyes snapped away from the rain streaked sky as the red glow in the room faded. The chakra around her, pulsing like a cloud, dissipated into a red mist that streaked across the room and died like sparks going to ground.

He inched to her side, hands tentative on her shoulders. "Sis?"

Sakura's eyes flared open, greener than he'd ever thought possible. Her irises were haunted and she slowly stumbled to her feet. "Madara, blood into madness…that can't be…"

A prickle of fear went through him at the sight of those distant eyes. That, and the words spilling from her lips like bloodstained curses. "Hey, Sakura?" He tugged on her vest.

She came back from wherever she'd been, and her eyes sharpened on him. "What is it?"

He swallowed. "You okay?"

She flexed her arms and cracked her neck. "Never better. Let's go and kill some suckers."

Then as if by divine providence nine figures materialized out of the rain, slinking like shadows to surround them. All were Oto ninja dressed in masks and armor.

Sakura's grin was so sharp it nearly split her face. She purred like she was a cat stretching in the sun. "Oh, you boys know _just_ how to treat a girl."

"Demoness," One of the assassins rasped. "We're here too kil—"

He didn't get to finish whatever self-serving speech he'd no doubt give, because her sword was in his throat and she was riding him to the floor. The blade got tiwsted deep just to listen to him gurgle. She threw back her head and practically groaned in pleasure. "I don't care why you're here." Her eyes opened and the vicious glimmer in them was clouded by pleasure. "Just die slowly for me."

One of the assassins shouted in rage and tried to send a wind jutsu into her guts. In a split second she'd twisted off the first corpse and had the second run through, flash fried, and then thrown to the ground. She turned on the assassins and crooked an inviting finger. "Come on."

Blood and limbs and sheared skin hit the floor. It was over in forty-seven seconds. Konohamaru counted.

She kneeled among the bodies misted in blood, eyes on the ceiling with head thrown back, and she looked damn near euphoric. Her eyes were already ringed scarlet and bleeding in deeper. "Now that hit the spot." She stood and offered her hand to him. "Let's go Maru, we've got people to kill."

He gave her a horrified look but when she clicked her tongue in impatience he quickly jumped over the bodies. Rain was driving into his skin as he joined her by the doorway and took her hand. Blood squished under his sandals and he barely noticed.

Then she was jumping and taking him into a free fall with her, and the world was nothing but lightning and rain and blood.

**Yamanaka Flower Shop, Commercial District**

Rain pierced her skin as she stood in front of the familiar door. It was the door to her parents shop, the door to her home, the door to all the good things in her life.

It'd never looked so alien.

Ino took a deep breath to steady herself but nothing could stop the thready beat of her pulse or the sweat on her palms. With a shaking hand she gripped the door handle and pushed. It opened without a protest, with barely a whisper of sound. She took a sharp intake of breath and closed in her eyes in despair. The smell inside was sickly sweet and the silence was a tomb.

The four ANBU with her surrounded the shop and followed in behind her, clearing the rooms one by one as they made their way. She took the lead though not caring about the all-clear or danger. She didn't care about anything, anymore.

The smell was sickly sweet, like that time when she was little and had hurt herself with a kunai on accident. She'd bled so much and it'd gotten all over her mother's clean floors. It was so sickly, like that time she'd found a corpse three days gone in a ditch on routine assignment. So sweet, like that time her mother's flowers had died.

She walked deliberately, going one step at a time as the familiar odor of flowers and dirt slid into her nose and down her throat. It didn't cover up what slunk in the air, tantalizing and macabre, that drifted into her pores and coated her ribs.

Her damp clothing chilled her and the sound of a wet dripping was all that filled the silence. It was like she was in a trance as she slid through a door in the back of the shop and entered her house. The kitchen was one hallway away. The rhythmic dripping grew louder and almost blended in with the sound of rain thrumming on the roof.

On a table in the dark hall sat a vase. The flowers were dead inside it.

She froze before the door to the kitchen, a pale ray of light coming out from under onto her toes. Fear of what was beyond the door kept her still, put her heart in her throat, lfet a chill creeping across her skin and down her back.

Sweat and rain coated her neck and grew thicker, colder.

Bile was rising in her throat she pushed the door open. She couldn't run. Her eyes needed a moment to adjust to the gray light that was too bright after the sepulcher that'd been the inside of their shop.

Then her eyes cleared and a nightmare was laid out before her. She let out a muffled sob and clutched the door jam. Her knees hit the floor and there was bile and tears and her hands slamming on the floor.

"Mama! Daddy!" She could scream all she wanted, it wouldn't change anything.

Her father was lying on the linoleum floor; eyes glassy as he stared at the ceiling. At least ten kunai were embedded in his chest. Blood had flowed and already begun to putrefy around him, thick red edged by congealing purple.

She crawled over and the dripping sound rose until it was all she could hear but her own heart. She shut her father's eyes with her hand and her shoulders shook. The sobs came, this time without her vomiting and they tore her throat raw.

The dripping drowned out even the sobs. Ino couldn't run and she twisted around, eyes almost blinded by tears.

Not blinded enough.

Her mother was slumped over the table, eyes open and terrified, with kunai sticking out of her back at grotesque angles. Her arm hung limply off the table and blood was running down her fingers and dripping into a large puddle on the floor. The tiles were blue and white, the blood was so red.

That was never going to get clean.

Gently, Ino took her mother's hand and the skin under her was cold and rubbery. She set her mother's hand on the table tenderly and then shut the woman's eyes so that terror wouldn't be seen. Then Ino bit down on her own forearm to stifle her sobs as she pressed her forehead to the floor. She let the pain wrack through, the horror, and the sickly sweet smell that was dead flowers and dead corpses and her own bile spilled on the floor.

It wasn't long though until an ANBU grabbed her shoulder and shook her gently, pulling her to her feet. She fought every step of the way but her had her in an iron grip and was refusing to let her wallow.

"The house is empty Yamanaka-san, but the area could still be dangerous." He sounded mechanical. Like this was all only another day on the job.

Like her parents hadn't been murdered…and she saw the marks on their bodies. Knew them, knew what could cause them. Torture of the most rapid and brutal sort, nearly amateur.

Something in her snapped and the shards of it pierced everywhere in her, leaving blood and agony behind. But in it she hardened and curled. Amateurs. She'd skin those fuckers for hours when she found them, lay them out on a metal table and let a straight razor do the talking for her.

They'd pay, drop by drop and piece by piece.

She ripped her gaze from the bodies from the two people who she had loved since she could remember. Mother and father. The world had ended and she hadn't been there to stop it.

"Is there someone we can take you to?" The ANBU asked, leading her away from the violent aftermath she had stumbled upon.

She didn't want to go but he dragged her heels through the blood and steered her around the vomit. Mutiny was in her but trying to think through overpowering misery was nearly impossible. It was all she could do not to start screaming and pounding on the floor in despair.

Chouji was gone on a mission. Shikamaru was too. She was all alone.

Except.

She choked on the words. "Please help me find Sakura."

Sakura would understand, the other girl would hold Ino while she broke, while she screamed, while she swore in blood and tears to tear apart every square inch of this world until she found the monsters that did this.

And Sakura would help her with a smile and hell in her eyes.

The ANBU nodded and pulled open the front door, allowing the rain to pour in. Ino welcomed it. Maybe it would freeze her numb, maybe it would drown away the blood that would always be behind her eyelids, maybe it'd sluice that sickly sweet smell embedded in her skin.

Maybe if she was lucky it'd just take her to oblivion.

**Konoha, Eastern Wall**

"Where is everyone?" The first assassin hissed, wiping away some of the blood that had gotten on his face during the Yamanaka hit. It'd been a messy one, that was for sure. A little recreational torture had a way of getting out of hand so fast…

"I don't know idiot." The second man snapped. His eyes were on the ground below, searching desperately for their fellow killers who should have already been here.

"Try up." A cold voice rang out , causing both of the assassins to draw weapons and look above.

"Kabuto-sama." The second said. "About time you showed up."

The medic sneered and readjusted the person he was carrying over his shoulder. Dark hair cascaded down his arms and nearly covered the pale, breathing face of the girl in his arms.

"Well that's a pretty prize you brought back, what's the occasion?" The first asked, his tongue darting across his lips as he let his eyes trail down her. Hyuga Hinata was doll like in sleep, doubly so with the bandages over chest so bloody red that was almost surreal.

Kabuto gave the assassin a look that promised swift death if he even laid so much of a finger on her. "None of your concern. Pack it up, we're leaving now."

"But the others…?" The first asked.

"No one else made it out alive. The deadline for waiting passed. We're going." Kabuto didn't even wait for a response before leaping for the wall and scaling it.

The assassins looked at each other, a slow horror filling in the air. They'd come with over a hundred men. Three has survived.

"What the hell happened?" Asked the second .

The first blinked rapidly, trying to shake off the foreboding sinking in. "Something bad."

**Konoha Hospital, Private Office**

"Do we have a casualty count yet Shizune?" Tsunade asked, flipping through a clip board and medical reports and more death certificates than she wanted to look at.

Shizune gave a curt nod. "Nine Aburame were killed, the most important being Aburame Shibi. That poison used in their compound killed the bugs but not the people, that's the only saving grace we;ve gotten so far. Unluckily Shibi is the clan head, and with him dead his son is next in line. Shino on an S-class secret mission and out of reach, so the Aburame situation reamins up in the air. Roughly a dozen from both the Inuzuka, Akimichi, and Nara were killed. many of the assassins were terminated in retaliation, and we're still trying to recover most of the body parts to see if an ID can be made from the bingo book. Only three Hyuga died, all the assassins were intercepted before they could infiltrate the compound."

Shizune stopped to snort. "It seems security there has been especially tight since that incident with the heiresses running off, so I suppose there's some silver lining in that."

Tsunade snorted too, it figured Sakura breaking and entering into sovereign clan territory would manage to have an upside even months later.

The amusement suddenly fell away to sadness, and Shizune bowed her head. "Clan head Yamanaka Inoichi and his wife were found murdered by their daughter. Multiple council members including Homura and Koharu were killed, and there was also an attempt on the Sarutobi but Asuma butchered rhose who tried. There are an unknown number of casualties in our non-clan ninja, unfortunately there isn't a infrastructure to count them quickly as the clans are doing for their own. Low estimates are at thirty and climbing."

Tsunade didn't know if she wanted to scream, cry, or hit something until it broke. "Do we have a head count on the assassins?"

Shizune delivered this part with a level of vindictiveness that surprised even Tsunade. "Sakura checked in with ANBU about five minutes ago. She has both _caused_ and recovered thirty-seven corpses. Jiraiya checked in with another sixteen to add to the count, and the clans are already placing their estimates at a rough fifty-six. We'll know more in a few hours."

Tsunade let a nasty, spiteful smile grace her lips. It chilled Shizune's blood just looking at it.

The Hokage's eyes swirled a venomous amber. "Delightful. Have messages sent to Jiraiya and Sakura to get to temporary headquarters ASAP when they're done with the bodies. We have some snakes to fry."

And Shizune knew that this would only be the beginning of something long and bloody. She couldn't really find it in herself to care. Tsunade swept out of the office and Shizune shifted to attend to her next patient.

Hyuga Hinata had wounds that needed tending.

**Apartment Complex, Courtyard**

Ino looked up the towering glass façade and counted up the floors to Sakura's apartment. Rain filled her eyes but Ino let it come, it washed away the tears so easily. Then Ino saw the shattered window few more floors up, and her heart wrenched into her throat as her eyes moved to the concrete below. Blood was spattered in a starburst on the ground, so thick even the rain hadn't washed it away.

It didn't take long for Ino to put two and two together. Someone had fallen from the window. Or jumped.

She looked to the side and knew the ANBU with her had seen the same. He grabbed her shoulder tightly. "Stay here. We'll take care of it."

She watched them go; it took only two minutes for them to join her back in the rain. Her head was still tilted up, letting the coldness take away the hot wash of tears.

A white mask swam in the corner of her eyes, splattered by paint as red as blood. "Do you have any idea of why Uchiha Sasuke, who is currently on a mission, has his apartment looking like a war zone?"

It wasn't well known, but Ino knew exactly who'd been living with Sasuke these past few months. Her eyes screwed shut and suddenly the tears were forgotten. "Hanabi."

They _really_ needed to find Sakura now.

**Konoha Hospital**

She paced the room silently, her eyes flickering between Tsunade, Jiraiya, Ino, and occasionally Konohamaru (though he wasn't really participating in the conversation).

"I need to follow him, if it was Kabuto we don't have much time before the trail goes cold. If he took Hanabi…my Lady, we can't wait a second." Sakura came to a dead stop before the Hokage, eyes blazing.

"We don't have anyone to spare Sakura. All the Aburame's bugs are either dead or comatose, and the Inuzuka's dogs took a heavy hit protecting their family. Besides the people in this room with us…" Tsunade shrugged. "This will be the most understaffed rescue mission in history. And we've just been attacked and I don't think…Sakura, after what happened with Akatsuki I don't want you wandering in the open."

Ino cut in sharply. "They said the a few assassins escaped along with Kabuto, I'll go with Sakura to help out and watch her if need be, but we _have_ to go."

Dark circles were under Ino's eyes and her shoulders were set harshly. Sakura had a feeling this offer of help didn't come from the goodness in Ino's heart. No, it came from a black writhing and ugly place Sakura was much more familiar with.

Rage.

And she'd accept that. Rage was a good source to work from, all things considered.

Sakura nodded once. "We're good. I don't care if it's me or a pair or the whole of Konoha with me. I need to save her Tsunade, Hanabi was my responsibility and I failed."

It tasted bitter in her mouth to admit but Sakura knew it was the truth. She'd been so damned busy trying to clear out the assassins she hadn't gotten to the youngest Hyuga in time. Sasuke would never forgive her if she gave up now.

Sakura would never forgive herself either.

Jiraiya gave a dark grin and threw his arms over both their shoulders. "Don't worry Hime, I won't let these two beautiful ladies go alone."

Sakura nuzzled into his side. "You're the best Jiraiya-sama."

He was that, literally, despite what everyone called him or accused him of being. He was the most dependable person she'd ever met. When the shit hit the fan Jiraiya had her back. It was a thing to be treasured.

He gripped her tighter. "That's my girl."

And she was, you know; his girl. She'd admit that considering the training and the drinks and the times she'd helped him edit his smut books, or the times he'd listened to her fears and hopes and just let her pour them out without ridicule. He was a fixture in her life and she in his, for better or for worse. Though they did have a tendency to be horrible influences on each other and riled each other into raising all holy hell.

It was a definite perk.

Tsunade sighed. "I can see I'm not stopping you. Go."

Ino gave a cheerless giggle, but the anticipation in her eyes was stark. Sakura brushed a hand down the other girl's face. Ino looked to her, and Sakura smiled. "I'm right here, whatever you need."

Ino swallowed and nodded.

Jiraiya looked between them grinning lewdly. Sakura scoffed at him and his face changed to a fond smile. Then his eyes darkened. "You know, there are two people we can meet part way there to help us out. They're en-route from a mission anyways, we can borrow them a few more days."

Tsunade stiffened. "I don't think _they_ would be the best choice considering the history…"

He shrugged. "And what other options do we have? We need to get to that girl and we need all the help we can scrounge up, reguardless of who it comes from."

Tsunade pinched the bridge of her nose. "Fine just…just keep them in line. And no getting violent Sakura."

The jinchuuriki blinked in confusion. "Wait…what? Why would I—"

But Jiraiya already had her lifted off her feet and out the door. Sakura wiggled and objected but it was far too late.

Tsunade and a silent Konohamaru watched them go.

He looked disappointed. "I suppose I should go back to my family now, huh?"

"That would be for the best." Tsunade shooed him out the door. "Be careful kid."

His head shot up. "Oh wait, Sakura gave me something to give to you. Said she didn't need them anymore." He pulled a thin silver chain from his pocket and let it slide from his fingers to the desk. Three rings clattered onto the glass surface and he simply turned and walked out.

Tsunade ran the chain through her fingers and held the rings up to the light. The seal matrix on them nearly bent reality around into a snarl. She groaned. "Son of a…" She blinked again and her gaze darkened. "Goddamnit Sakura. You didn't have to do this alone. Stupid stubborn jinchuuriki just had to go and steal from the Akatsuki…"

**Konoha/Iwa Border, 8:12 PM**

Gnarled branches jutted into the sky and they were scars on the twilight fading above them. A thunder storm rumbled in the distance, a dark crown of navy and black that boiled on the horizon. Lighting lit the skies for miles and the air smelled like sun beaten dirt and ozone. Every time the lightning flashed it bathed the trees in silvery radiance.

Naruto leaned against the rough trunk of the tree, blue eyes gazing into the storm cresting the horizon like a monster out of the night. Gemma lounged on a branch beneath just enjoying the light show and warm breeze pressing against their faces.

"We'll stay here tonight." The ANBU captain told him, relaxing into the hold of the branch to get comfortable.

The other two ANBU didn't object and settled into the warped cradle of the tree.

Naruto continued to stand though, his hands itching for his kunai. And they were itching to touch his girlfriend again and hold her against him. He gave a frustrated sigh and let his head hit against the tree.

Two days had passed and it felt like two years. He _hated_ wet work without Sakura.

But the mission was on and the distance they still had to cover was vast. This mission was what stood between victory and a war that'd shatter them for good.

And Naruto didn't fail.

**Kumo, Unknown Location, 8:46 PM**

Mist parted around them as shadowy figures around him flung themselves forward through the trees. The air was humid and thick, weighing down in his lungs like a physical and breathing _thing_.

One figure stopped and threw up his hand and the other figures froze and faded backwards.

He turned backwards and jumped to the ground. Sweat curled down Uchiha Sasuke's brow and he tried his best to remain silent, softer than the shadows or the mist clogging his throat.

In an instant a fiery explosion engulfed the trees behind them, and a smirk crossed his face as he felt the heat on his face. It vaporized all the fog in the air for miles, leaving the air hot but blessedly dry. He felt ten pounds lighter just standing there.

His earpiece crackled and a voice cycled over. "Stop lagging behind Sasuke. Now give us sign where you are."

Sasuke smirked and raised up his arm and flipped Shikamaru and the others the bird. He heard laughter coming over the radio and could clearly distinguish Kiba's, Tenten's, and Chouji's voices. Shikamaru practically huffed.

Shino rolled his eyes (Sasuke could _hear_ it) and Neji snorted as Sasuke joined them in the trees. Lee pumped his fist in the air as he watched the fires die. It was one building down and only thirty odd more to go on their soon to be country wide sabotage spree.

It was going to be a hell of a few weeks.

The ANBU explosive experts watched the flames calmly, seemingly content with their handiwork. Their masks glittered strangely as the fires died down. The wail of sirens went up from the armory they'd just firebombed.

"Well that's our cue. We're going to get our asses caught, let's go." Shikamaru waved them forward and they moved out

And yet a chill crawled his back, suddenly in his black world there was a burst of something. White and red, flickering like feathers, soaked in rain, falling so far—

He shook his head and everything was black again. Sasuke sighed. It must have been an odd chakra signature, that was all.

**Oto/Konoha Border**

Her head jostled against Kabuto's shoulder, and her chest throbbing with each blow even knocked out cold. Where a kunai had been rammed into her heart a scar took had taken its place, Kabuto's handy work that would keep her alive long enough for her to be hand delivered to Kumo.

But Hyuga Hanabi didn't know any of this; she was too far gone for anyone to reach. Kabuto carried her to oblivion and if he ran fast enough, no one ever would reach her.

* * *

Edit: Let's see, the battle on the Tower was made grimmer, Sakura had a serious freak out this time to Tsunade faux-dying, Tsunade finding Sakura bleeding out in her office was much more macabre, Sakura had a bitchier conversation with the Kyuubi, Hinata and Hanabi had their fights scenes and emotions improved (and by that, I mean being terrified), Ino appealing to Ibiki to go out to help people was serious this time instead of funny, Sakura right after waking up was a lot more…into the killing she was doing, _really_ into it to an unhealthy degree, Ino finding her parents was a lot more ugly, mostly everything else was cleaned up and streamlined, and last instead of hearing Hanabi's voice Sasuke instead caught a sort of premonition/glimpse of her falling.

That's it for now.


	25. Trails of Blood

Disclaimer: Naruto will never ever belong to me, never, alright? Seriously.

* * *

**Fire Country, Unknown Location**

Rain dripped down from the thousands of leaves above them, splashing tiny droplets on their hair. The wind and thunder had long stopped but the rain kept falling in sheets that reduced visibility to near nothing. It plastered her hair to her skin and made her lungs feel soggy.

Jiraiya came to a halt in front of them and Sakura stopped and put an arm out to catch Ino. Both girls watched on, and the only sound was the hundreds of thousands of water droplets falling to the earth. His silvery hair flipped over his shoulder as he looked into the trees.

"You know you don't have to sneak around us like that." Jiraiya clicked his tongue in mock impatience. "Just get out here."

Something in the murk seemed to shift and two familiar forms emerged from the rain.

Sakura grinned. "Anko-chan."

She ignored Kakashi entirely (and he was reading an Icha Icha book and ignoring her, anyways) and Anko swept over and threw her arms around both Sakura and Ino's shoulders. "And how are my favorite two kunoichi doing?" The older jonin purred.

Once upon a time Anko had been their sensei during the courtesan training they'd received after their fifteenth birthdays. The course was required for all kunoichi, but only the girls who had shown any aptitude for it were given the full regiment in the arts of seduction and deception. Sakura had declined any further training. Ino on the other hand, had sparked Anko's interest and that interest eventually resulted in the jonin recommending the blonde to Ibiki. It'd been a match made in hell and the Torture and Interrogation department had certainly seen an upswing in intel from broken and sobbing shinobi.

Anko fondly called it the Ino-effect.

During this time Sakura had hung out with the older jonin constantly. She'd gone to bars with Anko off and on for the next year and change (along with Ino and infrequently, Hinata), and she supposed they were something close to friends if not there already.

Anko gave them both a once over before breaking into a sly smile. "Anybody have any good stories for me? Either sex or violence works for me, but you know I prefer both in _liberal _amounts."

Sakura smirked. "Sorry Anko, but we're a bit too busy to get into anything _really_ kinky right now."

The jonin sighed unhappily. "Shame."

Ino remained silent and watched them with darkened eyes. The smile fell from Sakura's face. They were here for more important reasons than playing catch up with an old friend.

Jiraiya spoke. "Unless some of you are going to start making out I think we need to move this along."

Anko clicked her tongue in disappointment and drifted back to Kakashi. "So what do you need us for?"

The Sage dropped straight to business. "There was a severe breech of Village security less than twenty-four hours ago. Orochimaru sent in a large assassination platoon to infiltrate behind our walls and take out our command structure along with some of our best ninja while they were in their homes."

Anko and Kakashi both took in sharp breaths and the book in her old Sensei's hands dipped a fraction.

Anko's hands twisted until her knuckles were white, and her lips peeled from her teeth. "What were the casualties?" She knew how Orochimaru worked better than anyone.

He answered grimly. "Too many."

Sakura felt Ino's hand fisting in the back of her shirt. The jinchuuriki could offer her friend no comfort but silence.

Anko seethed. "Then what the hell are you doing out here? This squad isn't big enough to be an assassination team for that son of a bitch."

Sakura spoke up. "Hyuga Hanabi was kidnapped by Kabuto. We need to reacquire her immediately, Orochimaru can wait."

For a second, Sakura thought Anko might smack her. The older jonin would have liked nothing more than to skin her old sensei over a fire, but having them say he wasn't important enough had her teeth on edge.

"So what the hell does Orochimaru have to do for this Village to actually terminate him?" Anko bit out. "Kill another few hundred of our ninja?"

"Now, now." Jiraiya raised his hands in some attempt to placate. "When I left, Tsunade was already putting something together but the village is in literal chaos right now. Just getting together this rescue mission nearly didn't happen. Trust me, when the assassins go you'll be the first invited to the team."

Anko deflated. "Right, sorry." And she shot the jinchuuriki an apologetic glance. The younger jonin gave a nod and sympathetic smile in return. She knew very well just how deeply revenge could burn, and how leaving it unquenched ached more fiercely than having all your ribs broken.

Then over Anko's shoulder she caught a glimpse of silver, and Sakura and Kakashi shared a long glance. It was incredibly bitter and uneasy both ways.

"Nice to see you Hatake-san." She murmured dryly.

He raised an eyebrow. "Sakura." He acknowledged.

That was all she was probably going to get and Kakashi returned to his book, seemingly oblivious to them and the rain. Kakashi was the _champion_ of not-giving-a-fuck.

Jiraiya looked up to the gray sky and rain sluiced down his face. "The trail's getting cold."

Sakura bowed her head. "Right. Should I take tracking?"

The Sage nodded. "That's probably for the best. Can yours handle the rain?"

She smirked. "They'll deal." In a flat ten seconds she had a small, red-brown fox with two tails summoned. It made a keening sound at her and burrowed against her leg and out of the rain. She looked down at it, mortified. "Don't be such a baby."

The fox looked up at her mutinously.

She glared back down, totally unimpressed. "You are the worst demon ever."

It made a barking sound at her that almost sounded like scoffing.

Sakura rolled her eyes and pulled a bloodied rag from her pocket. "Can you find the girl with this blood?"

The fox paused, sniffed, and bobbed its head once. Then it jumped up on her shoulder and chattered in her ear. Sakura didn't understand a yip of it, but she could feel the message filtering down and resonating in her chakra. It was then she realized this demon was carrying a message for the Kyuubi alone.

And yet the Demon King was so deep in her subconscious she did not feel a stir. The hair on the back of her neck prickled and something slick and nauseous pooled in her guts. Whatever this message was, it was a bad one.

And the Kyuubi wasn't talking.

The fox on her shoulder abruptly stopped and was then off into the trees.

Sakura stood there, bemused. "I guess that's our cue."

No one even asked her what just happened. Her summons were apparently so weird people had just stopped wondering what was going on with them a long time ago.

Somewhere far above them the clouds broke, and they spilled out a scarlet sunset that stained the black sky hellish and then poured through the trees. It turned the rain to a million, tiny jeweled prisms. It made the ground look like it was soaked in blood.

The rain would stop, soon. The feeling of being covered in blood would remain.

She leapt and Jiraiya and Ino tore after her. Kakashi and Anko followed, jaws set and kunai ready. They ran and ran and Sakura wondered where this chase would end.

The sun set beyond the trees and they were plunged into a world of terror and shadows.

**Konoha Hospital, Temporary Headquarters**

Tsunade sat in her office alone with the lights low and her eyes closed, mostly to fight off her impending migraine. Between her thin fingers a slip of paper hung. She'd already read it twelve times.

She had found the paper wrapped around inside of one of the rings Konohamaru had delivered, and it had only taken her a split second to recognize the handwriting as Sakura's. It was written in an older form of medic talk meant to be used on the battle field when communications had been compromised, and the Hokage knew that only three people in the entire village knew it fluently. And since the rings had never been in Shizune's possession, that left only one option.

Sakura.

Tsunade cracked open her eyes and read it once more, hoping beyond hope she'd hallucinated the first twelve times.

_During the invasion I interrogated an Oto ninja near to death, and what he told me was startling. He stated clearly that Danzou was involved into getting the platoons into the village. I know the situation with Hanabi and her family make me biased to wanting Danzou's head on a pike, but I think it's safe to say we can't abide by this. Do what you will with this information; I can't be of any help in this situation until Hanabi is found._

_Also, the rings this message was delivered in are some kind of tracking devices. They kind find each other and sense jinchuuriki. Something in them spellbound me and Gaara both, so it's safe to say these things are highly attuned to us._

_I can't run from Akatsuki, I never could. Until the day I die they will be able to find me._

"Shit."

The thirteenth reading did nothing to dispel what she'd read, and Tsunade was coming to the unfortunate conclusion this wasn't going to go away.

It made too much sense; nearly a hundred ninja had infiltrated their village without being seen. There was no way that had been done (with their security on high alert with a war going on) on Orochimaru's initiative alone. Danzou had betrayed them. The straw that broke the camel's back had come, and much more would break by the time this was over.

Her lips pulled into a hard line and she flicked on the intercom. "Shizune, summon an emergency council meeting."

Static buzzed before a small voice came out from the speaker. "Rodger that."

Thirty minutes later as the sun set behind the roiling storm overhead, Tsunade swept into the council chamber. So many of the chairs were empty and she was certain they were one more loss away from not being able to have a quorum.

That was…not actually a bad thing. If anything opportunity might just be knocking. Of course, she'd worry about her internal enemies _after_ they took care of the outward ones.

The chatter around the table immediately died down and all eyes turned to her, some sad, others demanding, and the most damning were calculating. Even in the worst situation some never stopped to mourn but only advanced their own agendas.

This village was on a slow rot and Tsunade was watching it fall.

She didn't even spare Danzou a glance. That would give away the game too soon. "I'm sorry we have to meet today under these circumstances. Friends, colleagues, and our comrades are dead. Some of us have lost family and I will make this vow here: those responsible for this atrocity will pay in blood."

The next three hours passed in a dizzying blur as she heard some of the most vicious arguments to ever come out of the council chamber. When it was done the Clans were furious, the civilians terrified, and the older Jonin were near nervous breakdowns.

Tsunade was the only one untouched by the fray and the emotions running so high they left burns. She had refused all laws, edicts, or decrees from being passed. She'd noticed both Hyuga Hiashi and Danzou trying to usurp in the melee.

She wasn't that fucking stupid to let them.

"I'm calling this meeting to a close." Which was for the best, considering that the interim Aburame head (one of the only Aburame currently conscious) was inches away from ripping Hiashi's face off.

Slowly the council members began filing out one by one, some objected but she just gave them a poisonous glare in return. They moved on quickly after that.

But before one last man could leave she called out. "Danzou, I need to speak with you for a moment."

He turned to her with his face carefully blank and attentive. She hated every freaking second of it, but she didn't leap to tear his head off with her bare hands. Instead she watched him pull out a chair with his one arm and take a seat. "Yes Tsunade?"

No honorific, no title. It was like he wanted to get caught by flaunting his insubordination to her face.

She took a deep breath and reminded herself that pride always came before a nasty fall.

"I need your help Danzou." The words poured off her tongue and they burned her like acid. "We may not always be on the same side but I know you hold Konoha's best interests at heart. That's why I can only trust you with this." She nearly gagged on the words.

His lips quirked, scars pulling, an almost-smirk. Pride and the fall, she had to remember that.

He cleared his throat slowly. "I will serve you in any way I can, I am always loyal to you Tsunade."

He was fucking reveling in this. He might as well have been holding up a neon sign screaming: _I've betrayed you, bitch!_

She let a touch of unease color her words, her acting flawless. "A source has told me that there is a traitor in our midst, there is no possible way that all those assassins got in here without inside help. I need you to help me find this person and tear them out with the utmost efficiency. I don't brook having traitors in my ninja."

"I well do my best Hokage-sama." He wetted his lips. "Do I have discretion in this?"

Bait, hook, and sinker. Tsunade deserved a freaking medal for this. "Of course." She nodded graciously. "Thank you for your assistance."

He gave her the shallowest of bows he could get away with and swept from the room. "I will inform you of my progress regularly."

She doubted that.

He was off to scurry to his spies and ranks, and his ROOT ninja that had evaded her so long. He was going to cover up everything he could reach and he'd only be giving her the noose to hang him from. It was a beautiful plan if she said so herself.

Her ANBU were already sent out, prepared to track and worm out every secret Danzou held. Ibiki was running the operation and he would twist the knife in ways she couldn't even dream of. She couldn't have the blood on her hands, which was a pity. This couldn't be outright as this had to stay in the shadows. Not when the source of calling Danzou a traitor was Sakura. The council would rally around Danzou out of sheer spite if their jinchuuriki made that sort of accusation.

Tsunade knew where the politics stood and she could use that with the best of them. Danzou was going to lose this game to her and with him; the rot in their village would finally burn out.

**Konoha/Oto Border, Three Days Later**

"Kabuto-sama, can't we stop for just a little while?" The first assassins panted, a cramp raging up his side like fire.

Kabuto snarled. "Are you stupid?" The medic reeled around and his eyes had a frenzied gleam. "We just killed hundreds of Konoha ninja and kidnapped the Hyuga princess of the Death Squad. They won't take this lying down and if they catch us they'll skin us for it!"

The assassin swallowed. "Sorry."

Then Kabuto thought about it. A prickling had been building in his neck the past few days and the skin on his back had burned like the devil was on his heels. Kabuto and the cargo he was carrying was priceless, but the assassins were…expendable.

"Scratch that." Kabuto's lips pulled viciously tight. "Rest here for awhile and then lay a fake trail for them to follow. When you're done make sure to get back to the base undetected, don't fail me."

Both assassins saluted him.

It was he supposed, a despicable thing to do, but survival of the fittest and all that. They would be caught and Kabuto would buy himself the time to get away. First to base to drop off some Hyuga blood and then on to Kumo with the prize.

He casually ripped a sleeve off of the Hyuga's shirt. It was covered in dried blood. "Take this, if they're following by scent this will snare their attention."

The assassins took the cloth and Kabuto took the girl and left. Under his hands her skin continued to cool and her pulse weakened. It wouldn't be long before she died from blood loss and dehydration.

But that was Kumo's problem, all Kabuto had to do was get her there.

**One Hour Later**

Sakura had not expected to come up on the Oto ninja so quickly, but there they were resting like idiots as she burst from the tree. They stared at her, she stared at them, and she breathed in deeply.

It smelled like Hanabi's blood here. "Where is she?" The growl road low in her throat and the Kyuubi's chakra was already stirring.

One of them tried to say something, but at the moment black snakes wrapped around his neck and hoisted him in the air. The second one got blindsided by Ino's foot to the back of his head. He staggered right into Jiraiya's fist and dropped out cold.

Anko, snakes peeling out of her wrists, lazily swung the first in the air. "Where's the princess?"

"You're suffocating him." Sakura commented dryly.

Anko paused and considered that. "Oh, my bad." She dropped the man in a pile of limbs. The snakes retreated back to Anko's wrists and were absorbed back into her skin smoothly, black scales melting in with pale flesh.

"Well that wasn't nearly as entertaining as I expected." Anko murmured sadly.

Sakura didn't have a chance to reply as her attention was caught by Ino kneeling next to the unconscious men. The Yamanaka spoke harshly. "I'll find where they're taking her, even if I have to rip their minds out layer by _layer_."

Anko made a thrilled noise. Sakura felt her own pulse flutter a bit.

Ino had once been a vapid little girl, but Sakura could scarcely remember it. What stood before her was a woman working towards the same kind of atrocities Sakura already reveled in. Finding kindred spirits was always such a nice surprise.

Ino touched the first assassin's head and let her chakra pool out. Within five minutes the body was writhing, ripping out his hair, and biting off his own tongue. It was an odd thing to watch. Anko and Sakura sort of cheered it on, Jiraiya and Kakashi just watched mutely.

Then his eyes flew open and blood poured, then his mouth opened and something dark splattered out from between his teeth.

Ino's eyes flew open and in the biting ice of them was something unholy. "You son of a bitch!"

It was only Sakura's hyper-fast reflexes that had her dragging Ino off before she could tear the man's throat out. "Ino, Ino! Calm the fuck down!"

It was the wrong thing to say.

The blonde thrashed harder and Sakura was forced to exert some of her actual strength to wrestle her friend down. "What's wrong? Just tell me!"

The other girl rolled and snarled. "It was them! They killed my—" A harsh, wracking sob sucked out all her breath.

But Sakura knew. The jinchuuriki gave one look over her shoulder, eyes already bled scarlet, and her gaze said it all. The other three Konoha ninja immediately retreated into the trees. They would have some privacy, at least.

Sakura rocked Ino gently. "Please honey, I need you to find Hanabi for me. Then I promise I will _help_ you skin these fuckers down to the bone."

These were the assassins that had gotten Ino's parents. Sakura almost, almost felt sorry for them.

Ino remained in her arms for a moment, and the jinchuuriki didn't know if it was shock or her friend gearing up for a psychotic break.

"They used my face." Ino rasped.

Sakura could only sit in silence, holding her friend, and the nightmare spilled from Ino's mouth. "They looked like me, they got my daddy first. I saw it in his eyes…he thought I was the one who…"

This next sob wracked her so hard Sakura thought Ino's ribs would break.

The blonde fought and gasped. "They went for my mom next. She was a civilian and they just carved her up and laughed the whole time. She begged, she begged so long and they just watched her…"

"I'm sorry." It wasn't fucking enough. It never ever would be, not for this kind of agony.

"Do one thing for me." The blonde pleaded.

Sakura rested her forehead against the other girl's. "Just say the word." That promise was the sort of thing Sakura would burn countries to keep.

"Half an hour." Ino breathed. "I only need that much to get the information from them the old fashioned way, so keep the others away and let me work. And watch out for the skin, I'll leave it stretched between the trees…"

The thought was a lovely, macabre thing. Like a butterfly with its wings peeled apart so delicate…

"Alright." Sakura paused and considered. "I have a straight razor in my bag."

Ino smiled and it was a cadaver's grin, all bone and teeth and sickness. "That'd be _perfect_."

**Kirigakure, Mizukage's Offices**

The message had come from the Hokage on their most secure line, and Haku couldn't even pretend it might be fake. The war was getting into swing and Konoha had been the first to bleed by Orochimaru's hand. And Konoha wouldn't take that lying down.

Except the Hokage didn't want help wiping Otogakure off the map, oh no, Tsunade had other plans for her allies.

Haku watched as her master (her Mizukage) paced across the office with eyes flickering to every corner like a caged animal.

"You can't be seriously considering this Zabuza-sama?" Haku asked but she already knew how this man ticked, and the answer was long decided.

"Don't even start; this is very unique opportunity that we've presented with. And I've been stuck in this damn office too long." Zabuza bit out.

She arched an elegant eyebrow. "That doesn't mean you have to jump in the way of danger. That's why we have _minions_. It's what being the Mizukage means: having people to do things for you and take the risks. Which, by the way, you aren't doing."

Zabuza spun on his heel to face the window that overlooked the village, now cloaked in a heavy mist that turned the buildings to skeletal husks. "This is driving me insane Haku just…waiting like this." He paused. "And you know what that treaty we signed means if we want Konoha's to help us stay solvent, we need to lend a hand whenever that queen of a Kage dictates."

Haku slid behind him and placed a hand on his shoulder. "I know Zabuza-sama, but the last time you were out in the open you were almost assassinated." But Oto and Kumo ninja no less. They hadn't waited long to try. "You need to be careful; there are more people depending on you than just me. If you were killed I…"

_I would die. _It remained unsaid but it hung in the air.

"As long as you're with me there's no way I can die." His grin was razors. "And you're my best weapon, between you and me the world could burn. What do you say we do this just once, for old time's sakes?"

He was manipulating her and she let him. God, did she have it bad for this man. "Fine."

He didn't cheer but it was a close thing.

In one swift movement he had his sword strapped over his back and left his ceremonial hat sitting on his desk. He beckoned her. "Let's go Haku, with Konoha dealing with all fronts of the war we can at least find a few freaks wearing black cloaks with red clouds."

"Whatever you say." Haku secured her mask back over her face. The cold porcelain felt like nostalgia. Surely this was just like old times, them running head long into danger and death with nothing but the blades in their hands and the masks on their faces.

His coal black eyes glittered at her from across the desk. "You'll be with me the whole time; you're more loyal than anyone in this village. I have absolute faith in your abilities to protect me. So relax."

She almost rolled her eyes. _The reason I do all this is because I love you. _That remained unsaid too.

But that was alright, Haku had everything she needed in the world in him. And she'd follow him down to hell if he asked.

**Sunagakure, Kazekage's Offices**

"This can't be a good idea." Kankuro complained.

Gaara, from his position by the window, just sent his brother an apathetic glance. "Your point?"

Temari swung her legs and let her heels clatter against his desk. Her eyes were sharp. "Our point is we don't want you killed."

Her fan rested against her hip and her fingers trailed it lovingly. Gaara was certain she was contemplating beating him upside the head with it. It was an amusing thought, at least. He spoke. "Akatsuki breached Konoha and nearly got Sakura this time, we can't stand by idle anymore. Besides, we still owe them a little visit for killing our entire council and me, for the time that lasted."

Both of his siblings flinched at the mention of his death, albeit as temporary as it had been.

"Gaara…" Kankuro frowned.

"I'm not going to sit here hiding from Akatsuki the rest of my life." Gaara turned on them and raised an eyebrow. "You can come with me or stay; it's all up to you."

Temari huffed. "Fine. We're not letting you wander around to get yourself killed. _Again_."

Kankuro sighed. "When are we leaving?"

The former jinchuuriki smiled darkly. "Now."

**Rice Country, Otogakure**

"Did you bring me her blood?" The question echoed between them, a slick of oil in the air and Kabuto kept his eyes low.

"Of course Orochimaru-sama." Kabuto wetted his lips but it did nothing to take aching frost out of them.

His master, the Sage of Snakes, just laughed. It was like howling wind and broken glass and dried bones. "Very good Kabuto-kun. Take that little Hyuga on to Kumo; she will make a lovely gift."

The praise was a hollow thing, he had risked his life and came back the only one alive and still he was forced to play messenger boy with a unconscious girl to a country that might as soon skin him as let him leave unimpeded.

Kumo was notoriously capricious like that.

Orochimaru flicked a wrist indifferently. "Get out of my sight."

Kabuto nodded, rose, and fled. There was nothing that could get him back in Orochimaru's good graces, he knew that now. Nothing short of killing jinchuuriki Sakura at least, and he knew that was well out of his reach. That demon vessel was his near equal as a medic but she fought with suicidal abandon that could level cities. There was no winning that fight.

He made his way down the twisting labyrinth of halls quickly, but the hungry eyes of the other ninja followed him. They were animals, all of them. Waiting for any sign of weakness to tear into him, any smell of blood to pounce and bring more glory to themselves. There was no camaraderie in this village, just fear and betrayal.

Once upon a time Kabuto had been king of the heap. Now, he was clawing and backstabbing just to stay alive.

An iron door came up on his right and he quickly opened it and slid in. His eyes immediately landed on the angelic sleeping face of Hyuga Hanabi. A man in a white mask stood over her, tending to her IV and carefully shoring up the heart wound Kabuto had patched on his way out of Konoha.

Kabuto didn't particularly care. "Is she ready for transportation?"

"Yes." The other medic looked up at him with insincere, gray-as=maggot eyes. "A few food pills and an IV cleared up her complications, but I had to apply more healing to that gash over her heart due to the…mediocrity of the patch job."

Kabuto snarled but didn't dignify the man with a response. It was just another backstabbing snake looking for weakness, another wanting to steal his position and slide a kunai between his ribs. There was nothing safe or sacred in Otogakure.

Kabuto picked up Hyuga Hanabi and left.

Nothing sacred, nothing was safe; he was just another pawn lost on a very large board. So he held his tongue and bided his time.

His day would come, soon enough.

**Rice Country, Unknown Location**

Ino hummed to herself as she cleaned her hands of the blood spattered on them, and everyone around her looked slightly nauseous. All except Sakura of course, as she was too busy making ecstatic and breathy noises while examining the skin stretched out between the trees. Ino had peeled it carefully, the ink blue of their veins unbroken and shot through the gray membrane like spider webs.

It was really some of her best work.

The grass was soaked with blood and viscous fluids in every direction, and the corpses were long past unrecognizable lumps of flesh.

And Ino had been smiling, laughing, and sounding carefree and almost childish as she had turned to grin at Sakura. "Do you like them?" She gestured to the paper thin and stretched tight to the point of being delicate skin.

"Very much." Sakura laughed as well. "I've never seen better."

And the jinchuuriki walked over and helped Ino clean the blood from her hair, too.

Jiraiya cleared his throat. "Do you know where Hanabi is?"

Ino nodded, and for a second her eyes were not touched with that childish glee but by a deadness nothing could fill. "Otogakure. Their current base of residence is…nearby, by about twenty miles."

Kakashi looked to the bodies. "Are you sure? Torture isn't always the, uh…most effective method for the truth." Sometimes people would say anything to make the pain stop. Every ninja knew that.

Ino's dead eyes turned to him but the smile she wore was a gleeful wound. "When I do it, it is."

There was really no way Kakashi could have answered that, so he didn't even try.

Anko didn't object any, Sakura was still working the blood out of Ino's hair, and Jiraiya seemed satisfied. "All right then, you'll lead the way."

The blonde nodded. Sakura absently dismissed her summon and helped Ino to her feet. The jinchuuriki asked. "Ready?"

Ino felt the hum of a song in the back of her throat. "Of course."

And so they ran again, night turning to a gray dawn, a gray dawn passing to an overcast day, and soon night was almost on them again as they halted. They had reached their destination. The base beneath them buzzed like a hive of bugs: ninja, supplies, and messengers moving in and out at a rapid pace. They were certainly gearing up for war. They knew Konoha would be coming.

They just hadn't realized how soon.

Anko rubbed at her shoulder absently, curse seal aching. There was a sinister and resolute set to her shoulders.

Jiraiya looked to the jonin then off to Sakura. "Think we should seal that up before we do anything?"

Sakura nodded. "That'd probably be for the best."

Anko looked between them, confused. "What?"

Jiraiya nodded sagely. "We need to take care of your curse seal before you go in." The nod turned to a lewd grin. "You'll have to take your shirt off for this."

Sakura sighed. "_I'll_ do the sealing."

Jiraiya was undaunted and just grinned. "You still need supervision."

Anko was no less confused. "What the fuck are you two going on about?"

The jinchuuriki made a dismissive motion with her hand. "Once upon a time Naruto and I made a suppression seal for that mark Sasuke carries around. It was mostly designed for him but I could tweak it to last for you until we get out of Oto. If Orochimaru is here…"

She left that sentence trailing.

Anko nodded eagerly. "Do it." She didn't even mind the getting naked in front of Jiraiya for it.

Jiraiya gave an order. "Kakashi, Ino, watch the patrols for an opening we can exploit. We'll be back in twenty."

Both jonin nodded, Ino still humming that melancholy song. As they left to go seal Anko somewhere a bit more private, Sakura recognized the tune.

_Follow the Trails of Blood._

It was an ancient song, older than the village. Nowadays the ANBU trackers would sing it to themselves to keep their minds focused when they were on a long tracking grind.

Before then, it'd been a song of the nomad ninja clans who lived without villages, trapped between terror and blood and moonless skies. It was a song of loss and violence and it was steeped in bitter regrets.

It had been the one lullaby people would sing to Sakura as a child.

And they wondered why she was such a monster now.

Anko was sealed in twenty minutes, they had the guard patrol figured out within the hour. Jiraiya stayed outside to provide an escape if they needed it (and by escape, that meant a toad crashing through walls and setting the whole damn place on fire), and the rest of them started the long slide to get in undetected.

They hadn't realized it then, but Kabuto was already two hours gone to Kumo.

**Iwa, Unknown Location**

Naruto had done wet work in every nation across the land, killing for Kage and country with nothing but a smile and a kunai in his hand. Still, Iwa always was the worst of places to go. Endless fields of dust, jagged hills and gorges of stone stretching for miles, and wastelands where nothing would grow and no one could live that went even farther.

There was a reason Iwa had never been invaded and conquered successfully. They had lost wars but Konoha had known better than to chase them back into their own country.

The tree he stood on was long dead, nothing but serrated branches and tangled roots. Only the rock hard dirt it had once grown in kept it standing. The riverbed below him was a silver, pale snake in the moonlight.

He couldn't remember quite how long it had been since Gemma and the other's had left to scout out the platoon to ambush, but it felt like decades.

But eventually the wait would end and Naruto would tear into the enemy like the code name he wore; _Bloody Maelstrom_. It'd been awhile since he'd seen someone's guts peeled out from between their ribs by nothing but wind.

And these Iwa ninja would all get to see it too, when he wasn't just a yellow blur robbing them of their lives faster than they could blink. He'd leave one survivor just to take the story back to Iwa, to let them know full-well he was ready and able to pick up the war his father had started. And Naruto would win it. That run-on-sight order was still out on a blond ninja who could turn to golden light. It was a good thing they had never specifically named his father in that order, because it'd be such a pain to get it reissued onto himself too.

A song lingered in the back of his head, one sung by Sakura in the darkest of nights when they were far from home, and he whistled it absently.

_Follow the Trails of Blood_.

He felt a gathering of chakra around him, and he cracked a grin as a figure of shadow looked up at him with a shining white mask. "We're ready for you." It was Kotesu.

Naruto cracked his neck. "Then let's get this party rolling." The song stayed in his head, but his bloodlust that was now raging for a kill was drowning it out. It was drowning out a lot of things.

They moved up the river bed. Naruto soon saw the other two ANBU of his crew waiting in the rocks by a bend. He signaled them. "You know what to do." The ANBU immediately retreated into the dark. Naruto just stood up on the rocks in full view for anyone that'd care to look.

He waited.

One by one the Iwa shinobi came into view, there were at least thirty that he could count and most were jonin with a few chunin in-between. They were loose with their words and didn't bother to keep quiet or stay in any kind of formation. They made their way leisurely down the flat riverbed, and Naruto knew it'd been too long since someone had come onto Iwa's home turf.

A feral grin split his face. They were almost beneath him by the time the someone noticed him. By all appearances he was nothing but a wraith, his body wrapped in a tattered black shroud. Only his blond shock of hair and staggeringly blue eyes gave him any appearance of life.

Gave him any appearance of humanity at all.

The first jonin froze and shouted and the halt spread down the lines in a second flat. Weapons bristling up at him and there were a few silent moments of disbelief.

Naruto's head tilted back, the shroud twisting out behind him, and he gave them a skeletal grin. "Your country asked for war." A three pronged kunai spun on his fingers and it caught the moonlight with a ghostly sheen. All eyes were on that kunai. "And I'm here to tell you Konoha's going to deliver it."

His headband caught the same moonlight. There was no point in hiding where this attack was coming from. Psychological warfare was just as valuable if not more so, than its counterpart that relied on steel.

One Iwa ninja jeered at him. "You're out numbered you stupid son of a bitch!"

Laughter flowed like frost out of his chest. The kunai spun faster.

The shinobi around him closed in and Naruto's laughter was reduced to a few deep chuckles, his eyes half lidded. "You have no idea."

Izumo appeared right on schedule behind the enemy, mouth spewing a syrupy liquid that flooded the riverbed and stuck the enemy fast. Naruto watched it all happen with nothing but a smirk on his face. His enemy was stuck for a few moments and it was all he really needed.

There was an upsurge of shouting but Naruto carelessly threw his cloak aside and jumped. The scrolls dropped into his hands and he unfurled them with a twist. Hundreds of three pronged kunai rained into the riverbed.

He held out one hand and in his palm lit a crush of light and chakra brighter than the moon. It bathed the fractured earth blue. He didn't even need to voice the name of the technique, but he did it anyways. "Rasengan."

And he turned to yellow light.

The first jonin, the one who'd spoken, died in a grind of bone and muscle as his chest was literally blown apart. The five people around him got splattered with their comrade's blood and bits of organs.

Naruto grinned at the ninja nearest him and then vanished again. The screams of panic, fear, and pain started. They wouldn't end for another twenty minutes. The only thing louder than the screams was the sound of wind howling down into the riverbed. The ANBU didn't bother joining him but watched from the rocks, only picking off those that escaped from the sticky field.

When it was all over Naruto stood amongst the bodies and there was so much blood misted in the air it coated the insides of his lungs. One chunin laid a few feet away, both his legs broken and half his ribs busted in. But the chunin was alive and laying still, playing dead.

Naruto let him, that chunin would carry the message.

The bloodlust pounding through his veins died down and the song was back on his lips again. The mission was nearly over and they were finally heading back home.

Naruto couldn't wait.

**Kumo, Unknown Location**

"What is this place?" Kiba asked, chewing on a piece of dry meat out of their field pack.

Beneath him a large steel structure rose from the trees, its blocky exterior contrasting with the naturally smooth contours of the forest. It practically screamed: _I'm a secret facility where terrible things happen!_

Shikamaru lowered his binoculars. "It's a military hospital Kumo's been using to study test subjects. Bloodlines mostly, among other things."

Neji frowned and Shikamaru gave a helpless shrug.

"Long story short: they have a lot of money and information tied up in that place and it should put a real wrench in their war effort when we blow this place sky high."

That assuaged Neji some. Tenten moved closer to her teammate so their thighs were pressed together from their crouched position in the trees.

"Okay." Shikamaru looked around them one last time. "No bickering, let's get this done then move onto the next target. We still have twenty-five more to go after this."

The bickering was honestly, mostly Sasuke's fault. He'd been more irritable than usual and had taken to pissing off Shikamaru to varying degrees of success. Most of the time Tenten would jump in to take the brunt of it, and when she got riled that would bring Neji and Lee into it, causing Kiba to throw his hat in the ring just for the fun of it, invariably leading to Shino to step in to shut his teammate up. Chouji mostly stayed out of it, instead jabbing Sasuke in the side when the opportunity presented itself.

The jabbing seemed to work better than anything to shut him up, not that Sasuke would admit it.

Something was sitting low in his guts gnawing at his patience and setting off warning bells in his head. It was like he was forgetting something or maybe he was just finally fucking losing it.

The squad around him began moving into position to set up the explosives.

Sasuke pulled up his head band and rubbed at his scarred eyes. He'd be home in a few weeks and then he could sleep for a solid week. Hanabi would either pester him or curl up in bed with him. Both sounded just fine to him.

He didn't miss her. Except that he did.

His hand fell to the scythe on his back. He could worry later; they had shit to blow up first.

Suddenly the lights on the complex flared, and the Konoha ninja froze and reeled back into the trees in alarm. Sasuke felt the light on his face and Chouji grabbing him by the scruff and hauling him even farther back.

"What is it?" One of the ANBU hissed.

"I think they're…expecting someone." Neji murmured. Sasuke could see every vein in Neji's face flare with chakra as his byakugan activated.

"We'll watch for now." Shino had already taken the point on sentry.

Shikamaru grunted his approval. "No point running in there when they have the lights on. Everyone keep an eye out, I want to know what the hell they're waiting for."

Everyone scattered themselves to watch and wait. Sasuke scowled and lowered himself to the forest floor. He'd need to be as near to the chakra as he could, and honestly he was less visible here and he didn't need an eye-line on the building to know what was going on.

The minutes stretched and turned to hours and still the lights stayed on. They all remained as still as stone.

His mind wandered, nothing was happening and he couldn't really help himself. He thought of Hanabi and a hum built in the back of his throat. It was a song that Hanabi sang from time to time and he didn't know the words, but he knew Sakura had taught Hanabi the melody.

It was a melancholy and bitter song and one of the few he didn't mind. Not that he ever really minded Hanabi's high soprano, airy and clear, lingering in the rooms of their apartment.

The haunting strains of _Follow the Trails of Blood _carried into the night air. It resonated in the dark and in the back of his mind, Sasuke only heard the sound of rain, Hanabi singing, and something that ruffled like feathers and fell like a dying star.

* * *

AN: The song isn't real, just a product of my melodramatic tendencies. Because yeah, I have those in spades.

Edit: One of the few chapters that got shorter instead of longer on editing, go figure. What changed this chapter was the meeting with Anko and Kakashi was cut down and the poor attempts at humor were removed entirely, the foreshadowing on something-is-wrong-in-demon-land with the summoned fox was switched up and will be addressed more in detail later, the note Sakura wrote to Tsunade was changed, and various random scenes were cut down and cleaned up.

The Kage scenes with Zabuza and Gaara were changed: Haku was less sappy and Zabuza wasn't weirdly affectionate this time around, and in Gaara's scene everything but the relevant information of what they were doing was cut out. Ino's descent into being psychotic was made more apparent and suitably creepy, all the connections with that song about the Trails of Blood were outlined and tied together better, Naruto gloated less when killing the Iwa ninja, and Sasuke's vague feelings of unease remained vague instead of him being weirdly psychic about Hanabi being in danger.


	26. Graveyard

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. Not the manga, not the anime, not anything.

* * *

**Unknown Location, Otogakure**

Infiltration was always a chore, and when it wasn't a chore that usually meant it had already devolved into an outright disaster.

Sakura closed her eyes halfway, concentrating on dark hallway around her. She tried to ignore the prickling sensation over her face from the mask she'd ripped off of some ninja (she'd killed in cold blood).

Carelessly she leaned on a doorjamb, doing her best to blend in and not act suspicious in the slightest. Anyone coming from either direction of her position would be immediately noted and dealt with. No one was there and her hand twitched as she finally gave in and scratched her face. "Why the hell are these uniforms so itchy?" Sakura hissed in the general direction of the door.

Anko popped out from behind it, amused. "Because unless you intend to slit the throat of every person between you and wherever we need to get to, we have to blend in." Anko pressed her fingers to the glasses in her hands and popped out the lens before sliding them on. "That, and Orochimaru is a grade-A sadist."

That sounded about right.

"But you're not even wearing the itchy ones." The jinchuuriki seethed. Unlike Sakura who had swathed herself in the basic uniform, Anko was decked out in a purple jacket, spandex shorts, and a pair of boots Sakura was certain she'd kill for if Anko hadn't already killed for them first.

Whoever that red haired girl had been who'd been wearing the clothing before, she'd certainly been screamer when a kunai got jammed between her ribs. What had been her name? Karen? Kallen? Karin?

It probably didn't matter; one dead kunoichi was the same as any other.

Anko just shot her a downright malicious grin.

If Sakura hadn't been wearing a full-on balaclava, she would have snarled in return. Unfortunately she was though, so she scanned the hallway again wondering if Ino and Kakashi had gotten their disguises off their corpses yet instead.

The jinchuuriki tried her best to ignore the constricting feeling the enemy uniform gave her. It was like wearing somebody else's skin plastered to her own. Jiraiya was damn lucky to be the one waiting to dig them out from the outside. Honestly, Sakura had never been one for undercover, but Jiraiya was just too damn tall and recognizable to make the infiltration. Not this time.

Kakashi slid out of the shadows, a metal visor over his mismatched eyes and in a uniform near identical to hers. She didn't even try to divine how the man had gotten the full mask on over his hair. Though she'd probably spend the next hour giving it serious consideration, because infiltration missions? They were really damn boring.

Ino came next tugging at the belt around her waist. There was a restless jitter to her limbs. "We ready?" The blonde asked.

"I think so." Sakura looked to Anko. "Lead the way; you're the least grunt-looking out of us right now."

Anko tipped her glasses. "With pleasure."

Following the woman carrying a curse seal, some of Orochimaru's personal jutsu, and just as much arrogance as any oto ninja, Anko was their best bet to bluff their way to Hanabi.

Sakura's hand twitched. The mask over her face still smelled like blood and sweat and for a moment it was hard to remember why she was here. Something itched deep under her skin, and she knew it wasn't something that could be scratched.

**Kumo, Unidentified Medical Facility**

A thick fog had fallen and it clung to the ground. It gave everything a ghostly sheen. There was a distorted feeling of distance in the fog and alien contours that no one recognized. It was like they had stepped out of the mission and fallen straight into the ocean.

Right now it was even hard to breathe because the humidity hung so thick, and Uchiha Sasuke wondered if it was possible for a man to drown on dry land.

The lights from the facility still blazed but their reach could no longer cut through the fog. The entire unit had crept closer with it. Sasuke hung back as he was the only one who still had full visibility. Being a blind chakra sensor did have its perks.

Gravel crunched.

Shikamaru let out a low whistle that sounded like a bird call. "Incoming."

They all watched as one of the large, metal bay doors on the facility grinded open to welcome a figure coming out of the fog. A Kumo ninja in a lab coat walked out and the figure stepped into the light.

Sasuke couldn't see it but Chouji told him. "Kabuto. He's carrying some kind of…"

More Kumo ninja made their way out of the woodwork to surround the oto ninja, and Sasuke felt his jaw clench. There was a familiar scent in the air.

The Kumo ninja in the lab coat spoke. "Welcome to our facility Kabuto-san. If you would follow me inside..."

Kabuto followed and that was when Neji started cursing so violently his teammates actually leaned away from him. Tenten grabbed at his shoulder. "What's wrong?"

For the first time since Sasuke had met him, Neji sounded close to panic. Or a murderous rampage. "Kabuto had Hanabi."

All the air was sucked out of Sasuke's lungs. There was no room in his skull, no blood left in his veins, nothing holding his ribs together.

Hanabi.

Hanabi was—

Chouji grabbed him by the shoulder and squeezed down tight enough to bruise. It brought Sasuke ricocheting back to earth.

"…we can't blow it up, not with her in there!" Tenten argued.

Sasuke had never liked the girl more.

One of the ANBU bristled. "This is a bloodline facility; we can't just let them take her eyes. And we'll probably lose people to save something that'd get blown up anyways—"

His scythe was suddenly a fraction of a breath from that ANBU's neck. "Are you suggesting we let her die in the blast?"

Chouji didn't stop him but Shikamaru looked ready to make an attempt. "No one's suggesting anything so put the scythe down."

A murderous snarl peeled back his lips. "I'll go in and get her, hell, leave some C4 and I'll blow this place after we're out."

"You're not thinking with your head." Shikamaru accused. "Just keep calm—"

Something burst inside his chest hotter than magma. "Like hell I will!"

Neji cut in. "I'll stay with him to make a rescue attempt. The unit can move onto the next target, there's no point in losing everyone in an attempt to get her."

"And if you die?" One of the other ANBU asked.

Sasuke was the one to answer. "Then we die and you keep skipping along on your precious mission."

There was no time to consider, no time to put it to a vote or rewrite the plan. The operation was on a tight schedule and if they failed, it'd only be two men lost out of a squad numbering over a dozen.

Shikamaru made the call. "Fine. We're moving out." The unit faded into the trees. Tenten gave them a long glance before leaving and Shikamaru was the only one left. "If you can't catch up to us go for the border and head home. Try not to die." Then he was gone too.

The two jonin began striding through the trees with death in their footsteps. The Hyuga planned. "You make the breach. I'll cover the gap until you get back with her."

The Uchiha just nodded.

They were nearly out of the trees when the blind ninja spoke. "Fifteen minutes."

The first guards noticed them and raised the alarm. Fire roared across his scythe and Sasuke cut down the first two guards in a sear of flame.

Neji cracked his knuckles one by one before catching a guard with a strike to the heart. "Fifteen minutes until what?"

The scythe was heavy in his hand and Sasuke breathed. It felt like there was nothing but ash in his lungs. "Until this place becomes a graveyard."

And he swung the scythe and thunder shook the air. The medical facility wall cracked open. Sasuke stepped into the breach without another word and Neji turned to welcome the tide of guards.

**Otogakure, Unknown Location**

The cold air was stifling; it reeked of death and rot and a lingering unease that put her teeth on edge. The fear in the air was palpable: fear of the ninja patrolling the corridors, fear of the people who had been reduced to lab rats, and even their own fear for Hanabi sinking deep in their guts. Sakura recognized it and could do nothing to stop its icy hand from slowly wrapping tight.

So she kept her eyes forward and didn't look either left or right. It was easier that way.

An hour in uniform had gone with them unquestioned as they scoured the base. It seemed that personnel here were shuffled at random times (likely to keep conspiracies from forming). Because of that no one was bothered by new faces showing up randomly. For once Orochimaru had sacrificed security from the outside enemy for security from his own forces.

It was laughable how paranoid the man had become. So paranoid he'd risked his own life just to keep his ninja in line.

She spotted the doors to the medical bay and felt a knot unravel in her stomach. If Hanabi was anywhere in this godforsaken place it was here. They were running out of places to look anyways.

With a few quick hand movements Anko directed Kakashi and Ino to wait outside while Sakura was gestured to follow in. The jinchuuriki was quite willing to trail behind the older jonin as she flung the doors open.

It took only three seconds to ascertain that all the beds inside were empty. The feeling of relief immediately curled back into that sickening knot of fear. Hanabi wasn't here.

"Can I help you?" A reedy voice asked. Sakura's brooding (and quite possible panic) was cut short as she and Anko turned to face a man in a doctor's coat.

Anko took the lead and shucked her jacket immediately. "I've been having some trouble with my cursed seal. I couldn't find Kabuto so…"

The medic let out a bark of a laugh. "You wouldn't find Kabuto_-sama_—" The honorific was spat, "—here. He's currently on a delivery mission." The man simpered.

Anko nodded absently and turned to expose her back. The suppression seals had been applied less than a few hours ago and her skin was still a livid red and bloodied raw.

The medic let out a low whistle. "My god. I've never seen such extensive modifications…"

"Can you clean it up or not?" Anko snapped. "Cause I might just go after Kabuto if this is the kind of help I get."

The medic bristled. "You wouldn't find him. He should be in Kumo by this point…"

There was a sudden hush in Sakura's body. Her skull felt oddly empty, her blood was rushing but her heart was motionless, her muscles were knotted stiller than steel over concrete, and even though her eyes were open she didn't see anything.

Kumo. Bloodline harvesting, war mongering, that they were about-to-go-to-battle-with Kumo was going to get Hanabi. Sakura didn't even have to use her imagination to know what would happen to that little Hyuga there.

"Is that so?" The older jonin cooed. There was something predatory in her step as Anko moved closer to the medic. "And that little Hyuga was with him?"

He frowned. "Yes, just as Orochimaru-sama ordered. Why are you aski—"

The source of his suspicion was clear to Sakura. At the moment Orochimaru had been mentioned Anko's face lost its cheerful mask to something ugly and wrathful.

The medic's eyes widened in realization and he hit the desk behind him. The screech of an alarm nearly deafened them. The jig was up.

Sakura crossed the distance between her and the medic in three steps. He seemed to have even forgotten her presence and yelped in surprise when she buried a kunai in his throat. The body crashed to the floor.

Sakura scratched at her mask. "So much for keeping things quiet."

Anko didn't answer and her lips were bloodless. Kakashi and Ino crashed into the room.

"What happened?" He shouted. Sakura thought it was rather obvious with the alarm blaring and the body on the floor and the pounding of footsteps already coming to investigate.

The Jinchuuriki sighed. "The medic made us for infiltrators. Before he met his unfortunate end though, he did tell us Hanabi is halfway to Kumo or already there." Her jaw notched. "So let's bail the hell out of here."

Anko stiffened.

The clamor of shouting joined the din of footsteps, and by the sound alone Sakura counted their approaching enemy in the dozens. Ino looked at her with strangely calm eyes. "What should we do?"

Sakura smiled beneath her mask. "Wing it."

And the doors to the room crashed open and a dozen shinobi poured in weapons first.

**Medical Facility, Kumo**

There was likely no way to estimate the time, money, or personnel Kumo had poured into the study of the Byakugan for their country's use. Also, no one even wanted to count the money wasted on botched attempts to steal it. Between genetic study of the (very mutilated and quite dead) body of Hyuga Hizashi, unraveling the caged seal that had destroyed any trace of his bloodline, and the botched operation that had gotten them said body in the first place, was the closest they had ever gotten to procuring the bloodline.

And that was all about to change.

Doctors, medics, nurses, and specialists hurried down the hallway, all centered around a single stretcher. They conferred and checked while the operating room was being sterilized and set for the approaching operation.

On said gurney laid Hyuga Hanabi, main house child of her clan and possessor of unsealed and undamaged byakugan eyes. It was an opportunity that had been decades in the making.

Hanabi had no idea what was happening to her between the drugs and her previous injuries, and she was slipping between numbness and a black pit deeper than sleep and just shy of death. Her head listed uselessly, sodden like it was filled with nothing but scratchy cotton and rushing blood.

The few times she could feel her body her jaw seemed locked and her tongue felt thick, and her limbs tingled like they were thawing. Hanabi didn't remember getting frozen but she wasn't exactly lucid enough to know what reality was and what was her brain on a drug trip anymore.

Someone slid an IV in her arm. The prick of the needle brought her up from the pit but left her skirting numbness.

_Am I dead?_

The metal doors to the surgical suite were held open and the gurney was pushed inside. It felt a little like floating to Hanabi. The room had dizzyingly high ceilings bleached colorless by fluorescent lights. She couldn't see any of it.

_I must have died, I must have. I can't feel anything. Was it the fall?_

The sinks clattered and gurgled as the surgeons washed up. They pulled on masks and slipped on latex gloves. The sound of it brought her a little higher but the numbness hung like a shroud.

_It doesn't matter. Dead is dead. _

The medics and surgeons surrounded her and counted to three before lifting the blanket she was laying on. They quickly transferred her to the surgical table. Someone took her pulse and the beat of her heart was lethargic.

_This is death? This? Floating and cold and darkdarkdark. Am I supposed to regret it? I don't. Hinata has a new family now, she never needed me, never ever needed me. Too different, too late, we were strangers. She'll be sad but she won't miss me. Our old family won't care. I don't regret it._

Straps were crisscrossed on her body and they held her down to the table securely. She didn't feel any of it and it only intensified the sensation of sinking down.

_Who else? Sakura…not a monster like her. Won't miss me, not her. Naruto didn't care. Neji hated me until we left our home. I don't regret leaving them. The dark isn't so bad. Sleep, death, it's all the same. But I thought oblivion would be more absolute than this…_

Trays of medical knives and disinfectant were brought in with a clatter. They would flay her to ribbons by the time this was done.

_I regret the life I lived those first eleven years. Light and cold and perfect and hard. Father took all the color from my world and I believed in what he said…don't cry, the strong don't cry. Don't let others see your weakness, turn their weaknesses against them. Never flinch, never show pain. Pain is a weakness and the weak die. Use fear and pain, fear and pain bring obedience. There is no love, no one can love. They fool themselves and become weakened by their attachment and that attachment can be used against them. That is weakness. And the weak die. Always and forever._

Something cold was injected in her IV and there was a bitter taste on her tongue.

_I regret ever believing that shit. Power and pain and fear…that was my family. That was what marked my cousin as a slave, made my sister cry, and made me a hollow shell. I was coming apart, I had nothing left inside me anymore. I don't regret leaving that behind. Oblivion. It's not so bad, it's not like I left anything behind…_

The lead surgeon looked to the observation window with scalpel in hand. The order to begin would come down in minutes.

_Except that I did._

A sheet unfurled over her body as her head was set up higher on a pillow. Another strap went over her forehead and held her still.

_Sasuke.__ I wish, I wish, I wish…that I could have said what I already knew. But I was afraid and I didn't want you to leave. Oh god Sasuke. I regret it; I regret it so fucking much. It hurts, it hurts that I never got to say the words or have you hold me or say my name like I wanted you to._

A red light went on over the window. Permission to proceed.

_I knew you at your best and his worst, days when tempers flared or we sat on the couch, or you made me breakfast or we burned the toast. You trained me and sparred with me and poured water on my head and lifted me when I fell. You were caustic when I was arrogant and reassuring when I broke. I saw you fight and kill and bleed and I just couldn't say…_

_I love you. _

A medic disinfected her eyelids and then the scalpel came down.

_It's my fault. I stayed wrapped in that past. All that fear and pain and I let it choke me. I love you. Oh god, I let it choke off those words._

The blade had just pierced the skin when an alarm blared. Seconds later the building shook down to the foundations and the low rumble of thunder thrummed to her bones. Every person in the room froze. The scalpel went away.

Something in her rose higher to the surface.

The surgeon cursed and slammed the tool down. The lights overhead flickered ominously. The next explosion was louder and rattled their teeth.

The team cleared the room and went to investigate. A nurse sent another dose of sedative into her before leaving. Hanabi was left on the table with blood pooling on her eyelid.

In her veins that latest dose of sedative had a curious effect. Between Kabuto, the oto medical bay, and the doctors here, Hanabi had been dosed with more drugs in the last few days then she had over her entire life. Some lingered, some mixed, and no one had told anyone else what had been injected into her.

The new combinations of sedatives, adrenaline shots to keep her heart going, and a host of other chemicals mixed and pierced the veil of numbness.

Somewhere in the facility ninja screamed and fire raged, and that was the sound Hanabi woke to.

**Unknown Location, Konoha **

Danzou sat unmoving in his chair. There was a very specific reason for this, and that reason being his arm being twisted behind his back and the kunai at his throat.

A lifetime of toil and sweat to save his village and this was how it ended.

All his guards were dead, ROOT ninja cut down by ANBU and no prisoners had been taken. It was easy now to see how Tsunade had maneuvered him into this corner, how she used the guise of an investigation to lull him into thinking his tracks covered, only for her to use that very thing against him.

His network was in shambles, hunted down, killed, and in prison or soon to get there. Tsunade could be ruthlessly efficient when the mood struck her, and Danzou hated every second of knowing it.

Morino Ibiki stood before him on the bloodstained carpet, face twisted into a rictus of a grin. It was a mocking thing, a final sendoff for his failure. "You have been sentenced to death for treason Danzou."

The ANBU holding him down tightened its grip and Danzou knew there was no running from this.

"I have committed no treason." He snarled in return.

Ibiki looked amused and his scars undulated like worms. "You sold us out to Orochimaru. Save your breath because lying won't save you." There was a vial in that man's hand, but Danzou couldn't make out anything but the glitter of glass and a flash of white.

"The council has always backed me. I was the one to protect this village, to guide it from ruin, to keep that demon vessel from—" He didn't get to finish because the ANBU pushed down sharply, mashing his mouth and teeth into the desk. He tasted wood and blood and nearly choked on it.

The scarred interrogator looked at him dispassionately. "This order wasn't given by the council but by our leader Tsunade-sama. You see, by the time the council hears of this we'll have all our evidence _found_ in this office and you'll have committed suicide to escape the shame."

The vial flickered and Danzou finally saw the contents for what they were: a cyanide suicide pill.

"If you think I'll do this willingly you're mistaken." His body had immunities to many things, but there was no resistance that could be built against cyanide. The ANBU grabbed his chin and hauled him up.

The interrogator's eyes were backlit by some unholy fire. "Willing or not doesn't matter. Suicide looks guilty, and we need stability, not some farce of a trial and the council scrambling to protect you while we're in the middle of a war. This will make things…easier. And your opinion on the subject hardly matters to us."

Danzou fought his captor but it didn't matter. His jaw was pried open and Ibiki's gloved fingers shoved the pill down his throat.

The ANBU held his mouth shut even when he began to froth and thrash.

Before white hot pain sent him careening out of the world, Danzou heard Ibiki's scorn. "Tsunade sends her condolences."

And then traitor to Konoha died as he had lived: backstabbed.

Ibiki patted the ANBU on the shoulder. "We tried, but we couldn't have anticipated a fake tooth with cyanide inside. That he'll never be brought to trial before the village is unfortunate."

The ANBU nodded. "Tragic."

The legitimate if not entirely honest frame-up continued about its work. Later that night news would break across the village that Danzou was dead after leaks to Orochimaru were traced back to him. Most of the ninja were just pleased their slain comrades had been avenged, the council fretted and made distance from his memory so fast no one questioned the convenient suicide, and that night Tsunade cracked open a bottle of sake and drank to the dead.

**Medical Facility, Kumo**

The fluorescent bars overhead were cracked, and they hung by a few wires as they listed in some invisible wind. One of them flickered harshly, lighting the room in swaying bursts that burned her corneas. Broken glass littered the floor, there was a smell of chemicals and sedatives in the air, and surgical tools glittered in the flashes of light.

Somewhere in the distance was the smell of smoke and it carryied a sinister hint of charred flesh.

That was the world Hanabi woke to.

And she laid completely still, feeling the straps digging into her and blinking away the blood in her eyes. Hanabi sort of felt like she'd woken from a fever dream and straight into a nightmare. A knot of fear was stuck deep in her throat and it tasted like bile.

All of her chakra was focused along the nail on her index finger. It formed a tiny blade and she ran it down the strap by her hip. It sliced loose and she moved a strap higher. When that was cut she used the extra space to plant her feet on the table and begin pushing up. Her arm inched up for the strap on her ribcage when she felt the bindings on her legs give. She jerked her legs up with a snap and after that, the rest of the straps were a quick few flicks of her hand to remove.

The light flickered again with a drunken list. The glass looked like lightning and the serrated edges took on a red hue. There was a red light up on the ceiling over a blown out window.

Hanabi did not even try to understand what had happened here. For a moment she just sat on the table trying to fight the fear (or maybe vomit) clawing her insides down to manageable levels. Her stomach roiled miserably and her skin broke out into a slick sweat.

Where in the hell was she?

There was another scream and then an explosion roared. The thunder of it knocked her off the table. She landed on her feet but her legs were so weak they immediately gave out and then she was on her knees. Glass cut into her legs and the pain wracked through her. Hanabi gasped and clutched at her chest and realized belatedly she was shirtless. Her fingers searched out the ridged and grooved scar over her heart.

Memory slammed down.

Rain, thunder, lighting snaking across the floors. Kabuto grinning, a kunai in her chest, a fall out the window, concrete coming up to meet her—

Except she hadn't hit the ground.

That didn't help her know where she was. Was she still in the village that was under attack? Was she somewhere else? It looked like a hospital but the near amphitheater curve to the operating room (like it was made for an audience) set her teeth on edge.

There was something very, very wrong here.

More blood dripped into her eyes and she blinked it back. Her eyelids slid wetly and she finally touched the tiny incision in her tear duct. It stung like it was fresh and there wasn't a scrap of congealing in it.

She'd been stabbed in the heart, why were they making incisions around her eyes—

The realization blacked her out for a few seconds and Hanabi fell to her hands and knees. The glass sheared her. The knot had been bile after all and she vomited it up all over the floor.

Eyes. They wanted her eyes.

Being Hyuga was a curse. They wanted her freaking eyes and they had been about to _cut them out of her head_.

What chakra she had left was sent to her legs and she got to her feet. She'd run; run until there were no more places to go. When she rose she took a scalpel with her. If it meant keeping the enemy from getting her eyes, Hanabi would stab them out herself.

Before she went she picked up a scrubs shirt from the prep room and pulled it on.

She left bloody handprints on the walls and blood soaked footprints behind her. The hall outside was empty and she picked a direction and started walking. The din of screams was now a steady background song and she didn't know if she was supposed to run away or towards them.

Her decision was made for her. A large figure came flying around the corner holding his shoulder. Blood was spilling to the ground from where he seemed to have once had an arm. There was a kumo headband on him and Hanabi finally understood.

It was a good thing she'd thrown up in the operating room.

"You." He rasped and was bearing down on her with murder in his eyes.

Terror rattled up her spine and she bolted the other way. With her mutilated feet it was not an impressive attempt.

The ground now slippery in her own blood was her downfall and she went crashing to the floor. She scurried as far as she could get from the ninja but that literally put her into a corner. Long streaks of blood were left where she scrabbled.

His pale, sweat covered face loomed over her. A pain drunken grin split his mouth. "It was all because of you, you stupid bitch! If you'd died he never would have come here. If you were dead…" His eyes were glazed in madness. "If you were dead he'd leave, wouldn't he?"

Hanabi didn't understand him, but she did understand when his blood drenched hand pulled a kunai. She understood the threat of that blade _very_ well.

Her fingers tightened on the scalpel. They couldn't get her eyes, even from her corpse. She'd have to rip them out before he killed her and—

The scalpel was halfway up when he burst into flames. She watched his skin bubble, boil off, and even saw his bones charring before he collapsed to the floor. The messy pile was less than sinew and tar by the time it burned out.

Her attempt to blind herself was immediately aborted.

The light along the hallway flickered in and out. She heard a steady dripping, a staccato of blood on tile. There was someone else _in there with her_.

Her attempt to scramble up was meant by nothing but pain and she collapsed again, giving in to the fact her body was done. She saw the flicker of the scythe first and then the shine of a Konoha headband.

Her lips pulled into a smile. Then she was laughing. "Sasuke!"

He rushed to her but stopped as soon as his feet came in contact with the long slicks of blood she'd left. Then he moved forward and the scythe was on the ground and his hands were tracing her. "Where are you hurt?"

She pressed her slashed hands into his chest and her bloody face into his neck. He made an understanding noise and quickly used his sleeve to mop her up, then he ripped off that sleeve to start making bandages for her wounds.

He'd been on a mission, a mission supposed to last weeks. How long had she been asleep?

"You okay?" His voice was tight.

She swallowed. "I will be." Someday.

His hands squeezed her ankles for a brief second.

She asked. "How'd you find me?"

"Accident." He grunted. "This place was on our to-blow-up list and we saw…saw Kabuto carrying you in. How the hell did he get you? Why didn't Sakura—"

Hanabi cut him off. "Oto invaded the village. At least, that's what Kabuto said. I think…I think it was repelled but…he got me."

He gritted his teeth. "And Sakura wasn't there?"

"I went back to the apartment to sleep; Sakura was working at the Hokage's office when I left. Kabuto got in and we fought. He stabbed me in the heart, I mean...no, that's exactly what I mean." She frowned down at her chest.

Sasuke's face turned stony, and he wordlessly pressed his hand palm-flat to over her heart. She knew he felt the ugly, ribbed scar there.

"That son of a bitch." He snarled.

She shrugged. Right now she was still marveling over being alive and not having her eyes carved out, thank you very much.

To her surprise he didn't ask any more. "Okay." Instead he scooped her up and picked up his scythe. She was glad he didn't ask, explaining her near-suicide out of that window was something they could both live without.

Being held by him was something she'd kill to keep, live to keep, so it wasn't a big secret to hold onto. She settled against his chest and for the first time since she'd woken felt safe.

Except…

"What happened to Kabuto?" She had to know.

That grin of his was that of a skull, all brutal and bone and frenzied. "He died."

Hanabi buried her head in his shoulder, deliriously relieved. She almost giggled. "How?"

"Not well." There was a world of bloody meaning in those two words.

Three doctors rounded the corner. They turned and ran and only got a few feet before their backs were torn open and they drowned in pools of their own fluids. Sasuke stepped around the puddles and the smell of it was thick in her throat.

She was reminded where they were and the razor's edge they walked on. "Sasuke?"

He hummed an acknowledgement. Then he rounded a corner and sent a crack of lightning into three ninja trying to ambush them. They died screaming.

There was really no good way to go about this. "I want you to know something."

He spun his scythe slowly and the air took on a searing charge. "What?"

Her skin tingled and her heart fluttered. "I love you."

And before he could mistake what she meant, she raised her head and kissed him. The charge on the air died and the hand holding the scythe went to cup the back of her head tight. His other arm was now wrapped in an embrace around her instead of a carry.

And Hanabi knew neither of them had mistaken it.

When the kiss ended she moved sideways so she could bury her face in his neck. It gave her the added bonus of not having to make eye contact.

"Oh." He licked his lips. "I—"

She felt him swallow. Her face burned.

He responded. "I love you too."

And she hugged him and barely noticed him killing a man behind her back. He hugged her with one arm and kept the scythe loose.

All things considering Hanabi thought it might be romantic. Except for the corpses, but she'd let that slide just this once.

**Unknown Location, Otogakure**

It would have probably worked out better if Sakura had given more instructions than just _wing it_, but in her defense Team Seven had done things on the fly so long she hadn't seen a problem with it. Of course this wasn't Team Seven, and they didn't have Naruto's bullshitting skills to back up her rather loose orders.

Luckily though, Anko seemed an expert at bullshit even caught flatfooted, and when the oto ninja had rushed in she'd reprimanded them for being late and then sent them to comb the base for the _intruders_. Sakura had done her best not to laugh at the irony.

But like all great plans (even if it was more of a mild suggestion than any kind of plan) it still went awry in spectacular fashion. In the confusion and press of bodies Sakura lost track of her squad, and hadn't been able to call out their names for rather obvious reasons. Instead she'd had to let herself get swept up in the press of bodies and taken out of the room.

In the crowd someone slammed into her. From beneath the mask of the perpetrator shined a pair of glacial blue eyes. Sakura latched onto Ino like a life line. It turned out Kakashi had Ino by the arm, and he reeled them both into an alcove out of the general melee.

Sakura dropped her voice to a frequency only they could hear."We need to bail, where's Anko?"

Being the tallest of them, Kakashi scanned the crowd. "I don't see her."

Ino made a token attempt but came up empty. "I'm sorry, one second she was with us and the next she just got this _look_ and went into the crowd…"

Sakura swore. "Shit. She heard Orochimaru was here and—_shit_."

Kakashi got it first. "Fuck. She went after him."

Sakura nodded and dug her fingers into her scalp. "Godamnnit.

"What now?" Ino asked and pried Sakura's hands from digging into her skull.

The jinchuuriki snarled. "I'm going after her. You two need to go to that closet with the dead bodies, grab our gear, and get out to Jiraiya to pick up the trail again. It'll lead to Kumo, likely to one of those facilities they think we don't know about."

Kakashi clenched a fist. "Why are you deciding this for us?"

"I'm Jiraiya's second, always have been and always will be." A growl stuck in her throat. "So follow your fucking orders and get moving."

Ino touched her arm. "What about you?"

"I'll catch up." Her chest constricted like the muscles were in a vice. "If not don't bother looking for our corpses. I'll burn this place to the ground with us in it."

The other girl grimaced but obeyed. "Okay." And pulled Kakashi into the crowd with her.

Sakura went the opposite direction. Orochimaru was a paranoid snake and the only place to find one of those was to go down. The ninja that were running around thinned and a few floors down the halls were back to their eerie, damp silence.

It was like walking into a tomb.

And once again Sakura was left chasing monsters in the dark.

**Bunker Floor, Otogakure**

Her heels clicked on the stone floors as she descended. Anko had refused to look back behind her, she was a proud woman and when she had promised herself to do whatever she could to kill Orochimaru she had meant it. And now it was time to live up to her conceited words.

She couldn't look back to ask for help and wouldn't have asked even if she could. This was her burden and no one else's. Sakura would take the squad on to find Hanabi and Anko would stay here to settle debts.

There were so many to be paid.

Anko stopped and steadied herself on a wall. There was a pressure building on her cursed seal, it was faint but still enough for her to track down her old master. Under the suppression matrix it burned like a cinder. It was a reminder that she could no longer go running for daylight. Her place was here in this mausoleum.

She pushed off the wall and followed the burn. It led her down and down and all the way to metal doors bigger than an entire temple.

They loomed so high she couldn't even see the tops of them lost in the shadows. They gleamed wet and dark. They were open a sliver, just enough for her to go through.

Was there something she was supposed to do now? Make some grand speech maybe, or give a prayer?

"End of the line." The words that came out weren't as awe inspiring as she had hoped they'd be.

The fake glasses got tossed and her hair shook out. Orochimaru would know who came to kill him. She took a steadying breath and stepped into a stone forest. Pillars that were bigger than trees filled the chamber and they reached so high that they disappeared into the shadows in the vaulted ceiling. Her fingers brushed one and the stone was slick and colder than winter.

Her stride didn't break. Somehow she'd always known it'd be like this at the end. Nothing to do but go forward and reap what she'd sown.

There was shadow and paleness and then from the dark, a throne of human bones emerged. Orochimaru sat there sinuously reclined and he was certainly the devil. Something scalded down her throat and into her chest.

Orochimaru stared at her before the paleness peeled away to malicious joy. "Anko-chan, so you're the intruder that sounded the alarm? I guess I didn't need to be worried after all." His eyes trailed her body like he was relishing the act of peeling off her skin.

"Shut it." There was nothing but venom on her tongue. "You know why I'm here."

His laughter rattled like branches sheared in frost. "I know why you're here my dear. Your one track mind has again brought you to try and kill me. I thought you'd have learned your lesson at the chunin exams. You will die every time, Anko-chan."

He addressed her like she was still a child and it made her teeth grind.

A blade pressed into her neck. She smiled at him where he now stood behind her. "I've learned a few tricks since we last met."

And she burst into flame. Orochimaru flew back, cackling as the clone burned itself out. "Clever my dear."

Anko was already bhind him with a kunai in his back. He rolled under the thrust, letting her overexert. He slammed an elbow into her cheek and stars exploded behind her eyes. Cheekbone broken, she was flung back but not before leaving a kunai in his shoulder.

He picked the blade out of his flesh with his tongue. "Careful, you're leaving your toys laying around again Anko-chan. Didn't I teach you to clean up after yourself?"

He vanished. A hail of blades fell from the ceiling and hit only floor. She had already replaced herself but rolled right into his next thrust. Desperate she grabbed his hand, twisted it, and he kicked his kunai away before flipping back. Anko spun to face him and found nothing.

A wad of blood was behind her teeth and she spat it out. "Something like that isn't going to kill me."

With a kunai in each hand she backed against the throne, mostly to cut off at least one avenue of attack. Her eyes roamed back and forth in the sudden silence that'd enveloped the chamber. It was the silence of the grave and the shadows seemed deeper, the cold more pervasive. The air was slick and clawing down her throat like the fingers of a corpse.

The bones came alive into white, hard scaled snakes that snared and dragged her back. There was no chance to scream, let alone move. Her limbs were pulled wide and pinned. The snakes jerked her wrists until she screamed and dropped her kunai.

Orochimaru stepped into the light, head thrown back and pulling a sword from his throat.

Anko gagged.

His tongue dropped the sword in his hand and the legendary blade glittered, spit and venom. "Oh Anko." He sighed sadly. "Always too brash, you never were observant enough to avoid the trap. I taught you better than this."

"Go to hell!" She spat. The snakes in response crawled across her chest and between her legs and constricted her. Their bone scales ripped at her with every slide of their coils. Blood seeped into the stone.

"You should be honored that it'll be my blade sliding into your guts Anko." He leaned in and she saw the poison gold of his eyes.

Her lips curled. "Go screw yourself."

His eys blazed and then his blade was right beneath her rib cage and digging in. She screamed and screamed as he dragged it down. He didn't stop until the blade was between her thighs. The cut was barely a half inch deep but it was long and the poison had already dropped in. It hissed and she smelled her own flesh rotting.

The fork of his tongue brushed her face and he was right over her. "What was that you said, dear?"

Close enough, too close to get away.

She smiled bloody. "Boom you motherfucker."

A bone snake curved and ripped her jacket open. The exploding tags were layered over each other on every inch of the jacket. They were already glowing, charged and ready.

Before Orochimaru could move or even comprehend what he was seeing, that forest of stone turned to roaring flame. The snakes of bone were shredded and became shrapnel and Orochimaru shrieked as the shards maimed him.

He was flung with his chest burnt raw and fragments of bone peppering him.

Anko was blown back as well, the Kusanagi blade and pieces of the dead snakes skittering along the floor with her. There was an odd, wet sucking sound when she tried to breathe. Her eyes went half lidded, eyelashes seared off, and she gazed into the ceiling and didn't even try to rise.

Orochimaru rose to his feet, wheezing and murderous. His private guard thundered into the chamber, finally drawn by the explosion.

Her attempt had failed.

Anko's eyes burned as she let them close.

**Bunker Floor, Otogakure**

Orochimaru felt his burned skin shift in ways that shouldn't have been possible. His squad of personal guards surrounded him and he felt his jaw notching as he prepared to rend them limb from limb for their incompetence.

He counted their faces in preparation and he came up one too many.

There was no time to think.

His guards died fast, in a dervish of screams and steel.

When all the bodies had fallen one figure remained standing, wearing his village's uniforms but bearing a demeanor he knew belonged to none of his men. A delicate leg stepped over the corpses. All he could see in that face between the balaclava (and blood) was a pair of alien and feral eyes.

Jade ringed red, seeping in deeper. The eyes that had lingered in his most ghastly nightmares, the ones that were filled with only fire and_ pain_.

A slender hand reached up and pulled the mask, sending black hair tumbling down. Her cold gaze never left him as her eyes settled crimson. Jinchuuriki Sakura untied her belt with nauseous composure. She shrugged off the bulky shirt she was wearing like a snake shedding its skin, and stepped out in only the black body-stocking underneath.

A string of kunai hung along a wire rested on her hips. They clinked together like bells.

"Where is she?" The jinchuuriki asked. Her hands flexed and her bones shifted as nails became claws.

Orochimaru could only laugh, because even this monster had come too late. "That bitch is dead." His tongue raked his teeth. "Do you want to know how she begged for her life?"

A shock wave of chakra broke from her body and the very earth shook under his feet. Her eyes flamed with hell as she took her first step. The pillars of stone, tens of feet wide and taller than skyscrapers, trembled at her passing. The chakra washed the ground and in the places moss had pushed through, the green withered at her touch. Some of the moss even burst into flames. The very water in the stone began to steam.

She was a tiny thing, this jinchuuriki. In every step though he saw nothing but the monster riding under her skin.

"The only one who will beg here—" Her claws were under his skin and her chakra was flame, and she just tilted her head with those impossibly wide eyes. "Is you."

And she dug in.

Muscle and skin was torn out as he leapt away from her hands. The child did not chase him, but her chakra did. Clawed hands and thrashing tails and even snapping teeth grabbed him and slammed him into a pillar. It pinned him there, eating into him with slow ease.

The monster didn't even spare him a glance as she walked past. The chakra storm around her raged as she went to Anko's fallen body. Orochimaru started building a jutsu under his skin and bided his time.

/~/~/~/~/~/~/

Sakura almost couldn't look at her friend on the floor. Anko had been ruthlessly cut belly to pelvic and that was before…before…

The jonin had been wearing (and then set off) what was known in the ninja world as a poor man's suicide vest. It had left her in as many pieces as could be expected.

"You're still breathing." Sakura whispered. Her hands were wreathed in chakra as she reached into—reached into what Anko used to be. "Anko, I know you're alive."

That earned her a whimper from Anko as her eyes slowly opened.

"That's good, hold on while I patch you up. Then we can get you out of here, okay?" There were broken ribs under Sakura's fingers and no skin and the slick of organs no longer there.

It was only because she was a monster that Sakura didn't gag.

Anko's voice hitched. "I'm sorry. I was going to take him with me, I'm s-so sorry that I couldn't—"

"Don't be sorry." Sakura ignored her words, ignored that Anko's eyes were getting darker.

Sakura's brain moved to some removed, analytical state. Third degree burns, most of the chest cavity blown away, heart perforated by multiple puncture wounds, lungs reduced to forty percent capacity. All organs at twenty percent damage or more. Abrasions everywhere, except where there was no body left to bleed. High intensity burns, severe concussion, blunt force trauma to the back of the skull, hemorrhaging of the brain.

The redness of her chakra had faded to be replaced by green. Sakura was not healing anything, just easing the pain, severing the spinal cord from the mutilation, and numbing the brain. There was something hot and ragged in the back of her throat. Tears stung the jinchuuriki's eyes.

This was all she could do.

It was a poor excuse as she watched Anko's life slip between her fingers.

Anko smiled at her and it was nothing but blood. "It's okay. It was my c-choice…h-he can't…he can't t-take that away from…"

Anko's eyes didn't shut, didn't blink. There was no light leaving, no shuddering last breath. There was not enough chest left to fall. Anko was here and then she wasn't.

Here and gone.

Sakura's hands stayed inside what was left of her friend. Of a friend she'd let die. Of a friend she'd failed.

The tears fell hot and gritty.

The scream built in her gut first, then it rose into her chest, then it slammed up her throat and forced out between her teeth. Sakura screamed like she had never screamed and it tore her throat raw. It was mindless and furious and something in the seal on her stomach warped.

Orochimaru fell from the wall as all the red chakra curled in on her. Sakura was kneeling on the floor, face pressed to the ground, and her arms wrapped violently around her chest and onto her back. Her fingers tore into her skin and she just kept _screaming_.

It was as if the scream would never end and her arms were the only thing keeping her together.

Orochimaru rose to his knees and gestured to the kusnagi laying a few feet away, carelessly tossed. It rose into the air and with a sharp snap he directed it to sink through her spine.

It flew faster than the wind. But she was faster.

Her arm snapped out and snatched the blade from the air. The scream died.

Electricity blistered her hand on the hilt. The weapon was actually fighting her even holding it.

Something in her unhinged. She stabbed it into the stone floor up to the hilt.

There were whispers starting in the back of her head. Old whispers, ragged ones. The rage and pain and anger and suffering that had accumulated over years of misery. It writhed and boiled, burning hotter, burning up until it came out of her skin in the form of chakra and hissing blood. It was sheer and blistering hatred, and it had her heart pounding and her spine arching as if made of magma.

Her neck cracked as she turned her gaze to Orochimaru. Nothing but a snarl passed her lips.

Blood and fire and fury. It filled her eyes and coated her mouth and warped her limbs. Her eyes skirted Anko but she couldn't even recognize the corpse.

His arms couldn't move fast enough to block her, even if they could have gotten high enough with the burns on his chest. She slammed into him like a meteor and the floor around them buckled.

She was nothing but crimson. Ribs and arms and bones broke under her assault. There was no tracking her punches or making a plan of attack, there was only rage pouring out in some senseless brawl.

He hit the ground and his world turned as she picked him up and slammed into a pillar, shattering it and sending him through two more before he skidded to a stop. The chamber was shaking; the ceiling was beginning to fall in and the walls were cracking under the pressure. She knew every fissure and they were the same ones creeping through her head and along her body.

The chakra became tails, the tails turned to two, then four.

He burst out of the stone in a torrent of mud and massive snakes that beared down on her. It knocked her off her feet and buried her under tons of earth. The snakes wrapped around her and dragged her deeper. Mud filled her nose and throat and then stone was coming up around her, burying her in a coffin. She was still trapped in the embrace of the snakes.

The flame of her chakra turned to a supernova. She tore out of the earth like a volcanic eruption, red chakra spilling and earth burning and stone turning to slag. She dug out one arm after the other, limbs snapping in jerky motions as she came up.

The snakes had been left as burnt out husks in the coffin.

Orochimaru already had a kunai in her shoulder and tearing up to her throat. She shook him off with a snarl of tails. Four became five.

The kunai was literally ejected from her body. The wound track steamed as it closed.

There was no thought to _move_. The intention hadn't even been formed before her chakra had her launched her across the room and her hands in Orochimaru's chest. There may have been an exchange of blows before she got past his defenses, but her mind wasn't tracking well enough to know anymore.

Her hands and arms were broken, she knew that, but she dug into him anyways.

Snakes peeled out of his arm and sunk their teeth into her throat. They almost ripped her head off when her chakra flash fried them and blew them away. He released a wind jutsu straight into her face. Suddenly she's upside down and her head is about to plow into stone.

Her neck doesn't snap but it's a close thing.

She rolls onto her haunches, broken shoulders wrenching back into place. The fire in her burned hotter and there were so many voices in her skull she can't hear one any above the others.

One voice is deeper and more urgent but she can't bring herself to listen.

Five turned to six.

Then Orochimaru was on her in a flurry of blows, stone rising to strike her, and snakes made of flame eating through her chakra.

A shout ripped form her throat as he knocked her to the floor. Stone immeidately pierced through her arms and then her knees. He hovered over her triumphantly. "I've learned from our last fight little monster."

She smiled with charred lips and shinning teeth and opened her mouth. Flame poured out.

He screeched as he caught fire. She used the distraction to rip her way loose from the floor. The chakra was carrying her more than her body at that point. There was a smell of charred blood in the air again as her wounds closed and bone snapped back together.

Orochimaru was still on fire and his mouth opened. Suddenly a new Orochimaru was emerging from the old's mouth.

It's something she distantly recognized. Something clicked into place for a lucid second and she's grabbing the new before he can crawl his way out of the old.

There was something like sanity in her brain. "Tsunade-sama knows this trick." Her fingers dug into his chest and this time she got to the heart before he stopped her. She tapped it once. "Blood to dust." And laughed until her throat tore.

The veins bloated and his blood began to solidify inch by inch. He tore her out of his body and flung her away. She laughed the entire way down.

His flesh bloated hideously and he opened his mouth again, a third new Orochimaru crawling out of the broken jaw like a jack form the box. The third wasn't even all the way out when he screamed because the veins on his face had burst open in a shower of dry blood.

Sakura was on her back. She couldn't stop laughing. "Oroborus." Her head rolled sideways and her grin was a wound. "Eat your tail and the sin never leaves."

His heart tried to pump the dried substance, but it only ripped him apart from the inside. He tried to emerge a fourth time, then a fifth, but the bad blood carried to every incarnation. It reached his brain and finally Orochimaru of the Sanin died.

The ceiling was coming down and for the first time in what felt like ages there was moonlight on her. She looked up. Open space.

She didn't even glance at his pile of corpses.

There was no thought, just the leap to _go_. The falling pieces were used as stepping stones and then her body was twisted and tearing up through night air. For a moment she was hanging in the night sky. She breathed and cold filled her lungs.

The inferno raging in her began to go out, and for a moment she was a dying star falling to the earth.

Half the mountainside the base had been hidden in had already collapsed inwards. The rest was likely soon to follow.

She landed on scorched earth. It was hard to know how long she stood there as six tails turned to four, then four to two, then two to one and then nothing at all. The chakra seemed unwilling to go back into her and the seal was a constant throb on her stomach.

Eventually the whispering in her head died down enough for her to hear, and what she heard was Kakashi shouting. "Sakura? Sakura! Where's Anko?"

"Dead."

It came out without much thought.

Somewhere Ino choked back a sob. Kakashi snapped back like she'd burned him. Maybe she had, who knew?

A large hand was on her shoulder. "Sakura." It was Jiraiya.

He turned her around so she was looking straight at him. "I felt what you were pouring out in there. Sakura, honey, I need you to come back down for me. All right?"

Was she up high somewhere? Had she gone somewhere he couldn't reach?

It didn't make a lot of sense. Her head felt broken. "I don't understand."

"You fried your brain again Sakura." Jiraiya's voice had a sharp edge that cut straight through the fog. "I don't know how you're walking around on it but you're _brain damaged._"

Oh. Again. This seemed familiar somehow. She touched her brain tentatively with chakra. Neurons were cast away and healed, blood vessels were reopened, and brain matter was re-grown. She mentally came crashing to earth from that place of fire and fury and back down to bitter realization.

Anko's death struck her in the chest like a blow. She doubled over and Jiraiya caught her. "Easy there."

"She's dead." Her voice had inflection back again. "Anko's dead." The tears burned but she refused to let them fall.

"Welcome back kiddo." Jiraiya rubbed her back. She clung to him like she was dying.

She wasn't and somehow that was worse.

Something cold opened up in her and she was sliding down into it. It was black in there, so very black.

"Orochimaru is dead. I…I got him." They had meant for her to be an S-class killer, but here and now it was hard to remember.

Jiraiya sucked in a breath. "That's…that's good." It was hard to tell if he really meant it.

Then she realized something. "Why are you still here?"

Jiraiya just rocked her a bit, it'd be hard to notice from the outside, and damn if it didn't help. "Ino and Kakashi got out just when you went nova under the mountain. We weren't leaving."

She let it go. Her skin felt slick and she realized she was covered in bodily fluids. Some hers, others not. "I need to get clean."

Anko was dead and nothing seemed on kilter.

She tugged at the body stocking and it was literally soaked. "Will you pick up the trail for me? I'll catch up once…once I'm clean."

Ino handed her the gear she'd come with and Sakura couldn't help the grateful smile.

Jiraiya patted her head once. Ino was fighting back tears and hugged her even though Sakura was a walking smear of death.

They moved to begin tracking to Kumo while Sakura wandered into the forest. It took twenty minutes to find a stream deep enough for what she needed.

The cold in her chest grew deeper.

Sakura stood on a rock and stripped. She dove into the water and it was ice on her skin. Black water closed over her head and she sank deeper, arms wrapped around her knees and bringing them to her chest. There was nothing to hear down here, nothing to see, nothing to remember. Just cold and quiet blackness.

Maybe the outside of her body would turn as cold and numb as the inside.

Rising up out of that water took more strength than anything she had ever done. She stood in that black water near the shore and it was silver under the moon.

"I hope you can finally rest, Anko." It wasn't enough. This mountainside was now an open grave and her friend's body was lost and mutilated somewhere inside it.

And there was no benediction to give that could ever make that alright.

* * *

Edit: Changes in this chapter were a general cleanup of most scenes, Sasuke having a more severe reaction to realizing Hanabi had been kidnapped, the conversation with the enemy oto medic being shorter and this time Sakura killed him instead of Anko, also there was more foreshadowing for Anko going AWOL after Orochimaru, Hanabi's inner sort of realization was a lot less coherent (because she was drugged out of her mind) with chunks of it cut out, also the Hanabi-waking-up in the facility was cut in half and interspaced with the Danzou scene.

The big two changes in this chapter were Hanabi waking up in the facility and the fight with Orochimaru. This time for Hanabi her wakeup was bloody, creepy, and terrifying for her coming-to in a foreign place after days of being unconscious. Her conversation with Sasuke was changed up and this time no mention was made by her about jumping out the window. Also the love declaration was maybe, probably, slightly less cheesy.

The second big change was the entirety of the Orochimaru and Anko and Sakura fights. The dialogue was made better, Anko's fight and death was substantially changed (and it was far more messy). When Sakura came along to fight there was a brief and new POV switch between Orochimaru and her. This time Sakura absolutely _lost it_ during the fight and gave herself brain damage (again). The battle was made much more even with Orochimaru getting some blows in, and honestly his death was also more disturbing. Last, Sakura's conversation after the battle was much more subdued with Jiraiya talking her down and kind of comforting her.

Also hard to notice but there, foreshadowing on Sakura's seal.


	27. Picking up the Pieces

Disclaimer: If I had owned Naruto it wouldn't be a kids show with crappy American voice actors, it'd be an massively violent series that would need two disclaimers for adult content and violence before it could be shown on TV.

* * *

**Otogakure, Demolished Base**

_Is this it then? _

The frosty light of stars illuminated the path through the trees before her, and it was like ghostly hands parting a curtain to show her the way.

Her limbs felt listless, her heartbeat lethargic, her fingers bone tired. As she glided ahead the pungent odor of burning flesh coated her throat. She could still hear the echoes of shouts from where the base was, where the enemy ran in circles trying to understand what had happened.

If they weren't already dead because she'd brought down half the mountain.

Somewhere off and to her right the shouts got louder. The listlessness was like tar, dragging down her limbs and thoughts. It was hard to care about anything, but Sakura left the path and turned towards the noise.

The coldness in her crawled up her insides like frost. Sakura didn't know if she'd be able to pull herself out of it, not again.

Anko was dead.

There had been hardships in her life before this, she had lost and people had left her, the most notable being Itachi. But she had never cared for someone only to watch them die bloody. The wound that had left was staggeringly deep. It felt raw and every step she took was only ripping it open further.

Anko was dead and Sakura had watched her die.

There was nothing that would make that okay.

There was no sound to drag her from her thoughts. Against the soft earth her feet were noiseless and she found herself standing on a ridge overlooking the burning base. She had left it less than an hour ago. It was burning like a funereal pyre for a solid square mile.

The ridge was coated in ash. She slid down it and into the light of the fire. The enemy ninja immediately saw her and swarmed like angry wasps.

It was too much trouble to care. There was no making sense of their words or panic filled shouts through the tar in her head, and when they charged she wrapped her fingers around her katana and drew it.

In that brief moment on the blade she could see a crimson eye staring back at her, vacant of anything human. She watched the first person descending upon her.

It was more from reflex than actual thought, what followed.

Her blade slashed upwards, tearing some man pelvic to ribs and leaving him gutted.

Like Anko.

Like Anko when Sakura had found what was left of her.

A metallic taste settled in her mouth.

More screams pierced the night sky and bodies laid around her splayed wide, split open like macabre dissections. In the moonlight the coils of their innards glittered slick.

The smell of blood didn't bring euphoria like it did when she was younger, didn't being joy and soaring freedom and that feeling of being _alive_. Somewhere along the line that kind of childish and ghastly joy had burned out of her. The smell didn't send her into a rage either, left boiling alive in her own chakra.

It was impossible to remember that rage that had been eating her alive just an hour ago. It was hard to remember scorching of its teeth and the white hot grip on her heart.

There was only coldness now. The weight of the blade in her hands, the precise calculations driving the katana next, the casual relation of limb to limb, the kickback of metal hitting bone, the wind tousling her damp hair, the hot blood spattering her.

It was so hard to care.

She didn't know whether it had been a few seconds or the passage of hours but suddenly she was alone in a pile of corpses.

Sometimes, it felt like her life was just moving from pile to pile and not getting anywhere.

Her eyes drifted. All the dead had been gutted and peeled open.

Just like Anko.

Then she saw the corpses that were not of her making. She fought through the tar clogging her head and bent down by one of them. It had been a man, hard to tell because his flesh was burned and rotted. If It had just been burns she would have blamed the fire, but the rot…

Another body laid farther away, burned and rotted like the other. Sakura followed the trail of corpses. Her chakra brushed them and found their chakra pathways seared from the inside out. It was like their very chakra had attacked them. The facts sunk together even in the tar. All of these ninja had died from the inside out, from rotting burns made by their own chakra.

She could smell the cursed seals on them.

Orochimaru had died and those who had carried his seal had died with him. It was a strangely comforting realization.

For a moment she worried for Sasuke but he was too far away for her to think of saving him. It was too hard to really care. Maybe he would live, maybe he would die.

She wondered if that suppression matrix might be enough to save him.

Sakura couldn't get up the energy to even be worried. Knowing was enough and her mind drifted away again. She wasn't brain damaged anymore, but it felt that way. It was strange to realize, but this was what grief felt like.

Her feet guided her to the scar in the earth that she'd barely escaped from when the roof caved in. The earth around it was still smoldering. Without a second thought Sakura lowered herself into the dark. Chakra seeped into her eyes and peeled away the shadows as she fell.

On landing she made her way over broken stone and rubble. The landscape inside was unrecognizable, nothing but upheavel and jagged stone and scorched earth. Her sense of smell guided her to what she was searching for. When she found it, she knelt down on a stable piece of rock and pressed her hand to the still damp blood.

She wouldn't find Anko's body.

There wasn't enough left to find.

And with a wrench, the coldness in her vanished.

Sakura lowered her head and wept.

It passed eventually and her head was left aching. Helplessly, she brought her hands together and offered a short prayer for her friend's soul. Sakura didn't believe a single word of it, but she was the only one to know where Anko rested. Maybe this would ease her passing.

Maybe it wouldn't.

In a brief flash of insanity she wondered if she would come back one day with flowers. Sakura laughed bitterly and wished the cold would come back and numb her.

Something brushed her chakra, hooking with steel. Her breath caught. It was one of those damn rings. Her head shot up and her eyes blazed. Was an Akatsuki here?

There was a spark of something back in her.

She listened and felt but nothing answered her but the irritating hook. With a scowl she tracked the hook across rocks and down crags and into a darkness so deep even her enhanced eyes were blind. Her hands hit a wall and she felt down the winter cool stone.

There. A few feet above the rubble was the edge of a doorway. Lowering herself through the small opening was required impressive contortion and was hard near blind, but she got through.

Her fingers snapped, lighting a spark of chakra. A tiny star of crimson hovered over her index finger.

She saw a flash of silver and a wooden table. There sat a withered hand in a glass case. On the dead hand was an Akatsuki ring. Once upon a time Orochimaru had been part of the club. Once upon a time Orochimaru's original body had worn that ring. It looked like he'd kept both. Even to her that kind of keepsake was revolting.

Using her free hand, the jinchuuriki smashed the glass and took up the ring. The hand was gnarled and desiccated to the touch. On general principal she burned it to ash.

The seals warped and she fought not to look at the ring as it bent space into a knot. These things could sense jinchuuriki and each other, and that's how the Akatsuki chased her and how Orochimaru had been able to avoid his old comrades for so long…

An idea took root. They had four of these now and Konoha wouldn't leave Akatsuki to their own devices forever. Her lips split. The ring had a nice weight to it when she dropped it in her pocket.

She left the room, left the chamber and returned to the sky, and left Anko to her final resting place. Maybe, someday, the grief would fade.

Sakura doubted it.

**Ten Miles from Oto/Kumo Border, Kumo**

Uchiha Sasuke hated only a few things in his life, admittedly he found hundreds of more things annoying as hell, but there were only three things that he generally hated. His brother Itachi(who he'd kill at some point even if it killed him), Orochimaru (and his fucking annoying seals), and last a new thing he was coming to despise with an unholy passion: people who tried to kill Hanabi.

And now an entire medical facility with near a hundred staff was burning because of that hatred, and he and Neji and Hanabi were running from the flame. Or more accurately, he and Neji were the ones running, Hanabi was being carried.

She seemed perfectly all right with that, honestly.

Of course the fight to get to her and then get her out had neither been quick nor silent. Alarms had gone out in every direction while Sasuke had torn through hallway by hallway, and the facility wasn't the only gathering of Kumo ninja in the area. In fact with as close to the border as it was, the facility now had reinforcements coming from every conceivable direction to kill them.

There was no catching up to the unit at this point. Their ragtag trio would make a break to Oto and then veer in the direction of home. It was as much of a plan as they could manage while running for their lives.

"Pick up the pace!" Neji bellowed over his shoulder. "If you fall behind and get killed I'm not coming back for you!" The Hyuga then stepped sideways to avoid a burst of shuriken in the back.

Sasuke flipped him the bird.

Hanabi giggled.

Neji twisted to the side and sent three kunai with explosive tags over his shoulder. The ensuing explosion nearly lifted them off their feet and lit the night sky for miles. Sasuke let out a low whistle. "Not bad Hyuga."

Neji snorted. "Screw you too."

In the light of the flame, Neji saw the Kumo ninja first. "Incoming!"

Sasuke felt a shift in the heat wave behind him and flicked his scythe. The hunter got a blade through his chest, and absently Sasuke lit him on fire. It paid to be thorough in situations like this.

Despite himself, Sasuke laughed. In the crackling flame it sounded rather demented. For a moment their pursuers halted.

"You creepy bastard." Neji sounded impressed.

Sasuke stopped laughing. "You're just mad they're more afraid of me."

They were running again, putting distance between them and a likely messy end. It was at that moment the seal on his shoulder flared like a molten blade had been jammed in it. For a second Sasuke didn't know which way was up and his stomach rolled.

It was hard to tell if he'd been stabbed . The seal flared again and this time he knew it was much worse than an injury just from steel.

"Sasuke what…?" Hanabi grabbed his face and her cold hands grounded him.

He sucked in a breath and got a mouthful of cinders. The fire behind them was moving closer.

And so was the enemy.

He spun his scythe in an arc, loosing a storm of lightning that snarled through the trees. There was screaming and the smell of charred flesh. He panted and started running through the pain. "My shoulder, check it."

Her hand touched his shirt but found no rip, but the second she pressed it, it wedged sticky to his back. Hanabi's breath caught and her cold fingers inched back up and then under his collar. There was something sticky and cold running down his back and it felt thicker than blood.

Hanabi brought a slick hand back out, frowned, and dabbed at it with her fingers and then her tongue.

She spat it out. "Fuck. It's some kind of toxin, some bodily fluids and…it tastes like dead body."

Sasuke did not want to know why she knew that.

Her hand was back under his shirt again and this time with her byakugan active. Her voice was panicked. "There's an abrasion on your back, it feels like something forced your skin open. It's expelling something but…it's not blood. Well, not _just_ blood. It's right over your curse seal and—oh god—it's all twisted around. I don't…"

She trailed off because her byakugan had picked up something else. The same thing Sasuke was readily aware of.

Tens, if not hundreds of Kumo ANBU surrounded them. And Neji had somehow gotten out ahead of them and cut off.

Sasuke wasn't afraid. In fact, he was really fucking _pissed off_.

Weapons rained down on them and he dodged like he never had dodged. Even then, Hanabi had to use quick bursts of jyuken to keep kunai off his neck and shoulders. The cold stream on his back thickened, and through the haze of sickness he gathered his chakra around them. It hissed and spat, taking on an electrical current that was rapidly expanding in a net.

When the next hail of weapons came his chakra exploded. The blades froze midair, caught motionless. They took on a charge before being sent back screaming into the trees. Branches exploded, tree trunks burst into flames, and ninja fell.

In the brief reprieve, Sasuke dragged them both away.

When his head stopped spinning, he found they were in a part of the forest untouched by flame. Neji was nowhere to be found.

He rested against the tree because his limbs had turned rubbery and were barely holding him up. A cold sweat broke out and the gash over his seal was widening and pouring out pure poison.

If he could just _stop dying_ for a second, maybe he could think.

"Sasuke…" She could hear the enemy in the trees.

"One minute." It would probably be longer than that. He tried to catch his breath.

Wordlessly she wrapped them in a genjutsu. She seemed to know they weren't getting anywhere.

And Sasuke really freaking wished, right then, that Naruto and Sakura had been with him.

But it was too late for that regret.

**Oto/Kumo Border**

A sigh of wind passed through the trees, disturbing the moonlight and casting shadows. Strands of blonde hair trailed behind the forerunner of the group, and she dipped in and out of the light. The shadows traced a skeletal pattern on her back.

Yamanaka Ino was reeling in more ways than one. The inside of her head felt like it'd been splattered in blood and she couldn't see out of it.

It covered all the old memories. Even the good ones.

Warm laughter in sun drenched streets, the taste of sweets home baked, quiet conversations late into the night, the sharp smell of sweat and grass after a long training session. Friends, sisters, comrades; all of it lost. Her parents were dead. Anko was dead.

Even her memories couldn't escape from the horrors of her job, and they were going-going-_gone_ like wisps of smoke in the sky.

Maybe someday she'd be able to look back without seeing strung up corpses and pools of blood, but that day was not today.

How many people would she still lose?

She tried not to dwell on it. In the last three hours Ino had taken the lead with the tracking dogs while Kakashi and Jiraiya hung back, talking in low voices. There was worry in their words and it distracted her from the blood.

Sakura had not caught back up yet and that filled Ino with a certain amount of dread.

Kakashi thought she couldn't hear him when he murmured. "Is Sakura really safe to have left back there? She _lost_ _it_ in that base, for a second I thought… I thought she'd let _it _out."

Jiraiya sighed heavily. "The brain damage is…a side effect of chakra overdose, not her loosing the demon on us. The last time this happened was during another fight with Orochimaru a few years ago. I'll admit she's not exactly stable, but even off kilter she can recognize friend from foe."

Kakashi was doubtful. "Somehow that doesn't assure me."

The sage's voice went hard and even Ino felt a chill.

"I don't give a fuck if it assures you. Sakura is an S-class killer with a demon grafted to her stomach; nothing to do with her is going to be a cakewalk." Jiraiya scoffed. "Besides, that seal will weaken the demonic chakra and let Sakura absorb it over time. Eventually even that demon's soul will die. At least…"

Kakashi latched onto that. "At least?"

Something darkened in the woods. "Minato changed it, there's something strange about that seal. The chakra isn't getting weaker and if anything, she's been building immunity to it. It's not operating the way it was supposed to. It never has."

"What does that mean?"

Hell, even Ino wanted to know that.

The sage answered dryly. "If I ever figure it out you'll be the first to know."

Ino absently noted they'd crossed the border and she began the process of orienting herself. That was when a kunai decided to slice straight into the tree she was on. It landed an inch from her head.

Without thinking she back flipped away just in time for the trunk to explode. Behind her, Jiraiya and Kakashi cursed.

She knew why.

Up in the tree white masks were circling them, Kumo headbands shinning and blades weaving in and out of the moonlight. They were ghastly figures, like crows circling a fresh corpse.

Their rescue attempt had run right into a platoon of Kumo hunters.

The blood in her head smoldered and flooded out her doubts. Suddenly, Ino wanted nothing more than to see more red painted on every side. The kunai dropped easy in her hand and she grinned vicious. "Come out come out."

The first hunter fell on her. Five minutes later, Ino got to know what his inside looked like spread all pretty on the ground.

And that was how, when painting the ground with a screaming man, she ran straight into Hyuga Neji.

They stared at each other for an uncomprehending moment. Up in the trees, Jiraiya set a man on fire.

Ino blinked. "You aren't the Hyuga we're looking for."

Neji looked bemused. "Hanabi?"

"Hanabi." She agreed. She dropped the dying man to the ground. "Any chance you know where she is? It's such a pain to torture without my good tools here."

Neji dubiously looked at the mutilated body. "I…see." He cleared his throat. "We recovered her from a facility we were initially sent to level. Unfortunately she's with Sasuke and I've been momentarily separated from them."

"Shame." She agreed and carelessly kicked her leg back. The blow caught a hunter in the gut.

Neji leaned forward, grabbed her by the waist, and flipped her over his body. Using the momentum from the flip Ino threw herself, catching a second ninja in the throat that'd been creeping up on Neji's back. The Hyuga had already stopped the heart of her initial attacker by the time she landed.

Ino paused a moment to carve out the throat of the second man. It made a gorgeous red crescent.

Up above dogs barked, fires burned, and men screamed. Ino smiled. "I believe Jiraiya-sama and Hatake-san have this well in hand. Shall we go find Hanabi?"

As if to illustrate her point, a tidal wave of water washed a dozen ninja out of the trees and broke them on the ground.

Neji was nonplussed by her cheerful professionalism. He weakly pointed east. "This way."

**Oto/Kumo Border, Oto Side**

Smoke burned her nose and the back of her throat, and sometimes Sakura really hated it when the Kyuubi's chakra wouldn't leave. It made tracking easy but unpleasant smells about a thousand times worse. From almost five miles away, she could see flames lighting the horizon.

Somebody, somewhere, was having fun without her. That just wouldn't do.

Deep in her, a red and wrathful thing uncoiled. She breathed in sharply. This feeling was a familiar one.

"Kyuubi-sama." She murmured.

The crimson of his eyes seemed to rake her from the inside out.

The demon didn't waste time on pleasantries. _You really lost it this time, didn't you_? He mocked.

She winced. "In my defense it was a very stressful situation."

_You didn't even notice what happened, did you? _He snarled and the sound of it cut deep.

The mess of the night flashed before her eyes.

Festering hatred, rage pounding through her veins, chakra pulsing like magma, Anko's eyes fading dim, Anko's body gutted, Orochimaru screaming as he cycled between rebirth and death again and again, brain damage, falling back into sanity, cold _cold_ grief choking her, bodies falling in pieces, blood spraying hot.

Her breath caught. "Where were you?"

He let out a derisive snort. _I was there the whole time; you just couldn't hear me over all the self loathing._ He paused. _You went so deeply into my chakra I almost couldn't find you. This wasn't like before when I gave you too much. You __**took**__ too much._

Took. Taken. Except that was impossible because that chakra wasn't her own. She could sometimes slip etra when he wasn't watching her closely enough and had already opened the tap, but for her to have taken it on her own…

"But—that's not…" She spluttered.

There was an impression of teeth sharpened in a grimace. _ Possible? Too bad, it's possible and it happened. You did something tonight and the seal…_

Both of their gazes turned inwards and she froze. She was in front of the gate and the matrix was warped, bending inwards like someone had taken a sledgehammer to it. It was still bending.

The pull of it hooked right in her gut. She could slip into his chakra now without asking for permission, but the price? It was dragging her in.

She tried to swallow. "What the hell is that?"

"That my dear jinchuuriki." His hell-flame eyes looked down. "Is what we call consequences."

They had twisted it too much, widened it open, and slipped little bits of themselves past it. Now it was snarled and that last great freakout of hers and been the straw to break it. Its contours were monstrous and Sakura could scarcely comprehend them.

With her mind fully thrown open she could feel her seeping into him, or him seeping into her. His chakra was clotting in her body, stuck fast, while whispers of them brushed each other and became snarled.

It was odd, being this close to him and literally _feeling_ his anger.

The seal had been designed to slowly merge the Kyuubi's chakra and hers over the course of her lifetime, slowly weakening his soul until he died a mortal death with her. But they had instead separated out their chakra, only consciously allowing it to mix when she had needed it.

That exclusion had backed up the seal, rendering parts of it null and clogging back power that got left unspent. That power had begun twisting the seal. It might not have done anything on its own, those little cancers in the seal. But then on top of everything she had then taken his chakra in abrupt and scalding bursts that flooded the system. It had sent their minds crashing together and tearing apart.

It had sent them crashing into the seal and having it even give _through_ her sometimes.

And that strain had turned those little cancers into freakish tumors. Now the seal was warping before their eyes and the rules were changing with every breath they took.

And because of that, they weren't tearing apart to their separate little corners. They were being drawn into each other and not in the good way, but in the sticky mindsoul_being_ way.

"Our minds," He snarled. "Our souls, they're all getting drawn into this. It's going to rip us into bloody pieces and mash what's left together. And trust me when I say that will not. Be. _Pleasant._"

She flinched and suddenly something of him slammed her. It was a memory of sorts pulled loose by the seal. It was from a few days past when the tiny demon she'd summoned to help track Hanabi had passed some message through her.

This time though, from his side, she understood it.

Her eyes were filled with Hell, _literal_ Hell. Demons killing demons and kingdoms falling. Skies burning, mountains shattering, a world not her own dying.

Time moved strangely between the here and there, and the nine Kings had been gone from that Hell for what must have been eons.

And demons were splintering, killing and maiming and driving themselves to extinction. Her eyes rolled back and her skull nearly burst. She watched kingdoms made of bone burn, saw corpses that covered contents rotting, and all being eaten by thousands of warring monsters.

She saw oceans running scarlet. Saw entire shores covered with dried blood and chewed rib bones.

Ichor painted the dirt and entrails numbered the days since war had begun. There were fields of entrails, leagues upon leagues of rotting guts. Worms and maggots bigger than her arm ate the dead.

Demons starved and drank putrefied blood. They splintered into factions and backstabbed until they couldn't even recognize their kin. They screamed for their King to come save them.

The demons whispered that his human mistress kept him tied fast over _there_, and maybe if they killed her, their King would climb out from between her ribs and be free…

A tail was around her, shaking her. "Sakura. SAKURA! You're chewing off your tongue you idiot!"

Her eyelids fluttered and she breathed in blood and choked on it. Her eyes unrolled from her skull and she gagged. A few feet off the ground and wrapped in a tail was not a pleasant place to wake in. Especially after all _that_.

It took her a minute to unclench her trembling jaw. "What the fuck?"

"You were spying on my memories." He dropped her to the floor. "If you saw what I think you saw, I'd recommend no longer summoning my kind. Hell is…falling, and they would kill us just to assuage their delirium."

She retched up pieces of tongue and blood and then let her mouth heal. "What should we do?"

There was bitterness in his gaze, ages upon ages of war in those eyes, and wrath made impotent and lost in blood. "There is nothing we can do." His tails brushed the seal and the cancer of it stung. "After this, there won't be enough left of either of us anyways."

A clock had been set. Somewhere out there through time and space Hell was burning and in this seal they were being killed. The reality of it was so vast she couldn't grasp it.

The rush of his breath buffeted her. "Go. We'll deal with this when you aren't chasing down stolen children."

She nodded and rose. The mission grounded her. The seal vanished and she was back in the woods staring at a fiery horizon.

Sakura ran like the devil was chasing her.

She skirted Kakashi and Jiraiya. She skirted Ino and Neji (and didn't bother wondering when he showed up). The battle sprawled out and she counted the enemy and gauged the fronts.

It didn't take long find the lead hunter. The man had stayed just outside the battle but close enough in range that communications could pass between him and his underlings. A radio was in his ear and he watched the battle as she did, barking orders all the while.

That wouldn't do.

She stared down at the communications box by his left knee, a thin black cord from the box attached to an earpiece. He spun the dial and she listened, drinking in his jargon and doctrine as he coordinated with each squad.

When she heard enough she slid a kunai in her hand and leapt down.

It went fast.

He turned with a kunai in his own hand, ready to stab her in the throat. She caught his wrist and twisted it until she heard bones snap and she slammed her elbow into the side of his face. His mask shattered and she caught the piece with the radio and slashed the kunai across his face.

Blood spattered and he wrenched back, and that was the opening needed to bury the blade in his throat. He fell and she grabbed at the cord and pulled it away with a snap.

Calmly, she took her winnings and put the earpiece in and the mic by her lips. Summoning chakra into her throat she altered her vocal cords to deepen her voice.

The leader's voice came out of her throat. "Attention squads five, thirteen, fourteen, and twenty. Come southeast by half a mile, the target has moved…"

**Fifteen Minutes Later**

Jiraiya blinked slowly as he tried to see through the oily smoke around him. He was left with the strange, somewhat insane impression that the hunters had just pulled back. Which really couldn't be right because Kumo ninja _never_ pulled back.

He glanced to an equally baffled Kakashi. Jiraiya sucked in a breath. "So…"

"What just happened?" Kakashi's red eye spun with nothing to focus on.

"I honestly have no idea." The sage replied. "But I think it's safe to say that we should find Ino and get this fucking mission done."

The jonin shrugged. "Sounds good."

**Kumo, Unknown Location**

Hanabi cracked her eyes open. The pressure on her back was heavier. Somehow, Sasuke had only gotten worse in the last half hour and had collapsed into a sitting position. He had put his head on her shoulder and hadn't moved since except to hiss in pain.

Fear rode heavy in her chest.

His head rose abruptly. His voice was raspy but steady. "We should go."

She touched his shoulder and found the blood-toxin congealed. "Are you all right?"

"I'm not sure." He stood slowly. "But we can't wait any longer." The scan he made of the forest was quick.

"Where did the hunters go?" He asked.

Hanabi touched the veins around her eyes. "They pulled out of my range about twenty minutes ago. I don't know what they're planning."

"Then let's get out of here." His muscles coiled and he jumped.

It wasn't the most graceful thing but at the least they were moving again. In less than half a mile they stumbled by two familiar faces.

"Neji, Ino?" Hanabi felt her jaw drop. "What…?

"Came to save the damsel, kiddo." Ino grinned lewdly. "Though it looks like the knight got here first."

Hanabi blushed and looked at the sky. Sasuke seemed unfazed. "You came alone?"

"Naw. Jiraiya-sama, Sakura, and Hatake-san are around here somewhere." Ino flicked her hands impatiently. "But I think we should worry about getting out of here more, right?"

A female voice spoke from the trees."That sounds about right."

All their heads snapped up, and Hanabi was relieved to see a strangely solemn jinchuuriki Sakura standing above them.

The vessel had a vaguely smug quirk to her lips, crouched on a branch with a black box resting on her hip. Her eyes though were morose.

Before they could say anything, Sakura raised a hand to silence them. "Hold on, I've got another call." She spun a dial on the box and static and voices mixed. She hit the right frequency and her voice came out so deep it startled Hanabi.

"Squad eleven, three, and twenty get a move on. I know you're having trouble finding the enemy but guess what, this isn't a bunch of genin punks we're dealing with! Wait—fuck!" The deep, unnatural voice rose to a panicky octave. "Shit! My position is under attack I need backu—" She let out a muffled scream, spun the dial, and then proceed to smash the box on the ground.

She dusted her hands. "That should keep them busy. Come on kids, time to go home."

They all just stared at her, for a moment.

Sasuke was the only one unfazed by the bizzare display. "Took you long enough."

"Fuck you too." She answered archly. "Not that I'm not glad to see you alive, I am, but we should _really _get a move on out of here. That little distraction of mine won't last forever."

Jiraiya and Kakashi joined the crowd. The sage raised his eyebrows. "Holy hell." He counted the extra faces "Everybody here?"

Sakura nodded. "Yep." And motioned them to the border.

They fell into formation, finally together, and a relieved breath seemed to pass through the group. In less than an hour they'd be out of Kumo. It'd take a day to cross Oto. Another two days after that, they'd be home.

**Hokage Tower, Konoha, One Week Later**

The carved Hokage's monument stood out starkly in the gray sky, the warm golden stone a seeming echo of old glory. Here the faces of heroes were immortalized in time. It stirred little interest in her though; all Sakura saw were dead men who tried to live forever with stone faces. She shook away the dark thoughts; she was here on business, not to stare blankly at a monument that even the wind would eventually turn to dust.

It had been a tumult few days with getting back home and finding the village still working through repairs and Danzou supposedly committing suicide for his crimes. She had not returned to the apartment but spent her days between the hospital and one of Jiraiya's houses. Considering Hanabi and Sasuke both were laid up in the hospital as well, it wasn't the worst thing.

She wasn't hurt at all, but Tsunade seemed worried that she hadn't repaired her brain damage right. Jiraiya just kept an eye on her like she'd shatter. The Jinchuuriki felt insulted but that annoyance was the least of her concerns.

The seal was quickly devolving an ugly situation and Sakura had not slept in days, too busy pursuing every contour of the new distortions.

What she had found had not heartened her any.

But today wasn't about the seal, it was about the plan. If she and the Kyuubi were set to die in a few months she wasn't going to leave this world without leaving the Akatsuki a smear on the ground. She had their rings and had a mission, but there was one last problem: the legacy of Uchiha Madara that Itachi carried.

Until she knew for sure what power he held over her, she couldn't pursue Akatsuki. And until she knew, she couldn't convince Tsunade to let her near the people who wanted the demon in her belly.

So here she was, looking for answers and evidence.

Sakura hummed softly, letting the person holding her hand lead her. It was nice being able to spend time with Hinata, and the jinchuuriki watched her old friend from beneath her lashes.

Something bitter filled her throat.

In the oto assassinations Hinata had been nearly strangled to death. Her face was now a pale and translucent white. Hundreds of the smaller capillaries had been crushed in her neck from the attack, and it left her face washed out and nearly bloodless.

The Silent Invasion as Konoha ninja now called it) had left its mark on everyone. Hinata's just happened to be more physical than most. She would retain this ghost like appearance for the rest of her life.

It was a small price, Sakura thought, for the girl to live.

Still, the sight reminded the jinchuuriki of failing to protect her friend and it sparked a white hot fury in her guts. If she hadn't already murdered Orochimaru and a base full of Oto ninja, she would have gone and done it again.

Rumors had already spread through the village about what had happened on that mission (she blamed Kakashi) and everyone gave her a wide berth. Stories of her losing it ran rampant, and Sakura didn't try too hard to fight them. A dose of fear was sometimes a good thing.

The Kyuubi had been more active since the warping of the seal and he had heckled mercilessly about the whole situation. Having the Kyuubi's thoughts mixing with her own had her feeling claustrophobic in her own body. She had done anything to distract herself from it, which had led to here and now and her stealing Hinata away from the Aburame for this little errand. Some research would do them both good.

They passed through a brightly lit hallway to a dank staircase that was recessed behind the wall. The metal steps inside spiraled down into blackness. Metal gave way to stone by the bottom, and Sakura had a sickening feeling this place had been carved out fof the very earth.

She let out a hiss of air through her teeth, steadied her nerves, and lifted her hand to activate the lighting. Flames raced down small crevices in the walls, giving the dark stone an eerie glow. The stairway leveled out into a damp hallway filled with mildew and dust.

It reminded her of that cavern beneath the mountain, of that stone forest. She swallowed the memory down.

This part of the Hokage Tower hidden beneath the earth didn't see many visitors. They left footprints in the undisturbed dust. This was different from that time in Oto. She had to keep telling herself that.

"Why here?" Sakura asked. There was another reason she'd gone to Hinata for help: she needed something very specific in her chase of Uchiha Madara. "Your family seems paranoid enough to try and keep all their records on hand, why would they leave them here?"

Hinata swept through the hall regally as though there was nothing eerie about the place. Sakura was reminded too much of that tomb she'd left behind to be as calm.

Hinata laughed lightly. "Don't be so pessimistic, just because you didn't have to kill anyone to get here doesn't mean it's a trap." The sound of her friend brought light back into the world.

It usually was a trap, but Sakura decided not to mention it. "So _why_ are your family's records down here?"

Hinata tore away a web hanging from the ceiling with the tips of her fingers. "Before now the Hyuga records were kept in a separate wing of the house, the more precious files are still hidden in a vault beneath the main house. However after the Kyuubi attack, a large section of the compound was destroyed and some lesser records were lost. The council decided to keep the bulk of the archive safe here and enlisted the Third Hokage's help in clearing out some of the old catacombs to use as storage. They've been here since."

It made sense, in a weird sort of way. Sakura brightened. "Awesome."

Hinata squeezed her hand and smiled.

Then Sakura thought about it a lbit longer. "So the Kyuubi destroyed the Hyuga compound a bit, the records were moved here, he got sealed in me, and now I can get at them easy. I'll have to thank the bastard when he wakes up for going through the trouble."

Hinata sighed and covered her face.

Sakura felt oddly proud.

They stopped by an impression in the wall that the jinchuuriki realized was a handle. Hinata wordlessly cut her finger and smeared some blood along it.

Sakura gaped. "What…?"

It glowed softly and with a click, a door swung open.

Hinata dabbed at her bloodied hand primly. "Only Hyuga blood gets in these doors."

The jinchuuriki put an arm around her friend's waist. "You are the best friend _ever_ Hinata."

The Hyuga preened just a bit and Sakura laughed. It eased the ache in her chest a bit, and for a moment Sakura forgot she was still grieving.

The room inside smelled of decay and rot. Torches immediately came to life and revealed rows and upon rows of scrolls in stone shelves.

"I'm looking for birth records, the oldest birth records." Sakura murmured.

Hinata covered her mouth with her sleeve. "Then let's get to work."

Two hours passed in dusty silence, grit and mold choking their tongues and filling their eyes.

The scroll her goal was in was old, delicate as a butterfly's wings, and ready to fall apart. The family tree inside was nearly faded to gray. Sakura let her fingers trace to a distant line. "Hyuga Madara." She smirked and tasted the ages past. "Welcome back to the living."

**Three Miles from Konoha**

Adrenaline pumped through his veins and Naruto felt a tremor of a thrill race down his spine when he saw the gate of his village in the distance. The blond fought down a shout of joy and instead picked up the pace.

The ANBU behind him bitched. Naruto ignored them.

After what seemed like an eternity, but was really only fifteen minutes, he and his ANBU team dropped down from the trees and onto a dirt road. It lead straight to the village.

It led straight to home.

Naruto looked left and right, the road was curiously empty of people, only a few stragglers heading anywhere. It didn't seem strange at first.

Then he got to the main gate. It was closed. He didn't think twice about scaling a wall instead. The chunin guarding the walls yelled at him but he only flipped them a wave and a smile before plummeting off the other side.

He cleared the wall and into the village and that's when dread crashed over him.

The large balcony by the Hokage's office had been ripped clean off, and scaffolding was already up trying to fix the damage. Buildings all over the village were either damaged or gone entirely, leaving nothing but rubble.

It looked like the village had after the Chunin Exam three years ago. Like invasion.

Something caught in his throat.

He left his ANBU squad in the dust. In a flash of yellow he was standing in his apartment.

He called out. "Sakura?"

There was no response and he noticed a broken chair in the corner, a cabinet door ripped clean off, a dent in the wall, and a fine layer of dust over every surface.

He frowned. Another burst of yellow took him a few flights down in front of another door. One of his kunai was jammed in the wall above the frame. Sasuke never had let him squirrel one away inside somewhere, the bastard.

The locks were easy to get around.

With an unsteady and sickening feeling in his gut, he stepped inside and felt a slight breeze tousle his hair.

A window had been shattered and boarded up, and right below it there was dried blood spattered on the floor and wall. His neck hair stood on end. The furniture was in shambles, the floors were knicked by kunai in some spots, and the smell of dust hung heavy.

The next burst of yellow took him to the Hokage's Tower. He didn't actually choose to go there but his body seemed to be on autopilot while his brain was stuck on horror.

He flew past the secretary and straight into the Hokage's office.

Tsunade glanced up at him. "Is it really that hard to knock?"

His eyes were stuck on the _massive_ bloodstain in the middle of her office carpet. Tsunade followed his gaze. "Oh, that, don't worry about it. That should be replaced by tomorrow." The Hokage's lips quirked. "Sakura always did like leaving an impression."

His heart stuck in his throat. "What in the hell is going on?" He was standing right on top of Sakura's _freaking blood_.

The Kage waved him down. "Relax, a lot happened but everyone you know survived. Hell—" She shot a sour look at the carpet. "She didn't even have the decency to clean up after herself."

Naruto and pressed a hand to his face and tried not to scream.

Tsunade took that as an invitation to keep talking. "There was an…invasion of sorts lead by Kabuto on the village. The leak that made it possible came from Danzou, and we lost dozens of our ninja before the enemy was killed or driven out."

His head snapped up but Tsunade kept speaking calmly. "Lest said Danzou committed suicide when confronted by his crimes and Kabuto was hunted down and eliminated. In the days that followed Orochimaru was also killed for his part in the atrocity."

He gaped. "What?"

Tsunade's oddly cheerful demeanor lessened. "Sakura killed him."

Sakura _killed him_.

The words seemed to etch inside his skull.

His mouth opened and closed without noise. Leave the village for a few weeks and it went to hell without him looking. "And she's…?"

"Fine as she can be." Tsunade noted. "That's actually getting ahead of the story. The confusion of the initial invasion was used to do two things. One was for Uchiha Itachi and Hoshigaki Kisame to slip in and try to take Sakura; they failed but grievously injured her before being driven out. While Sakura was engaged with them, Kabuto kidnapped Hyuga Hanabi. As soon as Sakura was well she chased after him straight to an Oto base. In the ensuing conflict Kabuto escaped with the girl and Sakura killed Orochimaru. They then tracked Hanabi to Kumo where Hyuga Neji and Uchiha Sasuke had already recovered her. All are now back in the village and safe."

It was too much to swallow and he tried to make sense of it. "Wasn't Sasuke's mission supposed to lasy another few weeks? How did he…"

Tsunade shrugged. "Apparently Hanabi's kidnap was for the express purpose of using her as a bargaining chip. Sasuke's unit stumbled over Kabuto taking her to Kumo. Neji and Sasuke broke away from their mission and took out an entire medical facility to get her. It was only through sheer dumb luck that Sakura and her squad got to them before they were ripped apart by the hunter-ninja chasing them."

Naruto rubbed his temples. "My head."

Tsunade almost looked sympathetic. Almost. "It is a bit to take in." The smile dimmed a notch. "Unfortunately one of Sakura's squad, Mitarashi Anko, died during the mission. Sakura is…grieving."

His fists clenched. "Is that all?"

"No." Her lips pulled thin. "Mitarashi died by Orochimaru's hand and Sakura…in killing him it was like last time. There was brain damage. It's not as extensive and was repaired in the field, but please keep a close eye on her."

This was the last time he would leave Sakura behind again. He didn't care about council edicts on not leaving the village (which she broke anyway) or anything else. They would stay together or die trying.

"Where is she?"

The Hokage looked as youthful as ever, but the worn age in her eyes stilled him. "She's the company of Hyuga Hinata somewhere in the tower."

Naruto was out of his seat and gone before she could say anymore.

**Stairwell, Catacombs**

Sakura gave Hinata her free hand and pulled her friend up the last few stairs into the empty hallway. The Hyuga gave a grateful nod and dusted off her kimono. "Was what you found adequate?"

Sakura half nodded and half shrugged. "It's a piece to the puzzle. Corner piece probably." She gave a half bow and kissed her friend's hand. "Thank you for your assistance milady. I know your bodyguards won't be please with you when you get back."

Hinata threw her head back and Sakura was struck by how Hinata's shyness had faded. "I'm not a child, they should remember that. I go where I need to go."

Sakura lowered her head. "Right you are."

It was a short affair getting Hinata back home. The Aburame had figured out rather fast who had _kidnapped_ the heiress, and there were three of them waiting at the end of the hall. Hinata smiled at them but there was ice in it. "Take me home?"

The Aburame, who had seemed ready to chastise her, quickly deflated. "Of course."

Sakura threw her friend a wink. The Hyuga just rolled her eyes.

Sakura was alone again and leaned against the wall, her legs slowly giving under until she slid to the floor. She stared at a section of carpet between her feet. Her eyes looked at nothing and she pressed a hand to her forehead.

The ache in her chest had returned. Her momentary triumph in following the trail of Madara had already faded. Grief and fear rose back up.

The Kyuubi was never far from her. She spoke. "It was all there, I'll have to go to the Uchiha compound later and dig through their files but they'll likely confirm what's already been said."

His irrational grated inside her skull. _You doubted me?_

"You only knew the end, not the beginning." Their chakra mixed heavy in her belly and it made her sick. "There were some holes I needed to fill in the story."

_And what secrets do you carry now_? He purred mockingly.

Her fingers dug into her scalp. "There's a reason Itachi has that power and Sasuke doesn't. You were right, happy?"

_Ecstatic. _He answered dryly. _But bastard and stolen blood is the least of our concerns. _And his claws dragged on the warped seal. _We have bigger issues to deal with._

"I don't know how to fix it." She felt redness and frustration building in her chest. "The seal isn't right, it was never right! I don't think we can fix it alone—"

Fire lanced her skull. The Kyuubi. _Stop this infernal whining! Do you really think you can go crawling to the blond bastard or the sage with your seal like that? They'll see what you did in trying to peel it apart from the outside all these years. Then they'll know what kind of liar you are._

The slap of his words stopped this self-pity in its tracks. "Right." She took a steadying breath. "This is us or nothing."

_Us…_

There was an impression teeth and bone in a grin, and a welling of feral possession. The seal wrenched her in and the Kyuubi surged out. Her eyes filmed over red.

It felt like having her face pressed into something and a hand on her back forcing her down, even though she was sitting upright. It took her a few seconds to realize what was happening. Her vision dimmed and her hand flexed of it's own accord. The seal was warped and the rules had changed.

She wasn't the one moving, she had just become a passenger in her own body. The Kyuubi was in the driver's seat.

"Even with the seal killing us, there are still silver linings." Her voice spoke but she wasn't the one forming the words. Her hands pressed to her face as if testing the smoothness of her skin. Sakura felt the touch but it was muddled as if through a veil.

The seal had prevented the Kyuubi from ever controlling her, it was the only reason she hadn't been executed. But the seal was done giving a fuck about what it was _supposed_ to do.

_How are you… _It reminded her of that tar right after Anko's death. That feeling of sinking and not being able to think straight.

The pressure holding her down got heavier.

Her own voice spoke again but she could hear the deeper undertones of the Kyuubi in it. "I can move to the outside of seal, though not out of you. It may be our best chance to wrench this open."

_How much longer_? The clock was ticking. But his presence made the urgency seem less and she just wanted to sleep tangled in him like this.

His words were in her voice. "Three months, maybe less." And he shifted her legs to stand, making her feel like a puppet held by invisible strings. And he was the one controlling the marionette.

The panic boiled in her. The Kyuubi touched her stomach as he felt it, surprised. "Don't be afraid, that'll get us nowhere."

Her hand lifted as if pulled and he pressed her lips to the palm. It was control and comfort in the most twisted way.

Her face was lifted. "We can glimpse all of this seal now; we only need to find the chink to unravel it." She heard footsteps and the redness receded. One last alien command passed her lips. "Look alive, we have company."

She felt as though a band somewhere within in her snapped and suddenly she was back in the driver's seat. Her head was spinning and her stomach churned, but she righted herself just as blond haired ninja came around the corner.

And despite everything including the fear and the grief, she smiled. "Naruto!"

She threw herself at him and he caught her, swinging her around. They kissed and laughed and bathed in each other's presence.

Naruto stroked her hair. "I missed you Sakura."

The Kyuubi was still riding up high in her. _Remember the secrets to keep. He's of no use to us now._

She pushed back the demon's disgust and pulled Naruto's head back down to kiss her. He readily complied and his hands went sliding down her back and under her vest.

It was like coming home.

Except, as his lips trailed down and he pushed her into the wall, there was not a shred of arousal in her.

There was something lacking in her, something changed. She didn't know if in that stone forest something had burned out. Or maybe, there was too much Kyuubi in her right now and not enough Sakura.

She stared at the opposite wall and waited.

Naruto seemed to realize and he glanced up at her. "You alright?" He looked worried and that did make her feel bad. He shouldn't worry, not for her.

"I'm fine, I just haven't slept very well lately." That was sort of the truth, if a bit sparse. She was in slow motion death right now. Terminal. Sleep was the least of her worries.

And it was impossible to voice. There were too many secrets in that seal and many of them were her own. The chasm of that left her and Naruto miles apart.

He smiled at her and kissed the palm of her hand. It was in the same fashion the Kyuubi had kissed her in his strange way moments before. This comfort wasn't as twisted. This kiss hadn't sent a jolt straight down her spine either.

The demon roiled with revulsion and cruel amusement. It sat on her like a miasma and it was so hard to figure out what she actually felt.

"Come on, let's go home and get some rest." Naruto grabbed her hand and tugged.

Sakura nodded and allowed him to drag her away in a storm of yellow light. A little rest would be good; it might even give her some distance from the demon riding on her back. Then she would get Sasuke and Hanabi out of the hospital, help with security for the funerals for the ninjas killed in the recent attack, and distract Naruto so she could work on reverse engineering the seal on her stomach.

There were so many pieces lying around of her shattered life, and all she could do was fit them back together. In the darkest part of herself, Sakura feared it was already too broken to fix.

* * *

Edit: Different from the old version in this chapter is Ino taking POV during the beginning of the Kumo fiasco, Kakashi and Jiraiya's conversation entirely changed and addressed Sakura's freak out and the seal instead, Ino and Neji met slightly differently and their conversation was touched up.

The entire the-seal-is-failing plotline was revamped to be made much more clear what caused it, what it's doing to Sakura, and how it's working as it's failing and why the Kyuubi can sort of possess her. All Sakura's conversation with the Kyuubi about the seal are completely different in here, too different to try and address it point by point. Also Sakura carrying the fox message about Hell falling to the Kyuubi herself was cut out, and instead she realized what was going on from a loose memory of the Kyuubi's. The entire description of the war in Hell was added in, in all its bloody glory.

Why Sakura went through the Hyuga records with Hinata was cleared up and streamlined, and why she needs proof about Madara after the Kyuubi told her was explained better.

Also, Sakura's disconnect from Naruto that's forming is hopefully better explained on why it's happening, even if Sakura's fear that she's on a burn-out is clouding the truth of the situation.


	28. No Love like Apathy

I want to throw a thanks out to everyone who reviewed my story, it always gives me a fuzzy glow reading those things. Reviews are really drug-tastic, apparently.

**Disclaimer**: I don't own Naruto or anything affiliated with it. Which is a tragedy, I know.

* * *

**One Week Later, Konoha**

The sky swirled gray and somewhere in it, the distant sound of thunder rolled. Rain fell almost gently and the patter of it deadened all other sound. It covered the village with a slick layer and when it was gone, it'd leave nothing behind.

Yamanaka Ino arched her neck and let the rain fall on her.

In the dark shop window in front of her, her pale reflection was an ethereal figure. It showed Ino that she was a ghost of the woman she'd once been. Her blonde hair was matted, her usual cheerful smirk was gone, and dark circles rested under her eyes.

She sighed and pressed her hand to the window, staring into the glass as if expecting it to reveal something she'd already lost. All Ino saw there were a pair of haunted blue eyes stared back at her.

The flower shop beyond was empty. This place only held the echoes of memories now.

And those echoes were growing dimmer.

"What are you doing Ino?" A man asked. The voice was familiar and Ino wasn't surprised he was here. She turned around to see Chouji staring at her curiously; his brown hair plastered to his forehead by the rain despite him holding an umbrella over his head. He was wearing clothing for a funeral.

Her own black dress was plastered to her skin by rain. She looked half drowned and she couldn't bring herself to care.

She drifted from the window. "Looking for something."

"You find it?" He stepped closer and brought the umbrella over her head.

She missed the rain.

Ino shook her head. "No, I didn't." And drew back from her parent's old flower shop and the home that lay behind it. That time in her life was done and gone and she couldn't get it back.

"Come on." He drew her away and wrapped an arm around her waist. The rain fell around them as they walked and in moments she lost sight of the shop.

She didn't try to look back.

Her boyfriend asked. "Have you seen Hinata lately?"

Ino shrugged. "Not since she left the hospital, she's been spending a lot of time with Sakura and Shino though."

He sighed. They both knew Shino and Sakura were grieving. Shino for his father murdered, Sakura for their friend lost. And both had sought out comfort in Hinata. Ino wondered if doing the same might help her, too. Hinata had a serene way about her that seemed to put light back in the world.

Ino needed some light.

"I'm worried for them." His hand squeezing her hip told Ino he was worried for her too.

She leaned on his shoulder. "Hinata's taking care of everything. Hell, a few days when I closed down the shop she bought the whole stock I had for the Aburame funerals." The blonde paused for a moment, rain water dripping down her neck from her hair. She didn't notice."When he got back from your guy's mission, Shino—I heard Shino took his father's death hard. And with all of his family expecting him to step up and lead…I can't imagine what he's dealing with."

She could understand, actually. Probably better than anyone. But right now she didn't want a heart to heart; she just wanted the pain of their death to leave. Talking about her parents would keep it hanging around and poisoning her.

"As for Sakura," Ino flicked her hand. "Anko's death fucked her up. I heard from Hinata that Sakura threw herself into some kind of research project instead of dealing with it. And with the Hokage putting her on leave for a month…"

Chouji shifted uneasily. "It's like we've all been drifting apart lately. I can't—I don't want that for us. All of us in the rookie nine were so close and I'm not doing anything to help them."

Ino hugged his arm tight. "All of us lost something. After what happened…you want to run away from it all, even the people you care about. You think that maybe if you get far enough away, nothing can remind you and the pain won't be able to touch you anymore."

He looked at her with knowing eyes. "Does it help?"

"I already finished running." That chase after Hanabi had taken her so far. Somewhere in the peeled skin and rushing blood of that clearing where she'd tortured two men to death, had been the farthest she could run from herself. When the straight razor went still, she'd come back to herself to find Sakura patiently waiting to clean the blood from her hair.

It wasn't healing exactly, but coping was about as good as it'd get.

He touched her as gently as if she was made of spun glass. "Ino?"

She smiled sad. "I'll be alright. I promise." Someday.

There would come a time she'd grow tired of mourning. There would come a time her first thought wouldn't be of a blood stained kitchen and blue eyes turned glassy.

The shop had been closed and already sold. Her parents were in the ground. Anko had been laid to rest with full honors.

Life went on. Someday she'd probably grow tired of the pain and leave it here.

But not yet.

The rain kept coming down and Ino knew when it finally left, it'd leave nothing behind.

**Apartment Complex, 3:02 PM**

Rain spattered against the window sending streams of it downwards in twisting patterns. The pane had been pushed open a crack and let a soft breeze through.

Sakura welcomed it.

She breathed in and her eyes fluttered shut as she tasted the air. Her eyes rolled back as every smell invaded her. Smog, damp grass, something metallic, something rotten, human bodies, cooking food, and even flowers.

For the Aburame, they were being buried today. Hinata had asked her to come. Sakura would eventually but right now she had work to do. The research on Madara was done and laid out, and only waiting for the opportunity for her to show it.

That was the only good news.

The warped seal was getting further out of control and the cancer of it was spreading to every crevice. In her mind it'd taken on multi-dimensional contours and sometimes she and the Kyuubi were so caught up in it, they'd find themselves literally standing on it from three different sides and another six angles.

Memories, emotions, and cognitive functions were tangling and Sakura found it impossible to keep track of reality the longer they went. And it was getting harder to face Naruto each day. Her head ached fiercely, the Kyuubi was sitting at the front of her skull, her stomach burned, and she couldn't feel anything but boiling panic and the Kyuubi's anger leaking into her like a broken sieve.

How could she face someone who loved her without telling him they had less than three months left together? But that confession would bring too many questions about the mutilations she'd done to the seal, and the secret was left stuck in her throat.

No one could know she'd been trying to free the Kyuubi.

And Sakura thought that secret might be poisoning her.

Every waking moment should have been spent with Naruto and her friends, but instead they were spent with the Kyuubi. Not that there was a real choice. Their every literal moment, waking or not, was spent churning together.

It was like being stuck inside a blender and it _hurt._

They were at each other's throats too. Thoughts were no longer separate and they were accidentally bombarding each other with their memories. Sakura had nearly lost it a few times when reality had unraveled and been replaced with Hell. The Kyuubi had taken her memories better in stride, but that hadn't lessened his bitching any.

This had led fights and screaming matches and her nearly getting strangled by one of his tails. She and the Kyuubi had always been adversarial but never out right prepared to murder each other. And what was worse, was that this was straining her relationships with all those around her.

Half her friends thought she was avoiding them and the other half had to tolerate her being a horrendous bitch. The ones that tolerated her were under the impression she was still mourning Anko. It was kind of true, but Sakura was mourning her own death too.

Naruto was bearing the worst brunt of it. The Kyuubi had tolerated him but that didn't change him utterly despising the blond. The backlash had bled through to her and she suddenly saw the boy she loved through a demon's eyes.

That made it impossibly hard to even remember why she loved Naruto. The Kyuubi was taking one of the most important things in her life from her, and the son of a bitch wasn't even sorry.

"Get out of my head around him!" She'd shouted.

The Kyuubi had lazily flicked a tail. "And be bombarded by those squishy little feeling you call love? I'd rather gargle acid."

That had led to their most impressive screaming match yet. The Kyuubi had gotten the last word by trying to bite her. Only the seal had saved her from being swallowed. For about five minutes at least, until the Kyuubi found a warping and spent the next hour letting his teeth and chakra chase her.

He hadn't caught her, but the whole episode had depressurized their murderous intentions for a few days.

Unfortunately the next time she'd seen Naruto, she'd snapped at him and the vicious cycle had just continued. Sakura was certain her boyfriend deserved sainthood.

The possessions were occurring with more frequency and getting worse, and sometimes the Kyuubi wasn't even trying when he suddenly found himself in the driver's seat. Sometimes neither of them would be in control and that was when they were at their worst. They would have conversations out loud, sometimes one eye would be pure red and the other perfectly green, or he would hurl insults at people around her while she watched on in some detached kind of horror, or her body would just seize up for a few hours until somebody won the tug of war.

Sasuke in usual caustic fashion, took in stride her slow descent into insanity and avoided her for both their sakes. Sakura was eternally grateful.

Naruto hadn't gotten the memo. Since he'd gotten back he'd been latched to her side. He'd caught glimpses of what was happening and was increasingly worried for her, but all she could do was force a smile and assure him things were alright. He didn't believe her, but keeping up the guise of _not dying_ and _not going insane while doing it,_ was the only way she'd get out the village to kill Akatsuki.

And it was the only way Naruto would leave her alone long enough for her to agonize over the seal.

She smacked her forehead on the desk. "I can't figure it out." Her hands crumpled papers around her. All the diagrams had sequences of seals and equations written in a messy scrawl, and most were filled with crossed out lines and scribbled images that blurred it.

_I'm shocked. Shocked and appalled. _The Kyuubi muttered dryly. Her left hand twitched.

She grabbed her hand. "I can't write if you're fucking around with my hands. _Again_."

It had been _real _fun that time the Kyuubi had suddenly been controlling her hands while she'd been trying to wash her hair. Lest said her hair hadn't gotten washed and Naruto had walked in to the bizarre sight of her cursing at her hands while in the shower.

She felt smooth skin brush along her own and her own hand pressed to her throat. Fingers curled and cut into her skin.

"You mean like this?" Her own voice asked sweetly. Her lips were in a smirk not her own.

She could immediately tell today wouldn't be a good day. "I know you can feel my pain now, you a masochist Kyuubi_-sama_?" She purred.

"Cute." He chuckled and the laughter came through her voice. Nails cut in and blood trickled onto her shirt. "Sixteen years I had to go without _anything_ but the darkness in your head. The pain almost gets close to pleasure after awhile." His grin split. "You would know."

Her teeth bit her cheek and Sakura knew that was all her. There was an impression of fur on her back and breath on her neck.

"And besides," His voice in hers turned throaty. "I always enjoyed your screaming."

In Sakura's defense, there'd been a year she'd spent with the pain/pleasure wires crossed in her brain. And that year had been very, _very_ pleasant. To the point even after being 'fixed' of it, the getting-off-on-pain part hadn't really gone away.

Not that she'd admit it.

The hands left her throat. She rubbed at her bruised skin. "You sadistic son of a bitch."

_And you say it like a bad thing._

Sakura rolled her eyes, pretended she hadn't heard, and turned her eyes to the Shiki Fujin of the Yodaime currently sketched out.

Her pen skittered across."A four point symbols seal overlaid by a eight trigram seal, not to mention the basis-equation laid by the death god…it's difficult to decipher one, but to figure out how each sequence alters the other? Even if both of us spent every waking hour for the next five years on this, it wouldn't be enough."

The mocking was gone. _Three months is all we have. Do or die._

Story of her life.

Sakura rubbed her temples and wondered what she had done in a past life to deserve this. Hell, what she'd done in this life was probably more than enough for karma to bitch slap her.

The front door opened. Sakura's eyes snapped to the hall. "You should rest for awhile." What she meant was: get out of my head before I rip you out.

His snarl nearly kicked off her instincts. His voice was gravel. _Don't try and dictate to me. _Her left hand dragged along her thigh. _How much would you like that blond bastard to see of you?_

It was a low blow.

"Do you just enjoy being a sick bastard or do you work for it?" She snareled back. The hand dragged higher, nails digging in. She rocked back in her chair with skin tingling and heart rushing. "Fine. I'm sorry I'm trying to keep this from Naruto so we don't get locked in the psyche ward. I'm such an arrogant bitch for trying."

_Sadly, sarcasm always did become you. _The hand became her own again, but she felt the heat of his growl. _But don't think I'm giving this reprieve for free._

Always a price. She'd be worried if there wasn't one.

He sank deeper, not enough for her to _not _feel him, but enough for her to ignore.

She touched a paper on the desk. Immediately the ink on it began to fade, turning to a light gray and then gone. Like a chain reaction it spread and soon every sheet and scroll was blank as though nothing had been there at all. It was a special ink made by the ANBU to write their documents in, and if need be, a certain flow of chakra could erase it all. Naruto would recognize the seals she was writing in a heartbeat. No evidence of her work could be left anywhere.

Naruto came in and smiled at her hesitantly. She smiled back, silently bemoaning all the hours of work erased, but mostly sad that he was gauging first if this was a bad day.

He thought she was still mourning. She let him.

His smile went brighter and he strode over and kissed her cheek. "Hinata is expecting you at the funeral. She said there's something important she needs to talk to you about."

Her nerve endings were apathetic to him touching her. Had she lost too much to feel again? Was it the Kyuubi's anger bleaching her out?

Sakura didn't know and she wouldn't have an answer until the Kyuubi was out of her or she was dead.

Naruto kissed her softly. She broke away to get ready for the funeral

**Unknown Location**

Footfalls echoed through the trees, a single figure in a cloak flitting through rain and shade.

The figure paid no heed to the sound of slithering as the grass around them was flattened by an unseen force. With a swift movement the figure threw his hood back, revealing dark red hair and sea green eyes.

Sabaku no Gaara continued moving, sand flowing out around him like water through the grass. His gaze was hard.

He wasn't startled when a scream rang out, torturously high and ragged. Gaara just smirked and stepped into the clearing filled with bodies. The only living man standing looked up. "You're here."

Gaara answered dryly. "I am. Are you done having your fun yet?" His sand formed beneath his feet so he wouldn't have to walk through the puddles of blood.

Momochi Zabuza let out a feral grin. "What? Disappointed that you missed it?"

Gaara shook his head, amused. "Not in the slightest." His eyes looked around in disinterest. He'd seen better. Hell, he'd _done_ better. "That's beside the point; we're looking for the Akatsuki, not victims for you to…play with."

Zabuza jerked his sword out of a body. His laughter rattled through the clearing. "That's why I have Haku."

As if responding to her name, the undertaker landed nearby. She pulled away her mask and glided over. "Do you require my assistance Zabuza-sama?"

The Mizukage rested his sword across his shoulders. "Status report on our net."

Haku nodded absently. Her eyes went half lidded, irises clouded by concentration. "Two Akatsuki were spotted roughly a month back in Iwa. Lead was followed; due to hostilities with country where the tip came from, the information was neither confirmed nor denied. A strange monster east of fire country was reported to have been destroying boats moving on a large waterway, but this story has long since become obsolete, and no new information has surfaced about this creature. A ninja by the name of Yugito was said to have been captured by two men in black and red robes, but she has since vanished and the village where she was supposedly taken from never sent out any rescue squads."

All three fell into silence. Zabuza cleared his throat. "That it?"

Haku nodded and shrugged. "I'm sorry sir."

The Mizukage considered that and turned. "What about your siblings Sabaku? Have they heard anything?"

Gaara's jaw clicked. "I had to send them back to watch over Suna. They haven't heard much in the way of information even with our spy networks on full alert. They'll send us anything they find through the ANBU."

More silence. Gaara listened to the rain and blood dripping. Sometime soon, the flies would start buzzing.

Haku's eyes lit. "There is one thing I heard recently in a trading port. There have been rumors of a new religion in Amegakure after their civil war, stories about some kind of angel doing the will of a new god. We haven't yet investigated either way, but…"

Gaara arched a nonexistent eyebrow. "But what? It's not uncommon for these religions to crop up anywhere there was violence recently. People are known to cling to divinity when there's nothing holy in their lives."

The rain on the ground frosted. "I know that." Her tongue was as sharp as ice and even her eyelashes had frozen. "The rumors say the angel had wings and hair the color of the sky, and that she ruled a night sky bloody."

Gaara swallowed. "A night sky bloody."

She nodded imperiously. "Yes."

Zabuza smirked. "A bloody sky, sounds like those cloaks they like to wear, doesn't it?"

Gaara, the leash on his crazier comrade, nodded his approval. "It's worth a look."

The Mizukage slung his sword on his back. "We have ANBU squads meeting with us in three days, we'll send one group back to the your village so they can pass this on to Konoha. If this amounts to anything we'll send the second squad back for reinforcements."

Former jinchuuriki Sabaku no Gaara, stepped into the bloody field. "Then let's head to Amegakure to hunt."

**Aburame Compound, 5:45 PM**

They stood together under the overhang of the house, the wooden floorboards cool under their feet. One woman stood in the darkness of the house, a shadow standing among shadows. The second woman stood in the pale grey light from outside, even dressed in black ethereal as the moon.

Hyuga Hinata folded her hands together, pulling the black sleeves of her kimono down.

Sakura and leaned against the wall dazedly. "You're serious?"

Hinata looked rather amused, if a touch embarrassed. "Yes, we decided it would be for the best to do it soon. We might not be alive next week and our clan needs a celebration to know they're still strong." Her gaze darkened. "Things aren't going to get any easier, the Aburame need a moral boost now more than ever."

Sakura just grinned and stepped into the light to hug her friend. She lifted Hinata from the floor and the girl laughed. When the jinchuuriki set her back down, both were grinning. "Hinata that's the best fucking news I've heard in weeks. Actually getting married to Shino? You don't need to justify it to me."

Hinata, neck and chest flushed, quickly straightened her kimono before anyone saw. "It's in three weeks. I want you to be there."

Sakura kissed her cheek. "Of course I'll be there, I wouldn't miss it for anything."

Hinata clasped their hands together and their foreheads rested against each other. For a second it might have looked like they were praying. "Thank you for everything you've done for us Sakura."

"You did more for me." Sakura raised her eyes and for the first time since the seal warped, she felt unrestrained love flooding her body.

Maybe it was because the Kyuubi just didn't care for Hinata one way or another, but Sakura could _feel_. It wouldn't last, but Sakura was so glad this wedding was going to happen before the deadline on the seal dropped the curtain.

Hinata squeezed her hands, smiled brilliantly, and moved away. "I'll see you after the funeral."

Sakura nodded and watched her go. When her friend was gone she pressed a hand over her forehead and right eye. Her smile distorted. "Humans. How fucking sad."

Her hand flinched away and she stared at it like it was diseased. Her heart clenched and suddenly there wasn't enough air to breathe. "W-what? That wasn't…I couldn't…the Kyuubi…"

Suddenly she was on her knees and on the grass and in the rain. The blackout was fast.

"That wasn't the Kyuubi speaking," Her stomach was burning. "That was _me_."

The slippery slope was getting slicker. Insanity was waiting at the bottom and Sakura feared she'd get there before someone could stop her.

She clenched her fist so tightly her palm bled. Everything around her felt alien and strange like she didn't belong and she fucking _hated it_. Her life was distorting around her and she was cracking under the pressure, and no one could possibly know.

Know she was terminal. Know she was going insane.

_What did you do?_The Kyuubi touched her, mind and soul, and this time the scorching of it only felt warm.

"I'm sorry." She wrapped her arms around her legs and tucked her head to her knees "I'm sorry. I don't think I'm going to last another month."

He gripped her tight. _Suck it up._The Kyuubi was not one for comfort._ It's only going to get worse and if a little bout of disassociation scares you, you won't be able to handle what's coming._

The Kyuubi was right. She got to her feet and forced her face up into the rain. The cold stung her. "Fuck this."

_That's the spirit. _Claws dug in her back and he was back to riding up high. _I'll be here until it all ends. _

There was no escaping him

She didn't want to escape.

**Amegakure, Unknown Location**

Water dripped down from the stone ceiling, falling into a puddle and spreading a whisper of ripples along it. A statue hung in silence, its bound hands still outstretched in a prayer unanswered. Its face was blindfolded and its mouth bound shut. Eight of its nine eyes were open, each of them glowing with a sickly light.

The ninth stayed closed. Soon though it would open and burn red.

From the gloom surrounding the statue figures made their way forward, moving to stand in a circle that had grown smaller. Now they were only six, all in the flesh before one another for the first time in ten years.

A man with a triple bladed scythe strapped to his back spoke first. "So what's the occasion? Jashin willing we should actually see each other's pretty faces for once."

A woman with a paper flower in her hair turned to him. Her thin face was brutally cold. "Be silent Hidan."

Hidan sneered but didn't say another word. Instead the man standing to his right, mask on his mouth and a headband cloth covering his head, spoke. "Any time would be good now, there's no money in wasted hours Konan." His eyes were a sickened, bloodshot green.

Konan, hair blue and a paper flower woven in it, shifted closer to a man with orange hair and piercings decorating his face. His voice stilled them all. "The time has come."

There was immediate silence.

Uchiha Itachi looked at the man with orange hair. "We'll finally seek out the Kyuubi's host for good then, Pein?"

The one called Pein shook his head. "No, we won't hunt her any longer." His eyes rose to the ceiling as if he could _see_. "She'll come to us very soon."

Itachi raised his eyebrows, it was about as much expression as he could muster. Kisame seethed. "And how's that? She's been hiding behind that Hokage's skirts for years, what the hell makes you think that Tsunade will let her out?"

Pein's lips, blade thin, smirked harsh. "Prey will only run for so long. Konoha has been seeking to wipe us out and they've sent their dogs searching. Let them find us, and when they send executioners to finish the job there are very few ninja they can send. And one of the few is _her_."

Hidan looked nastily curious, like a man who loved something wiggling and dying right in front of him. "And what if she doesn't come, then what?"

It was Konan who answered. "We abandon this place and set the trap again, she'll come like a moth to the flame. Something like her will not run forever."

Hidan and Kakuzu shared a glance. They exchanged a nod and said no more.

"Do you need me to restrain her?" Itachi asked. Frost crept in his words and it crawled over them slick. It felt like blood in oil.

Pein frowned. "I'll take her to the end myself." His gaze rose to the vast, twisted statue above them. For a moment all eyes were on its ghastly visage. Pein continued. "All of you will distract those that come with her, leave the jinchuuriki to me."

Itachi shifted back, the rustling like the feathers of a crow.

Pein looked to them all, weighing them. Water dripped from the ceiling and it was the only thing to mark how long they waited.

"Hand me your rings." His hand reached out, a god demanding obedience from his subjects. The five other rings were given over.

He didn't offer a reason.

One by one the Akatsuki members withdrew to wait for the coming storm. Pein and Itachi were the last left.

The leader observed him. "You always were a curious one, Uchiha Itachi."

Itachi just gazed at him with blank eyes. "I have no idea what you're implying."

"I suppose it doesn't matter." Pein looked up again to that thing only he could see beyond these walls. "It will all be over soon. Even war will end."

He left Itachi alone in the cavern.

The Uchiha looked to the statue one last time. "Hurry up little devil."

A drop fell. The cavern was empty.

**Hokage Tower, Four Days Later, 8:00 PM**

"Are you certain this is the place?" Jiraiya asked and traced the map on the desk.

Tsunade spread her hands. "It's the best intel we've had since we started looking. And by Zabuza's report, and I quote: _We've been sitting in the rain for the last three fucking days since we got here, and we've seen at least four Akatsuki members coming and leaving. This is it. Either send your squad or we're going to start blowing shit up without you._ End quote."

Jiraiya replied dryly. "An eloquent one, the Mizukage."

Tsunade chuckled. "It makes sense; Amegakure has been in disarray since their leadership was assassinated a decade back. If there was one place a rogue organization wanted to hide without being noticed, Ame would be it. According to the Kazekage they've even sprouted a kind of religious following among the villagers. Clever, extremely clever."

Jiraiya nodded slowly, something malicious glowing brighter in his eyes. "It looks like we've finally found them. So who are you sending in my squad bedsides me?"

Tsunade gave a coy and dangerous-as-hell smile. "The rest of _our _squad will be here shortly."

His jaw dropped. "You're fucking with me. The Hokage can't just go—"

The door opened and Sakura's dark head of hair popped in. "You called milady?"

"I did. Come in." Tsunade waved her over. Sakura came in followed by Naruto and Sasuke. The jinchuuriki seemed a bit jittery and her movements were strange like she wasn't put together right. Jiraiya immediately didn't like it.

Sasuke was giving her plenty of space but Naruto was hovering like she was a step away from shattering across the floor.

They took a seat on the couch. Naruto asked. "Why did you call us?"

Tsunade answered. "We found the Akatsuki." All three jonin went from edgy to grinning in a flat second. Sakura looked particularly pleased by this development.

"You're serious?" Sasuke asked.

"Dead serious." Tsunade folded her hands and immediately briefed them of the situation.

Naruto could barely sit still and began tapping his fingers on his knees. Sasuke on the other hand, became as still as a statue. Sakura just grew pensive, gaze drawing inward and her eyes going dark.

"…we'll leave at dawn tomorrow, between Jiraiya and I and Squad Seven we can—" Tsunade never got to finish.

"You can't be serious, the village needs you here not risking your neck out in the backwaters of Amegakure!" Jiraiya snapped.

Naruto looked at Jiraiya as if he had grown a second head. "Uh, sensei? I don't think…"

Sasuke tilted his head and glanced over at Naruto. Naruto was slightly behind Jiraiya. The Uchiha spoke. "Duck."

Naruto's eyes widened. "Damn." He dropped down just in time to avoice the flight-path of Tsunade's fist into Jiraiya's jaw.

His head snapped back and the Sanin let out a pitiful moan. "That's cruel Hime."

Tsunade kept talking like nothing just happened. "Hopefully we'll be joined up with the Kazekage and Mizukage's group in a few days time. From there we can infiltrate the base and begin taking out the members one by one."

"They'll know we're coming." Sakura murmured.

All motion in the room grinded to a halt.

Tsunade opened and closed her mouth a few times. "What?"

Sakura looked up, embarrassed. "Do you still have those rings?"

The Hokage's eyes widened in understanding and she got up from her desk and disappeared into another room. She reappeared with a thin chain with three rings strung on it.

The second they came within Sakura they began to vibrate. Jiriaya and Naruto startled and then gasped when they saw what was under the veneer. Sasuke flinched away from them. "The fuck?"

Sakura took them an added a fourth to the chain. Orochimaru's old ring. She slammed them on the desk.

She relayed brusquely. "All Akatsuki posses these rings. Their capabilities mean they can sense other rings and jinchuuriki. They have a way to find me anywhere at their fingertips, literally."

"Sakura what…where did you?" Naruto couldn't form a coherent question.

She held up a hand. "There was something weird about them and I took them off corpses. The main problem here is Akatsuki will feel me coming and then they'll have Itachi out to subdue me."

Sasuke snarled. "I'll kill him before he gets the chance."

Sakura smiled faintly but it left just as fast. Tsunade frowned. "Maybe you're not the right choice for this mission."

Sakura flicked a strand of hair out of her eyes, nails already claws. "No I am, the number of people you have that can kill S-class ninja are in this room . If I don't go you'll be outnumbered. I only need you to keep Itachi off my back, not babysit me." Her head titled and her eyes went wide. "Tell me, do you know how bloodlines came to be?"

The blonde blinked, off put but the non sequitur. "What does this have to do with Itachi compromising your ability to fight?"

Sakura rested against the back of her chair, green eyes steady and devoid of light. "To help you understand what he can do and that I can avoid it if needed. So tell me."

Tsunade's mouth pulled tight, irritation working under her jaw. "They're created in one of three basic ways. Either by the meeting of two separate bloodlines will form a new mutation, random genetic variation generates new bloodlines from environmental influences, orevolutionary needs produce one using pre-existing genetic underlies."

Sakura nodded sharply. "That is right, though I don't think I phrased my question for the answer I wanted. Do you know how the first bloodline was created?"

Jiraiya's eyes widened and Tsunade surged to her feet. "That's absurd! No one, and I mean _no one_ knows how bloodlines came to be. The first must have come hundreds if not thousands of years ago!"

Sakura bent her head. "And I play host to a being who has existed before humanity was even a creature in the muck."

That brought the room still.

Tsunade paled and slumped back into her chair. "The demon told you how bloodlines came to be?"

Before Sakura could answer, Naruto grabbed her shoulder and pulled her around. "Has that thing been harassing you again?"

She felt a surge of the Kyuubi's fury and suddenly reality was spinning out. She hissed. "Of course I've been talking to him, do you think I'm stupid enough to let that opportunity go?"

Naruto released her as if burned.

No one else had heard. She swallowed and tried to keep her equilibrium before the Kyuubi jumped in or she lost it.

Of _course _she'd been talking to the demon _in her fucking skull_, it was hard not to. Idiot.

"The Kyuubi and I have been chatting off and on my entire life sometimes he likes to share. I think he's amused by flabbergasting me."

_You think too much of yourself. T_he Kyuubi chiming in was ignored and she returned her gaze to Tsunade. "Yes he told me. I confirmed what was said with outside sources, if that's any consolation."

Jiraiya was the first to recover his power of speech. "How?"

Sakura interlocked her fingers. "This was long before the hidden villages and back when humanity was scattered. Humans survived in great families, through alliances, marriages, and new generations. They sought advantages by any means and this was how the first summoning contracts were made."

There was only silence and Sakura took this as a signal to continue. "You may not be aware, but all summons are demons of some form."

She paused to shoot a glare. "The toad contract as well, don't give me that look you two!"

Naruto and Jiraiya wilted.

She cleared her throat. "Anyways, back then demons were in an already long standing order ruled by the Kings. Demons were in a period of…let's say peace for sanity's sake, and there was little bloodshed that could be done in Hell. In order to stop restlessness the Kings turned to the human world as a pressure valve."

Everyone except Sasuke looked at her in slowly growing realization. But that's was just the being blind part, she otherwise had his full attention.

She picked at her sleeve. "Now you should understand that only the most powerful demons could move between Hell and here on their own, which coincidentally is why humans call the bad part of the afterlife hell. We don't actually die and go _there_ mind you, but I digress. The Kings moved into the human world and offered different families summoning contracts so their subjects could come over here to sate their blood lusts. As long as humans gave chakra to pay passage between, demons were free to answer the call."

Sasuke raised an eyebrow. "What happened in the human world stayed in the human world?"

Sakura gave a pleased smile. "Precisely."

Naruto snorted.

She kept speaking. "But this only worked for a few hundred years, humans became…jealous of demon's powers. Now I'm a little hazy on this and even the Kyuubi doesn't know how it came about, but humans took demon power into themselves. There were stories that shape shifting demons had children with human women, others say that someone learned how to trap a demon permanently in this world and then devoured their blood and flesh. Personally, I think the most likely answer was crude sealing, but the point is children were suddenly being born with unnatural gifts. Of course once it worked…human's kept doing it. Bloodlines descended from demons into us."

"My god." Tsunade brought a hand to her face. Jiraiya looked sick and was muttering an impressive blue streak.

Naruto asked in morbid fascination. "What happened next?"

Everything in her darkened. "The demons found out. They committed genocide but by that point humanity was too vast to be wiped out. Almost all summoning contacts were destroyed or hidden away; the contract I use was buried deep under a temple was once used to worship the Kyuubi himself. Summonings now are only a fraction of what they once were. Some demons even killed their Kings to side with humans, those are the contracts that remain. When all was said and done the nine remaining Kings promised that every time humans tried to kill a demon, they would renter the world and destroy in their path. It is…a point of pride for them."

The Kyuubi was laughing in her head, malevolent glee echoing on all sides. Sakura was flooded by his amusement and fought hard not to smile.

Everyone else just shuddered.

Tsunade made the connection first. "Then the Kyuubi, he attacked Konoha because…"

The demon's mirth immediately died away.

Everything inside her went just as cold.

"He attacked Konoha because of a woman named Hyuga Madara."

Sasuke jumped slightly at the name, knuckles white. "But Madara was a he, an Uchiha."

Sakura shushed him. "Hyuga Madara was born a few decades before the creation of Konohagakure. When she was born many clans were debating whether to join forces and create a unified village. You'd know these names: Hyuga, Aburame, Uchiha, Yamanka, Nara, Akimichi."

No one yet knew where she was going with this and there were no more interruptions.

"The Hyuga were the most powerful and the only ones with a true bloodline then. The Aburame had their bugs, the Yamanaka their mind tricks, and the Nara and their shadow play. They were techniques but there was nothing inherent in order to learn them. Even the Uchiha were coming into their own using a mixture of superior teaching to their children and their unique fighting style of partnering up one person with fire affinity and the other person with wind affinity. I think that's why the Uchiha's clan symbol is a fan, but I'm getting off track again."

Everyone knew of the Uchiha Sharingan and here she'd said there was none. Sasuke seemed to know what was coming but everyone else was in the dark.

She wouldn't leave them there. "The Hyuga wanted an edge to strengthen their bloodline and they resorted to...unspeakable means."

Jiraiya choked. "So they did something forbidden."

She nodded morosely. "They did. The Hyuga tracked down a summoning contract for lesser demons and went to work. They would have liked to use a man to try for instant power, but that method has always brought mediocre results. If the process doesn't kill the man then the new power usually ate him alive. Initial generations are extremely unstable if one isn't born with it. So they used a woman instead in the hope she would have children before the village was completed."

Before her eyes she saw those buried records. "And Hyuga Madara was chosen. She was young, barely in her teens. Unwed, relatively skilled, I guess they thought her the perfect subject. But their method was flawed."

She could practically smell the blood. "They sealed the demon within her but almost immediately she went out of control and killed those at the sealing. By the time she regained her senses she must have known the Hyuga would execute her, so she fled to the those who could protect her, those who despised her family."

"The Uchiha." Sasuke breathed.

Sakura could only give a thin smile. "They welcomed her with open arms and gave her a palce in their family. The sealing must have left something within her, a hunger for power. After that she stole the summoning scroll from the Hyuga and used it to summon more demons to seal within herself. Accounts from the Uchiha head at that time say she fell into an obsession for more and more demonic chakra. She used the Uchiha to find her more powerful summoning scrolls. Eventually when those weren't enough to sate her, she found the contract of the demon foxes."

The horror of their past was becoming clear. No one even breathed.

Her voice dropped an octave. "From all the demons sealed in her she gained a special chakra, one that allowed her to suppress all kinds of demonic chakra. But in the end the Kyuubi could simply pour out more power before she was ready and he annihilated her in that temple. He devoured even her soul. She was…pregnant. The Uchiha that survived managed to save the child. They named the boy after his mother and he is the one we all know today as Uchiha Madara. He was born with Sharingan eyes and inherited his mother's suppression chakra. He inherited her insanity as well. I dare say the genetics of power and obsession go hand in hand in that family."

Sasuke sat and stared at her in openmouthed shock. His clan's history had been laid out in brutal clarity.

No one else seemed ready to speak coherently, so Sakura decided to wrap things up. "We all know what happened after that: founder of Konoha and betraying the First Hokage in a fit of jealousy. His life passed without seeing the repercussions of his mother. Time moves strangely between here and there, but in Hell the Kings decided they'd fill their promise. The Kyuubi came last into the world and he came here, to the home of Madara's children. It was the fulfilling of an ancient promise, that day sixteen years ago, to kill us for Madara's crime."

Everyone was silent when she finished, absorbing the bombshell in their own way.

Sakura closed her eyes and waited.

_The immortals fell complacent. _The Kyuubi sounded weary. _ We underestimated what sheer guile mortals had to live. The last time we were in the world you humans possessed no seals that could trap Kings._

Her thoughts unfurled into a horrifying tapestry. _Humans lived but a blink of an eye. Too many generations passed. They changed, they evolved. We should have seen… _

She grimaced and brought a hand to her forehead. _I hate having your memories burrowing in my head._

He scoffed. _Try having yours, you incessant twit._

Her lips quirked.

Tsunade finally responded. "That's why you're so worried about Itachi. His bloodline is built to suppress your chakra."

Sakura nodded. "And I'm addicted to it now. If Itachi suppresses my chakra for more than a few minutes I'll die from withdrawal. But it requires contact and I can outrun him. It takes a Sharingan to form and be utilized, so if I pluck out those eyes…"

Sasuke stiffened. "I don't have that chakra, do I?"

"No." She didn't feel sorry for that. "So I apologize if you felt inclined to murder me."

Naruto grabbed her shoulder and then Sasuke did too. Their warmth made her feel whole, like she was how she used to be. If only.

Sasuke's voice was a rasp. "I'll fight Itachi."

Naruto gave a sure nod. "I'll be with you Sakura; I won't let him come near you."

She placed her hands on theirs and smiled. "Thank you."

_How do you love something that bends to your will so easily? _The Kyuubi asked.

She felt herself wilt. _They follow me because they love me._

_Don't kid yourself. _And he shoved up memories of her childhood in all their wretched glory. _I know how you picked them, how you molded them, how you used them and lie to them even now. Would that Uchiha love you if he knew what blood of his kin is on your hands? _He got closer and it felt like his teeth were in her neck. _Would that lover of yours stay loyal if he knew who you truly served?_

She felt a vicious chill take her. _I know how I feel for them, and as long as they don't have the truth…_

_If the mood struck you could have them kill one another. _He paused for a brutal moment. _And all that trust is built on a lie._

Her breath caught in her throat.

_I am the only one that knows you, my darling. _His caress of chakra was a mockery. _ And I will be the only one to see all of you and not be horrified._

Her lips pulled tight. _What's the point of this?_

He sunk his poison in. _You built your world on a house of cards. You being mine is the only real thing you ever had. _

She spat back_. You once had a throne, billions of followers, thousands of servants, and demons willing to throw themselves off cliffs at your words. You had human worship and a kingdom that stretched continents. And now the only thing you have is **me**._

If they were anywhere else, it would have probably turned ugly. But constrained by the people around it could only happen quietly.

He answered simply. _You are a poor substitute._

Secretly, she'd wished he would have said she'd been worth it.

Even though she knew she wasn't.

Naruto glanced at her and held her hand tight. She forced a smile back but it was all a lie. Just like everything else.

**Apartment Complex, 1:37 AM**

Sakura stared in the mirror unable to sleep.

For the first time in sixteen years it had finally happened. Sakura had a dream. An honest to god _dream_.

It had been of a tree on fire and a girl screaming, but still, a dream was a dream. It wasn't something artificially manufactured or somebody's memory or a lucid daydream. The seal had let her and it was _hers_.

It was the most concrete sign that Sakura had that she was a step away from insanity.

So here she was after waking (and nearly screaming) locked in bathroom trying to pull herself together. She stared at her naked body in the mirror and at the seal outlined on her stomach. Even in the constrained dimension of her skin, Sakura could see the wrongness of it.

Her eyes shifted to her left arm and the ink black fox tattooed there. Her blood seal and pact with the Kyuubi from all those years ago. She wished she could go back to the days where that'd been the only thing binding them into death.

She touched it, fingers tracing, no longer with the reverence she had treated it with as a child. She didn't conceal it anymore.

All of her friends long assumed she'd gone weird after learning of being a jinchuuriki and gotten a tattoo. Jiraiya and Tsunade just thought it was another way for her to flaunt her status. Naruto still suffered under the impression someone had tricked her into getting it as a child.

Sakura was just tired of hiding it.

And it would never be fulfilled now. This blood seal would die with them.

Naruto slept on just a door away, peacefully oblivious to her world slowly ending.

She sank to her knees, shaking, and gripped the sink. Something ragged was building in the back of her throat and her breath hitched. Then she sank deeper and found herself kneeling before the seal.

It no longer even trying to keep the illusion of a gate. Lines of binding and concentric seals circled and equations torn into reality, orbited it like a dying star. Sakura looked down and found her stomach bleeding in the original design.

The blood was then dragged away and under the seal into a morass. That morass was getting deeper. Pieces of her skin were being sheared off in the gravity of it too.

From the darkness behind it, blood and fur and black ichor was being taken in.

Her gaze went up to find the Kyuubi's eyes. She just knelt there, naked. "We're not going to break this, are we?"

There was no derision this time in return, no order to do or die. There were only eons upon eons in those eyes, stretching back to a time before the sky of this world had even formed.

To die mashed into such a being was not the worst end.

He lowered himself to the floor and she crawled over, skirting the tiny universe dying inside them. It looked like a galaxy now, with tiny stars of chakra and the dust of themselves and the constellations of seals, and all snared in the gravity of a black hole that led to nothing.

There was nothing separating them and she sat beside his head, one of his tails behind her.

It hurt her to know that all of his knowledge, all of those millennia accumulated, would be lost smashed up on her. The thought of that was loosed tears.

A few were ripped from her face and into the seal.

"We're not dead yet." He said and it rumbled in the floor.

This close to him put his words into her bones. "No we aren't." And she looked at the source of their end. "But we will be."

Eons rolled over her, passing faster than her neurons could fire, written in her deeper than she could ever read.

"We'll end felled on our own sword." He stated bitterly. The demon's head was laid down and his eyes half lidded. The chaos of the seal was reflected in his eyes.

"If we hadn't tried to break it none of this would have happened." She echoed.

He snorted. "Then I would have died with you later anyways."

She smiled a little. "True."

Another eternity passed.

"Kyuubi?"

He didn't even reprimand her for the lack of _sama_. "What?"

Something horrible built inside her. "If we live through the Akatsuki and get back here, let's burn it all down before the lights go out."

It stung knowing their plan that had spanned a decade would come to naught. But maybe this way they could have a messier form of it. A consolation prize of sorts.

His tail stroked her neck. "Now that's _my_ girl."

She leaned into the caress, letting time slide past unchecked.

He looked at her, eyes closer than they had ever been. He saw everything and _everything_ in her. Body, soul, mind, and memory. All the wretchedness and all the beauty.

The tail rested on her head like he was going to bless her. "I said you were a poor substitute."

That still stung.

"I knew billions of beings; I knew more souls than you could count of the stars in heaven." Their blood was dragged away in this slow motion murder, and his pooled under her as it passed. He gave a wry grin. "If I could have picked who would sit with me and die, it'd still be you."

That was better than false assurances she was worth this. In fact, it was the best thing she'd heard because it was _real_.

Those words were more than enough for her to go on.

But tonight, at least, they sat and watched themselves dying.

**Apartment Complex, 6:40 AM**

She glanced at the kunai laid across the low table, her knees digging into the stiff cushions on the couch. Hanabi shifted a few times. The couch was new, one of many things replaced after she'd torn apart the apartment fighting with Kabuto.

She ran her finger along the glass beneath the weapons, debating with herself between the small throwing ones or the heavier kunai used for hand-to-hand. She picked up two lighter kunai to test the weight, and she spun them around her fingers in opposite directions to get a feel.

A male voice called from the bedroom. "Are you finished equipping that pack yet?"

She stopped spinning the kunai. "I can't choose between the light and heavy, this is your pack, what do you want?"

Sasuke stepped out into the hallway, fiddling with his belt as he walked into another room to find his scythe. He was shirtless and barefoot, and for a moment Hanabi couldn't register his reply over her fascination with watching .

"Ten light, five heavy, another ten light under that."

She nodded and quickly looked back down at the table. This time when he walked past again she didn't tempt herself by looking up.

As she sorted the kunai into their correct spots among the shuriken, exploding tags, and wire, she heard his muffled voice again. "Do you know where my armored vest is? I think it's black, we got it at that small specialty store a month ago."

She bit her lip and made a quick peek with her byakugan at the closet. "Third shelf to the far right, under that one silk dress Sakura gave me."

There was the sound of fabric shifting, and when he didn't ask again she assumed he'd found it.

"Thanks."

She smiled.

The pack was finished and set it to the side and sprawled across the couch. Sasuke came back out a minutes later with his headband in hand and fully clothed. His head shifted down towards her pointedly and she got the message and moved to make room.

He immediately sat and moved to double check the pack.

"This couch is uncomfortable." She told him.

He turned a bit and that gave her the opportunity to memorize every line of his face and shoulders. Maybe she could burn it into her mind's eye so she'd never forget.

He sounded unimpressed. "Why are you even complaining? You've been sleeping in my bed since we got back."

There was that. No going back to the couch for her, now that she was his _girlfriend._ Just thinking the word still made her feel giddy.

And now she had the excuse to kiss him when she wanted. Which was right about…now.

She leaned over, slid in his lap, and pressed her lips to his. He took the distraction in stride and put a hand on the small of her back.

In the back of her mind fear lurked. Sasuke hadn't tried to hide where this mission was taking him.

Akatsuki.

Itachi.

She had known fear plenty of times, but never for someone beyond herself. Sasuke had always seemed…indestructible somehow, like nothing could touch him. But she was afraid now; terrified that this would be the last time she would ever see him alive.

She needed every moment, needed every detail to memorize. She wanted to keep him here always but knew she couldn't, so she had to make do with what could be had.

It wasn't much.

They stopped kissing and she dabbed at her eyes before tears could start. A hand entwined in her hair and he didn't say anything. Instead he wrapped his hand around the side of her head and pulled her against him.

Sasuke leaned back against the couch and pulled her so she was leaning on his chest.

She was so tiny, fragile, maybe even doll like compared to him. Right now her feet barely brushed his knees. And holding her like he was, was so careful it was like she would break in his arms easy as glass.

"I wish I could have seen you." He said suddenly.

That was what made her cry, if silently.

He changed the subject uncomfortably. "Do you remember where you need to go?"

Her voice came out surprisingly calm. "I'm staying in the Hokage's private apartments at the Tower. I can only talk with Shizune because she'll be impersonating Tsunade while she's gone. Did I miss anything?"

He smiled fondly. "No."

She sighed and allowed Sasuke to lift her and set her on the floor. He picked up his pack and swung it over his shoulders, and then put his scythe over his back and adjusted it so it wouldn't jolt around while he moved.

With his headband still in his hands he walked into the kitchen. Hanabi followed a few steps behind with her own bag.

He opened the window with one hand and she climbed onto the sill to the edge. She looked down: she had nearly fallen to her death from here. That was a secret she'd always keep. For some reason nothing about that bothered her.

Hanabi looked up at Sasuke, because despite sitting on the window sill, she was_ still_ a head and some shorter than him.

The sun was rising. She spoke. "When you get back I get you to myself."

His fingertips just brushed along her face and her head tipped back to his touch as he leaned forward. His lips pressed against hers and everything rushed at her.

He leaned back and took a deep breath when it was done. She hoped this was all the reason he needed to come back.

It was something he would have that his brother wouldn't ever get: a life beyond power, happiness that didn't hinge on pain or death.

She gripped the front of his shirt and held on for one more moment. "Come back."

The sun rising looked like blood. Red sky at morning, men take warning.

He answered solemn. "I will."

**Departure Coordinates, Konoha**

"About time you got here." Naruto said slyly.

Sasuke dropped down from the trees and joined their small group, scowling.

Sakura swiftly and brutally smacked her boyfriend upside the head. He whined at her, she ignored it.

A strange sort of calm had settled on her. Akatsuki was one of things she wanted to see burn before her world ended. And she wanted to get this started.

"All here milady, are we clear?" She asked

Tsunade tilted her head and looked above the trees. "In a moment, as soon as the signal comes we'll move. We're all little short handed with the missions running to keep Kumo and Iwa in line. That, and the Oto hunting going on. We need to leave here unseen, so it'll take a little time for my ANBU to comb the area clear."

It was nice to know those mission had worked. Iwa was seriously freaking out and without Orochimaru, Oto was falling into little pieces that were getting swept up by their ANBU.

Kumo had made the unfortunate mistake of assuming her and Sasuke's jaunt in and out of the country had been the explosives squad leaving. They'd hardened up on the border and that'd given free reign to Shikamaru's squad to raise all holy hell deep in the country. By the time the squad got back to Konoha, Kumo's logistical abilities had been crippled.

War seemed temporarily on hold unless something drastic happened in the next few months. And the killing of Akatsuki would only elevate their untouchability.

Nearby Jiraiya was busy sulking. His attempted toad summoning for transportation had failed miserably. All summons were demons, and all demons lived in Hell.

Hell was burning.

Sakura offered none of this and didn't bother trying to summon any foxes to help. She had been severed from them for good, most were so far gone they'd kill her in some insane attempt to free the Kyuubi. (Which would in fact, kill him too.)

A kunai cut through the air above them and then vanished back down. It was time to leave.

The Sanin went first followed by her squad as they fell into line.

Sakura looked ahead to Sasuke and then behind to Naruto. They were all sharing grim expressions, readying themselves for the storm.

It was an end game. No mercy, no weakness, no regrets. She had to force herself to feel only apathy for her waning life. It was the only way she could move forward.

What laid forward was a path long spattered in blood. And her goals were not at the end, but merely things to ease her passing before it went dark.

* * *

Edit: Fixed all the misspelling of Maadra to Madara, and Ino's characterization and coping was shifted slightly.

Next, the first Sakura and Kyuubi scene had Sakura much more aware of the _dying_ part of this mess, and it colors her actions much more here. Also the rewrite gave that whole S/Kyu argument a more, well, sexual undertone to it. The implication that Sakura was kind of masochistic was added in, and al dialogue was completely redone.

Next more basic cleanup to flow better, Sakura's descent into insanity is more fleshed out in the scene with Hinata, Itachi and Pein's short conversation was added in, Sakura's entire bloodline/Madara/lots of stuff explanation was cut down and cleaned up and made shorter. Hopefully more concise too. That scene in the Hokage's office ended with a completely different conversation with the Kyuubi that was more in character for both of them.

The scene in the bathroom with Sakura and the seal is completely new, and last besides streamlining, Hanabi kept POV through her entire scene instead of it randomly switching to Sasuke halfway through.

Last _last _thing, is that this chapter better builds the basis for the shift in the Sakura and Kyuubi relationship as we go forward.


	29. Hubris

The title of the chapter can mean deadly pride, arrogance, conviction, and even courage in some uses. Just to clue everyone in if you don't know and let you puzzle it out yourselves.

And while this is mostly away from cannon I borrowed Kishimoto's Akatsuki and their personalities (except Madara for various reasons, he's dead and staying dead, end of discussion).

**Disclaimer: **In the theory of Occam's Razor as the simplest solution is the most likely, I would have to conclude that Naruto was not created, drawn, or written by me. Occam states that I still don't own it. Logic has one again screwed me over, alas.

* * *

**Amegakure, Three Days Later **

Her feet carried her across rain slicked branches, through damp brush, down steep ledges, and across heavy earth that sucked at her legs and tried to pull her in. Sakura didn't notice, her glazed eyes were barely tracking those moving around her as they picked their way through the forests and cliffs around Amegakure. Anything more would be too much to ask.

Her thoughts were out of control, running in chaotic circles as the wind picked at her clothing as if trying to slow her down. She couldn't stop though; nothing would slow her from reaching the destination waiting for her arrival.

_They have to know we're here, they can feel us coming. They know, they know, they have to know… _The air grated against her throat and rubbed her lungs raw. She knew she was panicking a little but it was easier to ignore.

Dying had a way of putting things in perspective.

As a child she had been fearless, unrelenting, self-confident, and arrogant in the fact that the Kyuubi empowered her. Now that was only a bitter reminder. If her younger self could see her now, Sakura knew how that little girl would laugh inhumanly.

Sakura had walked into enough ambushes to know the feeling: the unease creeping into her gut, the claws of fear caressing her face, the whispered details of how she'd die slow. Fear had been unfamiliar after the age of five, but now it stood with her every moment that she breathed, reminding her that the clock was ticking and the seal was tightening its grip. And here she was running headlong to Akatsuki in some kind of dying vendetta.

She took a gulp of cold air to try and clear her head. It worked for a moment; she could make out Naruto to her right, Sasuke on her left, Gaara was towards the back, Zabuza and Haku leading the way, and Tsunade and Jiraiya keeping up pace in the center of the group. The clarity slipped away, plunging her back on the edge of that dark pool of dread.

She had to remind herself again of the fact thar she was _already dying._

Sakura was glad for a moment that she and the Kyuubi's thoughts were slightly out of sync; it wasn't hard to imagine the kinds of insults he'd be hurling right about now. No, she could feel his jitteriness. Her unease was affecting him as well. Good, they could suffer through this insanity together. The son of a bitch deserved it.

Haku made a signal for pause and Sakura slowed and melted against a tree. The wooded scent filled her nostrils as she glanced around. The steady rain made visibility difficult at best and she could feel the cold of it dripping from the nape of her neck and down her back. She hated the rain sometimes, it may have cleaned the blood from some of her messier missions, but for this one it didn't matter. She could rip someone's body apart and scatter it across a square mile for the world to see and no one would bat an eye.

It brought smile to her face, maybe she'd do just that, it'd certainly make her feel better.

Haku signaled for them to converge forward and Sakura dropped from the tree and hit the ground in a crouch. She landed too fast and rolled once to regain her balance.

She came back up feeling the wet dirt clinging to her hair and vest. She twitched and rubbed the caked mud off.

Naruto hissed up to her. "Are you coming?"

She nodded absently and quickly made her way down to the group. The trip had not been bad all things considered. Her and her demonic passenger had only switched who was in the driver's seat twice and the Kyuubi had taken it in stride, she'd dissociated three times, blacked out a couple times but came to while still running, and only forgot her name once during that little episode while crossing Grass country.

Haku made a wide motion with her hands to the valley beneath them. It was filled with hundreds of spires of forsaken buildings, long since deserted by their inhabitants after the civil war that had put Akatsuki in power.

Sakura forced herself to pay attention to Haku instead of her rapidly deteriorating psyche.

The other woman's voice came out in a whisper. "It's down there a ways to the south. We can't tell exactly where the base is, but the water flow around here is odd. A lot of places in Ame are specially made to regulate all the rain to stop flooding. The signs are here that there's…some kind of complex beneath the surface."

Naruto was the first to speak. "What now?"

Zabuza was the next. "Now that everyone decided to show up…" Haku shot him a glare and he grimaced. "Whatever. We can get close and look for a suitable point of entry, happy?"

Haku nodded and pulled her mask down. "Ready?"

Gaara and Sasuke shrugged and everyone else gave an affirmative answer of some kind.

One by one they slipped into the rain, Sakura lingering at the edge of the cliff for a brief moment before stepping off. She plunged down for whatever waited her.

**Akatsuki Base**

Pein looked upwards at the stone ceiling, water dripping from pipes around him. A woman with a crown of blue hair froze, and turned to look back at him . "She comes then Pein?"

He raised his hand to the ceiling, the ring on his finger letting out a pulse of chakra. It confirmed all he needed."She comes, the rain says with others are with her. Seven and powerful by the feel of it. They're truly trying to kill us."

Konan merely nodded. "Indeed."

"Send the others to their positions." He turned from her and took a concrete staircase upwards. She nodded to his retreating back.

It would be done by his will.

**One Mile North, Amegakure**

Uzumaki Naruto was not always the most observant person, as his teammates reminded him in the most humiliating ways possible. But even he had noticed Sakura's strange shift in personality.

It had started with the conversations. Sakura had always mumbled under her breath while working, or listed things out loud to keep track. That was normal really, but he had quickly realized one day while Sakura was talking out loud that something strange was going on. She was having a conversation, not just any conversation, but an honest to god two sided conversation _with herself_.

Her face would contort and twist, her hands would move and twitch as if one side was completely independent of the other, her eyes would flash, and her voice would change pitch while she argued with and insulted herself bitterly. It was utterly bizarre and Naruto hadn't known what to do.

He ended up not saying anything, hoping silently that she was still under stress from Anko dying, killing Orochimaru, and having Akatsuki trying to kill her. He would have been completely content to remain in denial but things had escalated from there.

Sometimes when he talked with her she seemed normal, but other times…she was different. Colder, vicious, short-tempered, hateful. While she could be this way at times it had never towards him. The last time she had looked with him at such contempt was when they were children meeting for the first time as genin.

It was weird that the old animosity was a fond memory now.

That was besides the point. The the insults had started sporadically and quickly risen to cutting and spiteful remarks. He had been baffled and hurt, and badgered her afterwaeds to find out what was wrong. But she would only force a smile and try to deny it.

Sometimes he'd catch her staring at him so sadly his chest ached with it, and that was all that probably stopped him from going to Jiraiya or Tsunade.

Naruto's eyes opened, a cold, dank smelling breeze washing over him. He looked down a wide tunnel by his feet, the rain water slipping down the sides into darkness. The shattered grate laid in pieces all around him, Tsunade and Sakura both standing over it. Sensei and student looked pensive.

"That was easy, maybe a bit too much." Tsunade muttered.

Sakura shrugged. "We're here and they know it, might as well not keep them waiting." It took only one step before she vanished from sight. Naruto didn't wait for anymore conversation before leaping in after her.

Immediately he channeled chakra through his feet, balancing himself on the layer of water flowing down the steep sides. The darkness was almost absolute and he caught the barest hint of Sakura's pale arms before she was swallowed by the veil of shadows below.

"Sakura?" He called, for some irrational reason remaining as quiet as possible as if his voice would somehow give them away.

He saw a faint glow of chakra, the crimson light clearing away the void between them. He swallowed. Sakura's eyes were a burning red, the Kyuubi was already riding her hard. This wasn't a good sign, especially since the last time had ended in brain damage.

"What?" Beneath her calm was unease.

He didn't get the chance to answer.

A flicker of dark cloth passed by him. It was Sasuke, and to Naruto's annoyance the other shinobi raised an eyebrow and snorted before walking down the almost vertical tunnel to her. She reached out and brushed the tips of her fingers along his face. He half turned and she asked softly. "Lead the way?"

Sasuke nodded solemnly and Naruto felt irrationally jealous. Sakura seemed to be having a drawn out emotional breakdown and yet she still found it in her to be gentle with _Sasuke_ of all people. She gave the Uchiha the faintest hint of a true smile "Thank you."

It was the first real smile he'd seen in weeks.

He distantly realized the others in their small group were passing him. First was Gaara who immediately fell into step with Sakura, his sand already loose and forming a wispy shield around them both. Zabuza and Haku passed next and Tsunade was right behind. He felt someone grab his shoulder and he glanced back to see Jiraiya. The sage asked. "Something up?"

It would be difficult to explain he thought his girlfriend was quietly flipping out and that he got jealous of her acting half normal with his teammate.

He only shrugged in response. "Not much, we should keep moving."

He pretended not to notice the troubled gaze of a sage following him. Jiraiya couldn't fix this and secretly, Naruto feared he couldn't either.

**Konoha, Training Field 15**

Konohamaru would have to admit if only under duress, that he had the tendency to be easily bored without anything to entertain him. Not saying he disliked his team but his childhood best friends Udon and Moegi were just…dull.

Not stupid, not in the least, but they were just boring to him.

Growing up at the beck, call, and tutelage of jinchuuriki Sakura had made it impossible to be an ordinary genin. She changed the people around her and once he'd had a taste of that life the kiddy genin crap wouldn't compare.

He'd been placed on a genin team with aforementioned friends, under the tutelage of Ebisu who he then made unflattering nicknames about it. His moronic sensei had the gall to take them on D-rank missions and leave them outside a bookstore while he got _reading material_ to pass the time. It was porn, hidden in a magazine.

They were twelve not stupid.

This wasn't the problem; in fact he used his sensei's antics to amuse Sakura during her down time. In turn she would inform him that they had it easy, her old sensei Kakashi had not only gotten porn but have given her squad the money so his genin could go buy it for him. Sakura said it was probably one of a handful of times he taught her something, and that lesson being porn was very hard to come by when you were twelve even in a ninja village.

But he was getting off track. Even though he had practically grown up with his friends, played pranks with them, shared lunches, watched the clouds go by…it wasn't enough to save their friendship. Instead of playing games like he used to he would train and a lot at that, much more than his teammates did.

Sometimes he'd prepare for combat with Sakura when she could spare the time, or with his grandfather which ended up being more theoretical ninjutsu than actual physical battle. On other occasions he would pester his uncle Asuma into helping when the guy wasn't sneaking around sleeping with that pretty jonin Kurenai. And he thought nobody knew about the relationship, idiot.

It had made Konohamaru grow up and fast, and that didn't even count how the Silent Invasion had changed him. After watching men being killed, another being tortured, and facing down Akatsuki at Sakura's side it was hard to go back.

His friends were falling behind him as he advanced by leaps and bounds. He could sometimes feel their animosity and doubly so when he tried to teach them and they simply didn't get it. He would reach high chunin level by the time they finally figured out catching the Fire Lady's cat.

He couldn't identify with them. They griped during Ebisu's ridiculously easy training sessions and all the while there was a war waging right outside the village walls. The world was going to hell and they were still hung up on trying to look cool and figuring out the basic three jutsu.

Udon and Moegi were children and he was not, and that splintered them. He wished he was with Sakura; she treated him like an adult and didn't pull her punches. Maybe it was all of this that had left him so frustrated lately, outside of the fact that Sakura had once again skipped town on a top secret mission.

He got up from the patch of grass he'd been laying on, the multiple kunai that had been hovering over his hands in streams of chakra falling to the ground. The scroll he'd been reading on earth justu was rolled it up and stuck it in his weapons pouch along with the wayward kunai.

He got up and walked away, just as he heard the voice of his sensei. "Where do you think you're going? We're right in the middle of a training session!"

Just to spite the idiot Konohamaru sneered. "Like this is training." The man huffed and began a long scolding that was completely unnecessary if he didn't like talking to a genjutsu at least. The genin wondered when his sensei would notice that he had already slipped away. The record was seven and a half minutes; maybe he'd outdo himself today.

It was childish but his frustration was eating at him. It was either this or killing himself.

He spent the day wandering, though it was more of an observation and tracking exercise. Another Sakura recommendation.

It was during this wandering he heard the drone of a familiar voice, and he quickly leapt into a tree and concealed himself. With a critical eye he watched his uncle Asuma pass underneath his hiding place with two other jonin: Kurenai (secret girlfriend) and the recently returned Kakashi (and all around bastard). It wasn't that he was avoiding his uncle per se, just avoiding the man telling old Sarutobi about Konohamaru playing hooky. That always got him a blistering lecture.

Kakashi had his nose buried in a book, a book that suspiciously looked like the porn his own sensei liked. Freaking peachy.

"Konoha changed a lot hasn't it?" Kakashi asked. The three jonin pausing under the tree he was situated in and Konohamaru silently cursed at them.

Hiding from jonin. Fuck all, this was going to be hard.

He eased his breathing, allowing his heart to slow and his body to go into a half-sleep.

Kurenai glanced at the silver haired ninja. "What do you mean?"

Kakashi sighed and snapped his book closed. "Most of the old leadership is gone or dead, I didn't recognize any of the mission handlers except for two. And everyone else is just..." He trailed off.

Asuma finished the sentence. "Different. It happens man, especially when there's a big regime change. Tsunade's been clearing out the old ranks since she became the fifth. A lot of colleagues and friends lost their spots. Its how things have gone." And he dropped the cigarette he'd been smoking and grounded it.

Kakashi's stance was unsteady. "It's not just that, I already knew what was going on before I…left." That hadn't been what he was going to say. "Everyone seems so uneasy now. The academy classes have been getting smaller and I don't see kids running around like they used to. I can feel the fear in this place and I know it's not just the war that's causing it."

There was a tense silence and Konohamaru twisted around despite himself to get a better look below.

Kurenai was standing slightly away and looking ready to leave. "I don't want to hear any of this; I'll see you both later when you get this idiotic idea out of your heads." She left quickly. Huh, maybe secret girlfriend wouldn't be secret girlfriend much longer.

Kakashi and Asuma shared a dark look. Hatake crossed his arms. "So what is it, what's really going on with Konoha?"

Asuma sighed and pulled a new cigarette to light. After taking a long drag he blew out a stream of smoke. "Things really started changing right after you left. The council in all their infinite wisdom decided to have Sakura caged up in the village to keep an eye on her. They wanted to control her and it backfired spectacularly. Do you know what everyone calls her team cell?"

Kakashi blinked and answered coldly. "Death Squad."

Asuma gazed into the sky, face grim. "Exactly. Every time someone had to die within the village she did it. First the jonin realized it and it passed down the ranks, and eventually even the genin knew she racked up a higher body count in a month than most ANBU could make in a year. Then there's the rumors of her doing wet work _outside _and that's when things went pear shaped."

Konohamaru felt his breath catch.

Asuma kept talking. "The council heard the rumors and tried to restrain her with their lackeys. And the lackies? They disappeared one by one, sometimes legally, sometimes they just vanished, other times…the pieces big enough to find didn't tell much. You don't understand Kakashi, most everyone is terrified of her and this time it's well deserved. The Hokage treats her like a favored child and she's been known to flip out on that demon's chakra with no warning."

Kakashi's voice dropped lower, urgent. "Surely someone could keep her back, attacking anyone in the village without authorization would…"

"Authorization doesn't mean shit to her. She makes friends with the younger children easier than breathing and she's stolen both the Hyuga heiresses and no one made a peep." Asuma grimaced. "There are four, maybe five people in this village that could stand against her right now. From the latest she's sleeping with her teammate Uzumaki, Uchiha Sasuke is her lapdog, Jiraiya-sama has been watching over her since she was a genin, and of course Tsunade wouldn't lay a hand on her. Get a team, yeah you might have a chance, but that bitch isn't known for playing fair."

Kakashi rubbed his visible eye with the heel of his palm. "So Sakura's been raising hell. But why have the ranks changed so drastically?"

Asuma rolled his shoulders, and spoke in a voice that Konohamaru had never heard from him before. It was tired, worn, cold. "Things are changing. Sakura is a key figurehead in the new generation that's coming into power. They're changing the political structure, removing the council, degrading the clans influence, and placing almost all power in the military leadership of the Hokage and their advisors. They're warping our way of life just because…"

His uncle's hands clenched in anger. "Just because that demon dictates it, her generation dances to the tune. The old guard won't let the ways of this village that survived generations be destroyed on that bitch's whim. But with the Godaime on her side our people, _good people_, are being taken from their positions and replaced with younger ninja loyal to Sakura and this ridiculous ideal."

Kakashi shook his head. "It shouldn't have changed this fast. What is anybody doing about this?"

"Not all of us are willing to let the decades of death and suffering endured to make our village be wiped away in a few years." Asuma replied, taking a deep drag of his cigarette and allowing the smoke to curl from his mouth.

"Is that so…?" By now time they'd begun to walk away, leaving Konohamaru on the branch with his mind running.

He allowed his heart rate to speed back up, oxygen flooding his system and sending his chakra into a wild flood to readjust his limbs. With an eased grace he jumped from the tree and landed on the empty sidewalk, the scent of cigarette smoke still heavy in the air.

He wished Sakura was here, she would know how to sort things out and know what to do with conniving threats. But she was probably hundreds of miles away and couldn't stop this.

He sighed and closed his eyes, trying to commit every detail of the conversation to memory for later. He could hold tight until she got back, and when she'd return he'd have exactly the information she needed.

Because Sakura had taught him when something goes wrong, smile like you expected it and have a kunai ready fix the problem.

**Rain Dispersal Tunnels, Amegakure**

The tunnel stretched on; sinking so deep into the earth that frost had begun to form on the walls. Eventually though after what was probably hours, the water flow leveled out and the tunnel ended in a spillway.

Sakura paused, eyebrows rising. The cavern the spillway opened into was massive; it was at least half a mile from the ceiling to the surface of the water and it was so long that she couldn't see the end of it even with her enhanced vision. She eyed the walls. There were hundreds if not thousands of different pipes of various sizes spilling water into the subterranean lake. The only question now was: which one lead upwards to the base?

"Impressive." Gaara muttered. He sounded rather unimpressed.

She let out a short laugh that was far from amused. With a few quick steps she cleared the last yards of the tunnel and jumped the fifty odd feet down to the surface of the lake. Sakura landed with her knees crouched, leaving only a soft ripple of water behind.

The time of doubt and fear and even worry was over. She was dying but that didn't mean she didn't have a job to do.

The rest of the squad followed her down. She looked to Sasuke and he tilted his head back pointedly. From years of working together Sakura took the hint and pulsed her chakra rhythmically, allowing each wave to come back before sending out the next at a slightly different angle. As her chakra was near limitless she could waste some energy on assisting Sasuke in mapping their surroundings.

She could see half a mile in here, but Sasuke could _see miles_ in every direction. It was easy to remember why she kept him around.

He finally nodded and Sakura drew her chakra back into herself.

He spoke sharply. "I have a decent layout of the tunnels on this half of the lake, but none of them are big enough for us to get to whatever's up there. If we're going to find one for us to use, it'll be somewhere farther on."

Sakura let out a breath and turned back to the assembled group waiting on them. "We should be able to find a pathway up, but for now we should probably shed our nonessential gear and eat. We don't need to be weighed down."

Surprisingly there were no objections and the group made their way to a bank of stone just above the water on the cavern wall. They climbed up with little trouble and began pulling out food pills, canteens, and other rations. They all ate uneasily and kept steady watch.

Sakura sat by Gaara. Naruto was distant, likely thrown off by how uneven she was acting. Sasuke was too hyped up to even hold a proper conversation with and she didn't try. The only killer of his clan that he knew of was close by and he was ready to face his brother.

That was Sasuke's fight now and Sakura's no longer. Once upon a time killing Itachi had been a visceral sort of dream, but some dreams had to be let go. It was all Sasuke's now.

Sakura chewed on a food pill, taking peace in what rest there'd be before she went to go stare death in the face. Death was already on her shoulder anyways, might as well look it in the eye.

Gaara nudged her knee with his.

She looked to him. "Yeah?"

He gazed back, sea green eyes unfathomable. "Something's different."

The words took a moment to process, and even then she couldn't make any sense of it. "…I'm sure there's a point in there."

That gaze of his pierced her. "Your chakra is different. You're different."

She closed her eyes and forced down the secret climbing up her throat. _The seal is changing me, twisting me, killing me. I'm terminal_. _No one knows and I can't save myself. I'm gonna die without warning just to keep these secrets._

But she swallowed it down. "Things haven't been easy lately." It tasted sour in her throat.

She looked out over the water and Gaara followed her gaze. Their arms brushed and she wanted to grab him and say goodbye and sob. She couldn't do that either.

"I can't protect you from this." He looked to the rest. "And neither can they."

"I'm sorry." It was all she could offer.

Gaara continued to stare across the water, hand on her knee, offering his support in a way only he could. It was something basic and instinctual about their relationship that went deeper than she could trace. They shared a bond that could only exist between two beings that had lived through the same pain.

She wasn't asking to be saved and he didn't try. That was precious in ways she couldn't voice.

A tiny movement caught her eye and she glanced down to the water rippling. It began to bubble and her mind caught up with a jolt.

"MOVE!" Her yell scattered them and a giant dragon of water reared up and struck. The stone shattered, sending shrapnel of it raining on their heads.

Naruto let out a shout and a breeze stirred into a hurricane, pulverizing the falling rocks into dust.

Sakura barely caught a glance of this. Everyone had jumped to the water and were trying to keep upright as they were nearly lifted off their feet by another dragon rising up and crashing on their heads.

Sakura saw a flash of light and white-hot fire burst up, turning the dragon to superheated steam. That would be Sasuke.

The previously still lake was now boiling and hissing under their feet. Waves rose higher and higher until Sakura couldn't see her comrades or even the cavern. There was a flash of red then silver and then her hands gripped solid flesh. It'd stopped the man's arm from driving a kunai into her eye.

She smiled with teeth like razors. There was no fear, only lust for blood so thick it was nearly arousal. "Hello Itachi."

His face was inches from her. "Hello little devil." His chakra was already clogging her veins.

She shifted her weight down and used the momentum to fling him off her. He turned to smoke as he hit the water. Clone.

She felt a wave of heat and it was the only warning she had. The wave obstructing her vision turned to steam and a surge of black fire roared down on her. She released the chakra from her feet and plunged into the water. It was all that saved her from being burned alive.

Ameterasu. Itachi wasn't playing around.

She could see flares of lights slanting through the water, chakra rolling around her. She could see floats of ice, a sludge of sand, an oil slick in a dark stain, a windstorm churning the water into a whirlpool, and that black flame still burning.

There were more people on the water, at least four that hadn't been there a few seconds ago. Akatsuki had finally come to put an end to her life.

She surged up and broke the surface with a gasp. The black flame chased her as if it was a living thing and desperately wanted to eat her. In one swift move the chakra from her gravity seals released and for the first time in almost three years her body was free to move at full speed.

And she _moved_.

The world blurred and water splashed up in her wake nearly four seconds after she'd already left. She was up and off the lake in seconds, and her feet caught the lip of a tunnel. The black flame was right behind her. She kept running.

The walls were already steaming and she knew she couldn't run forever. The hand seals went fast and just as she rounded a bend in the tunnel she turned and slammed her hands through the water to the pipe. The metal groaned and bent under pressure from beneath, and a jagged line of rocks burst through the metal and slammed into the ceiling. It made a solid wall a foot thick.

With no time to waste she threw a handful of exploding tags onto the back and sprinted away. A few seconds later the flame almost had the stone melted and she flared her chakra. The tags and walls exploded.

The second fire swallowed the first, sucking out oxygen and leaving nothing left for either to feed on and burn. Still, knowing Itachi she spun around and grabbed as much water with her chakra as physically possible and _threw_.

The water around her feet waned to a trickle as her jutsu sent every drop crashing back down the tunnel. She heard a hiss and saw a burst of steam come back at her. Not feeling inclined to have her skin seared off, she put as many tunnels between her and the flame into steam.

Somehow in the confusion of her escape she'd ended up alone. There was no going back and Sakura did the only thing she could: head up.

It took half an hour before she saw light again. She kicked off a grate and climbed into dank hallway lined with pipes. The walls were damp and covered with mildew and puddles lined the floor.

Sakura had the feeling she'd finally stepped foot into the base. It was surprisingly easy.

Then she spotted the electrical wire hidden just beneath a genjutsu in one of the puddles. Whoever stepped in the water would have been for an unpleasant (and probably deadly) shock.

Normal trap or meant for her? She didn't know and just stepped around while keeping an eye to the ground.

The seal on her stomach burned. The Kyuubi was practically on top of her. _Are you ready?_

"As I'll ever be." Her hands curled into a fist. "Clock's running and I'm not wasting another fuckin' second."

_Then let's burn them alive._

**Cavern**

Jiraiya stood stunned as he laid eyes on a woman who he had thought already dead. In this line of work he'd meant thousands of people and not all them survived. Still, here she was: Konan, hair blue and a paper flower twisted in it, the girl who was supposed to be dead. Except she wasn't.

He'd trained her and two boys in Ame during the throes of the Third War for a few years. After he'd left, they had supposedly been killed in the culling.

"Where are the others Konan?" He almost didn't want the reply.

Konan shook her head, having no answer she was willing give. He didn't know if that relieved him or not.

Paper swirled around her. "You shouldn't have come Jiraiya."

He sighed. He hated killing old friends. "Sorry, but that jinchuuriki is my responsibility. I won't let you kill her."

The paper turned to blades without warning and rained down. He dodged and her paper rushed around her and became wings that raised Konan into the air.

…this was going to be difficult.

**Foundation Tunnels**

The ceiling was two stories above them. It was plenty of room for somebody to die.

Tsunade stood with arms crossed and chakra itching under her skin. The man already had black, vein like growths crawling over and out of his body. Just the sight of it screamed forbidden jutsu and freakish bloodline.

She let her chakra caress the air and him. A lesser medic wouldn't have even noticed, but Tsunade was no ordinary medic. Four different hearts pumped inside that body.

"I'll definitely give you an autopsy after I kill you." She told him lightly.

The ninja just laughed. "What kind of bounty is on a Kage's head in wartime? I'll be able to buy a country after I kill you."

She replied sweetly. "I didn't think Akatsuki was the mercenary type."

He grinned with a scar of a smile. "I'm not your ordinary Akatsuki."

**Cave System**

Gaara stood with his sand buzzing around him, watching a man with silvery hair pray before they tried to kill one another.

"Any reason you're doing that?" Gaara asked .

The man smirked. "It's part of the Dogma of my religion, I have to pray before I offer you as a sacrifice."

It was as if being sacrificed to a blood thirsty god should be an everyday occurrence for Gaara. The former jinchuuriki tried not to think about it too hard.

Gaara had seen stranger, so he waited patiently for the prayer to finish. There was no point in being rude.

**Secondary Reservoir**

Haku stood in Zabuza's shadow, feet balanced on the water perfectly. Her master grinned like the devil and raised his blade. Across from them was Kisame, former member of the Seven Swordsmen of Kiri. It was a dream come true for her master to get to fight him.

Kisame's face had an ugly burn. Haku heard Tsunade of the Sanin had made his blood literally boil when she found him in her village. After knowing the Hokage, Haku well believed it.

Zabuza let out a bark of a laugh. "I guess we'll finally get to see which of us is the strongest swordsman to come out of our village, ready?"

Kisame returned the malice filled smile with a razor sharp one. "I've been waiting to shave a few layers of flesh off that ego of yours, you whelp."

Haku could only stand back and watched as they charged each other. Sword hit sword and the crash of it was thunder.

**Water Regulatory Station**

Metal walkways crossed the swirling water and pipes crawled up the walls like webbing. Two brothers stood in the flickering fluorescence and that was all that stood between them.

Sasuke's spun his scythe, reflecting the light and turning it to a silvery ring.

Itachi watched him. "I would have thought Sakura would have saved this pleasure for herself."

Sasuke bared his teeth. "I thought you knew, Sakura likes to share the blood."Sasuke smiled and with a careless flick threw kunai that shattered every light, throwing them in darkness. "Ameterasu only works when you can see your opponent, and Tsukyomi only works with eye contact. So without my eyes and without your sight, how will you fight?"

And lightning fractured the air between them. Soon there was only the smell of flesh burning.

**Cavern**

Naruto gazed at the burned out walls of a tunnel and the pile of rubble blocking the path that Sakura had taken. The walls were still scorched and hissing. There was no way through this tunnel.

Despite everything, despite her being short with him and keeping secrets, he wasn't going to leave her alone now.

He looked around for another tunnel to follow.

It was time to fill his promises. Sakura needed him to follow her into hell, and he'd follow.

**Akatsuki Base, Upper Floors**

Her footfalls echoed, hollow sounds that she made no effort to quiet. Sakura didn't know where she was going but someone would come to her soon enough.

She saw a large archway ahead that led to a great balcony outside. Hours and days had blurred past as of late, and she was surprised to see light painted golden on the balcony. This was rain country, wasn't it?

The sunset was a short one and as she stepped outside, she saw the rain clouds already gathering again.

The balcony was cracked, covered in dead plants, old stains of blood, and broken chips of stone. She saw a flash of orange, black, and then red. Someone was waiting for her.

She looked to see a man sitting beneath a large statue with eight glowing eyes and a sealed mouth. It was impossible to imagine out how he'd gotten that massive ghastly _thing_ up here. But there it sat, rooted into the balcony like it belonged there.

Her eyes fell to the man. He had spiky orange hair, dozens piercings covering his face, and wore an Akatsuki robe that had become too familiar. And he was young, surprisingly young. He couldn't have been more than a decade older.

She and her team were aberrations; there were rarely S-class killers at the age of sixteen. But they weren't the only prodigies in the world, and this man had surpassed the stage of child genius. The ninja who lived past their teens with that kind of past?

They always became the most terrifying monsters.

She could feel his chakra radiating from him and it hummed with the power of a second sun. This was him then, leader of Akatsuki and man who had made it his mission to hunt her since birth. She fought the desire to give him a mocking smile.

Her voice came out calm, quiet. She kept herself in check or else she'd fly into a rage and just crash herself into the Kyuubi sooner. Using his chakra in a mass burst against Orochimaru had been the final thing to crack the seal into a black hole eating them alive. Here and now she'd do it again. They'd had three months at the beginning of this; this battle would likely halve her time left if not worse.

It was a necessary sacrifice, at least if she survived this encounter there'd be enough time left to see Hinata's wedding.

It was a small silver lining, but it'd do.

She spoke. "I should ask you, why us? Why Jinchuuriki?"

His eyes were strange, rings within rings that contracted and expanded to watch as she moved. He answered in an equally calm voice. "To end suffering, to end all wars."

She stared at him. "That's it?"

There was no more answer forthcoming. Her arms shook and her hands fluttered in agitation. "That's _it_!"

Sakura's calm spell was, unfortunately, very short lived. "You killed us because we caused suffering and war? I don't know if you've noticed but I'm the only jinchuuriki left alive thanks to _you dicks_, and there's a war going on right now that had absolutely nothing to do with me!"

He stared at her almost condescendingly. Those strange, gray ringed eyes contracted. "You miss the point."

Peachy.

"With the power of the demon Kings I'll create a new Kinjutsu, one that will wipe out a country in a single blow. Instant death to millions." He paused then, and the wind sucked right out of her. She could only stare as he continued on calmly. "Once this weapon is granted to any country they will use it, and then the entire world shall know what it is to feel pain. They will fear it and all conflict will end because of that fear."

Her jaw went slack. There was something to be said for child prodigies like them. Certainly Naruto and Sasuke had been skilled in their own rights, but at the age twelve they'd only been highly impressive genin. This man and her had had the power to rip cities apart before puberty hit.

And of the few of them (freaks of nature) that survived to adulthood, all were scarred. She was a sociopath edging into mild psychosis. This man was a full-fledged narcissistic psychopath with delusion of grandeur.

"Are you insane or just stupid? Since when has fear stopped us from doing stupid shitty things and killing each other?" It was a rare time when she was the fully-sane voice of reason in an argument, and her voice rose a harsh octave. "That kind of weapon would only escalate war! If one goes off another will be used in retaliation and then another and another, and by the time your _glorious _idea is over the world will be burning. You may end war but that's because we'll all be dead!"

Red chakra burned up her stomach and into her chest. She immediately took a calming breath, allowing the magma and rage to flow back down. She couldn't use the Kyuubi's power yet, it would kill her faster than it would this Akatsuki.

She had to use it at the last and most desperate moment and hope she could kill him fast enough not to kill herself too.

The Akatsuki answered her with such certainty he stunned her to silence. "I have seen this world's pain; you could say I've matured from it, learned from it. Even you, the one considered the strongest jinchuuriki of the nine will pale in comparison to this new weapon. I know what fear and pain can do to the human mind. Under this weapon people will crumble." The rings expanded, his pupils blown wide. "I've become more than a man in finding this truth…this man has become a god."

…and add a god-complex to the narcissism and psychosis.

"A god?" A burst of hysterical laughter broke from her throat. "You a god? You arrogant son of a bitch! Just because you say you're a god doesn't make it so!" She stalked forward with limbs rippling and eyes shining like blood. "You're on a power trip acting as if suffering brings some kind of epiphany. That is a fool's game. If every person who suffered became a god this world would be full of them!"

He just stared at her as cold and immovable as the stone of this balcony. Untouchable, unquestionable.

She'd tear him to the ground in messy pieces.

"Hubris." She spat. "That's your godhood."

Gray eyes turned steely and his chakra began to crackle like a live wire. The air took on a heavy, putrid sickness that crawled into her pores. "I am a God; an ignorant and power-sick child knows nothing of how this world works."

"Pain." She breathed.

Her eyes rolled back into her head. There had been blades slick-sharp under her skin, broken arms, broken legs, seeing bone up through the skin. Fire, _fire_. Blood pouring down mountains and watching fur get sheared off. Teeth and tails and wars that raged centuries and cut down the mountains and carved out oceans.

She was disassociating again. Into the Kyuubi and into her. The realization was too hard to hold onto.

Claws on her fingers and little bones broken, arms splayed delicately out behind her like a bird. Red and teeth and fur ripping under her jaws.

Drinking water until her belly burst, drinking out the poison, sweating it out slick. Her veins were poison, they drank her blood and they died thrashing. Even the maggots eating their flesh would wither. Her jaws could crush men and was it skin or fur, fingers or claws?

Was it both?

The flash was here and then gone, millennia of monsters wrapped into one fragile body.

Sakura came back into herself with a snap. She breathed again. "Your pain is so little."

There were shadows in the sunlight just as it set beyond the horizon. Five bodies fell around her and the Akatsuki by the statue leapt with an earth shattering boom. His leap was supersonic.

She spun around and kicked one of the men dropping down on top of her. The blow struck him right in the chest, blowing him back and off the balcony.

She only caught a glimpse of his face. Piercings and orange hair. Then the others were on her. She drew her katana just as another two had her. The one she had thrown regained his footing and came back at her like a boomerang. She dodged and leapt.

All the while her mind spun. _They're all the same! _Their hair color was an identical shade of orange, the piercings and faces were different, but those same gray and ringed eyes kept watching her.

She made to stab one man in the back only for another who had no way to see it, to grab her sword arm and jerk her backwards. She flared her chakra, clearing a space as more shadows passed over her. _What the hell?_

They cleared her for a moment. Around the original Akatsuki stood five others, all with the same eyes, the same robes. Each with a different Akatsuki ring glittering on a different finger. The reprieve was short.

One breathed fire, another ripped up the earth, and the fight was back on.

She struck at one and another blocked, she created one jutsu only for a chakra absorber to intercept it, she leapt high and one would be there to smack her down. One even tried to grab at her soul, but the mess of it was so broken he couldn't get a grip.

She stabbed that one through the chest.

He only glanced down at the blade and then went back on the attack like nothing happened.

Their defense was seamless.

A mass of projectiles was thrown from a big man's body and they tore into her with concussive force and flame. She rolled across they balcony and spilled charred blood behind her.

Their offense was even better.

_Even if I'm attacking one it's like they anticipate my every move without having to see it. My chakra isn't giving away my movements and yet they can still tell. It's like…_

A hail of steel burst over her head, sending long and black lances down on her. One impacted her shoulder and it went a foot deep. She threw up a hand and used her most powerful wind jutsu to blast the rest of the lances away. the one still in her though fucked her chakra over so badly she had to tear it out before she could use jutsu again.

Then the ground exploded under her and sent her katana clattering away. She leapt after it but the original was right _there_ and a pulse of something slammed her in-flight. It wasn't wind but whatever it was sent her rocketing the other way.

Her already punctured shoulder wrenched and dislocated.

The original leader had been off and behind her, he hadn't seen the path her katana had fallen. Her mind churned even as her shoulder throbbed out blood.

_It must be a bloodline those eyes. Are they all brothers? No, they communicate without any sound or obvious movement. It's like they can see no matter where…that's it then, those eyes make them connected somehow, able to see with six pairs of eyes. _

A hail of kunai rained down and she tried to throw up another wind jutsu. Before she could complete it a shoulder caught her in the back, sending her careening across the ground. Trails of blood were sprayed across the stone and she got back to her feet and sent a jutsu of her own right back. On the opposite side she caught another Akatsuki in the gut with her elbow.

_But even then six minds couldn't work this fluidly together, I would know, it's cumbersome enough with two even when we're fully synced. So these men…no, this __**man**__ is one mind spread among six different bodies. Hell, I'm beginning to see how he could think himself a god with this kind of power._

Suddenly she was lifted by the back of her jonin vest and she saw the glimmering blade of her own katana. That was right before it was driven through her back and out her abdomen. She gasped, brought up short. Blood slid down her stomach and down her legs, soaking her clothing sticky. The katana in her back wiggled and nudged up on her ribs then near her spine. The scream tore out of her throat.

She realized at that moment the Kyuubi's power wouldn't be held back any longer. They would be slammed together faster, merge faster, _die_ faster.

Right here she was dying anyways. It was a small price to hurry it up.

She gripped the blade and pushed it out, one sliced palm switching over from the sword to the arm holding her up. By now another of the six had come rushing towards her and with flexibility that was near anatomically impossible, she flipped her body in the air and slammed both of her legs out, catching the two ninja in the chin with her feet and sending them crashing away.

She landed on her feet with red chakra pouring over her skin. The pain was staunched and grace and fury flowed into her. Images and battles were in her head not her own, painting the inside of her bloody. It was hard to remember if her body was human or animal. She flung herself back into the battle with red chakra cloaking her, tails already forming.

Maybe it didn't matter.

Maybe it never had.

**Cavern**

Ninja were creatures of practicality; they always focused on the present, not on the future and not the past. The past was filled with regret and, with time, could eat away at a ninja's awareness until they could not see anything. Conversely the future was also a place to be wary of, the future brought change and uncertainty. The future was only a dream and dreams could be just as costly as memories. They could distract, they could destroy, and in trying to seek dreams some ninja were too foolish to see when it was time to cut their losses.

Some ninja died chasing dreams. In Konoha there were too many to count.

Jiraiya had grown tired of dreams a long time ago.

He had watched one apprentice die, destroying himself to protect his village. Leaving both a living sacrifice and a son whose mother had died in childbirth behind. The son had become Jiraiya's next apprentice while carrying the bitter dreams of the father.

The living sacrifice had never had dreams, only goals she'd carve a bloody path to get. Jiraiya had always been so fond of that girl.

Konan, that beautiful woman with sky blue hai, had once had her own dreams too. Along with her two friends, those two boys Yahiko and Nagato. Who knows what had happened to them, but even Jiraiya could see the scars in her eyes from her dreams going down in flames.

Those were always the worst.

They fought and bled and Konan stayed silent as the grave, the only sound the rushing of her wings. Paper against flame, genjutsu to genjutsu, water up and wind down. It was a battle he wished he didn't have to fight.

But that was a fool's dream.

The oil was easy to splatter her in. The spikes that pinned her to the wall were even easier. His hands were in a seal, waiting helplessly for her to change her mind. "It doesn't have to end this way."

She was too gone to reach. "My god still has a dream."

Jiraiya had long grown tired of dreams.

A paper that had been floating in the water shot at him like an arrow, and he barely threw up his arms in time before it pierced his throat. It was sharp as any blade and he looked at the paper stabbing clean through his forearm.

Jiraiya closed his eyes. He was so tired. His fingers tilted and chakra that had been held back exploded from his mouth in a rush of flame.

Konan died burning.

It would remain as one of his nightmares.

**Cave System**

Gaara wiped away the sweat from his forehead only to leave behind a splash of blood. He glanced around the cave as he heard footsteps and saw the Godaime Hokage waltzing in like nothing was wrong.

She glanced at him and glanced at the blood spattered walls. "So you won?"

There was only blood and sand spattered. It had taken grinding his sand to fine grains, throwing it in the air, and then abrading his enemy from the inisde of his lungs and out after breathing it in. There was not a piece left big enough to be seen with a microscope, let alone keep talking.

Gaara had been surprised to cut off the head that first time and still have it swearing at him.

"Indeed." He answered mildly.

"Any difficulties?" She asked him as a matter of courtesy.

He dabbed at the blood not-his-own across his face. "Very few milady. And yourself?"

Tsunade gave a delicate shrug."Stopping four different hearts while difficult was not outside the realm of my skills."

Gaara didn't want to know. "Have you found any of the others yet?"

She frowned. "No, but we can start looking."

They did.

**Balcony, Akatsuki Base**

Sakura followed one of the six with her eyes, she was losing track of them and she refused to let this one fall out of her sight. She flung her hand forward, blades of wind whipping outwards and catching him in the back.

His body flickered out, genjutsu, and she spun around and began searching again. Her teeth kept grinding all the while.

Her skin was boiling up in her chakra. It was getting harder to see, harder to remember who she was as the haze of smoke and fires that dotted the balcony came closer. Her eyes became more frantic and she kept searching and turning looking for any sign of them.

The seal was warping further out of control. If the Kyuubi was still speaking or maybe in the front seat, or if she was already dead—she didn't know.

The smoke cleared. The six Akatsuki were standing on the statue's fingers. That meant something, she couldn't remember what.

The bit fell from the mouth and dragons of flame roared out like tongues from the sun. There was not enough time to run, not enough time to jump. There wasn't enough cognitive function left in her brain to even form the attempt.

The dragons came, latching onto to her with unforgiving jaws. Their teeth were hotter than the surface of a star. She shrieked and burned, tails lashing the ground and giving her no leverage to escape.

She was done. This was done.

Her skin peeled away and so did her chakra, flowing back into that gaping and ghastly mouth. The seal cracked open, siphoned away in a flow of ink and blood to release everything. The last traitorous, spiteful act of the Yondaime's work.

She went down into the seal, down and down until the flame couldn't burn her anymore.

When she opened her eyes again she was in her mind, the temple crumbling, the stars above winking out. The flames that lit the unholy place were extinguished and all she could see was the dying universe of their seal ripping apart in the dragon's jaws.

"Wretch." There was voice. She didn't pay it any mind.

"_Sakura_." It said again. She wrenched sideways to look at the Kyuubi. Space and dimensions in this place were warping and even separated by the seal they were right next to each other.

It was nice to see he still had an attention span unlike her.

"We're only going to get once chance." His tails were around her. His tails hadn't yet reached her. "When the seal breaks we'll merge fully. It will likely only last a few minutes, if that. We'll kill this arrogant son of a bitch before we go."

"It won't be us killing him." Her body rocked slightly, it gave her something to focus on. "It will be the pieces, little mashed angry pieces. Barely anything left but the blood and the muscle memory."

The words coming out weren't even making sense to her, but the Kyuubi seemed to understand. "I'd rather we ruin ourselves."

Rather suicide than murdered.

She held herself together tight, she was unraveling thread into bloody thread. There was one shining strand in there as absolute as iron. It wrapped around her wrist. "Oh." It would leave her very soon and she looked up. "I love you."

He nodded once. "I know."

"Okay." She let the thread flutter away. It was a sad thing to lose.

The universe unraveled, stars going out, planets turning to dust, the black hole pulling.

They were past the event horizon.

"I'm ready."

She released a breath and there was nothing left to hold onto. Nine red, dying flames came for her. The Kyuubi came for her. She opened her arms and let them crash together.

A star hit a star inside her. They went supernova.

/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/

A roar shook the earth and echoed like a clap of thunder in the night. Crimson exploded from her body, burning everything in its path and shattering what wouldn't burn. It carried her body in the flow, lifting and enveloping it high in the night air.

The dragons were shaken off. Their flame was dim compared to that nuclear furnace going out of control.

For a split second the chakra appeared like great crimson wings, stretching horizon to horizon, before they rushed inward and enclosed her in a cocoon. The chakra coalesced, forming legs and a maw of teeth and burning eyes. Tails slowly began to shape, a terrible flower finding its full bloom and nine petals seared the air. The faint shadow of a body could be seen in the chakra, hanging suspended where the beast's heart should have been.

The monster was bigger than the balcony, bigger than the sky. Its tails wrapped around the building and it howled into the night.

For the first time in sixteen years a nine tailed fox walked the earth.

And the earth fractured.

**Water Regulatory Station**

The room shook, an explosion blasting dust from the ceiling and onto his upturned face. Sasuke went still for a moment as miles away a red, nuclear sun burst into existence overhead.

It took his breath away.

There was Sakura using _that_ chakra and then just losing herself in it. She was far, far beyond both those now. There was no Sakura left up there at all.

Blood trickled on his face and down his chin. Unfortunately now wasn't the time. He had other things to worry about.

His scythe spun and intercepted a slew of kunai. He felt the explosive tags activate and used a replacement technique just as they ignited. In the brief flare Itachi used Ameterasu. Black flame chased Sasuke across the catwalks. Then the explosion died the black flame burned out with no target to see.

That hated voice kept chasing him. "You can't run forever Sasuke."

Itachi always had been a cruel son of a bitch.

Sasuke didn't bother replying. With his blindness he had the advantage in the dark and it would be his advantage to lose if he got riled by taunts and gave away his position. Instead he pulled his own exploding tags out. With absolute quiet he stuck the first to the walkway.

Shinobi fights were not as glamorous or hyped up as civilians made them to be. They were messy, notoriously short, and the victor wasn't always the one with the most skill but the one to hold out the longest without a mistake. They were brutish, violent, and too fast for the eye to follow. Some even happened in perfect blackness never to be seen, even by those who fought it.

That was what it meant to be ninja.

Weaker shinboi had long fights; it was easier for them to make mistakes to recover from. The stronger the ninja the faster the battle and the most powerful ninja, or at least the most cunning, made their own opportunities to exploit.

Sasuke flared his chakra again, mapping the room in his mind's eye. It was fifty feet wide and about a hundred feet long. There were ten different metal walkways, each crisscrossing over a large flow of water that moved in and out through a myriad of pipes.

Sasuke began placing the exploding tags at intervals on the walkways, on joints, and at the edges where metal met stone. It took almost ten near death minutes to complete. More than once Itachi caught him off guard with widespread fire jutsu and hidden wires and traps he barely avoided at the last second.

After rolling out of a particularly nasty razor-wire trap, he was luckily to still have his shins attached to his knees.

When no more could be done Sasuke landed on the center walkway. Flame slowly began to flow along his scythe until the blade glowed white hot. It lit the room slowly but Sasuke only felt the heat of it on his face.

There was no more hiding and no more reason to stay silent. "So why did you do it, kill the clan? Why kill mom and dad and not me?"

Itachi landed, a ruffle that sounded like bloodied feathers. His sandals clicked against the steel floor. "Because I wanted to test my strength." His voice was a mocking rasp. "Haven't I already told you this?"

There was bile and rage in his throat. "That's not an answer! Why leave me alive and kill everyone else?"

Itachi chuckled and it was bone scraping steel. "Do you really want to know?"

Sasuke snarled, fingers clenching until his knuckles popped. "Just answer."

Itachi shifted again. There was something sinister winding in his voice, cold as steel and edged by poison. "I was the one to inherit our family's _talents_ Sasuke, I was the closest genetic match to Uchiha Madara in generations."

Sasuke sucked in a breath, remembering Sakura's words in the Hokage's office. Itachi: closest descended of a demon given power known for madness.

"Being in that clan constrained by their beliefs wasn't enough for me. That village wasn't enough for me." Itachi paused. "If this blood was to be put to full use I needed to go to places where I would be challenged to the point of death. That place wasn't Konoha."

It was nothing Sasuke didn't already suspect.

There was an almost mocking lilt to Itachi's voice. "Akatsuki knew of my…desire and approached me while I was in the ANBU. If I wanted to join them my sign would be our family's blood."

And the Uchiha had died bloody. Sasuke choked on it, on how little it amounted to, how little it meant to his brother. That massacre had shaped Sasuke's entire world but to him it was merely a last obstacle and a bloody banner raised to show his intentions.

"And me?" Sasuke almost didn't want to know. But it was too late to run from the truth.

He could hear the smirk. "You were backup."

What?

His heart hit against his ribs and his head went foggy. Sasuke couldn't get his tongue to form the words right. "What the hell does that mean?"

"Akatsuki isn't going to survive much longer. The Jinchuuriki have already culled four from our number." The smirk was clear in his brother's voice. "And Leader-sama's plan is…insane. But I believe Sakura is taking care of that right now."

They both looked to the ceiling again. Somewhere high, high above them a sheer force of nature was raging out of control. That alien sun was a furnace of agony and flame.

"You weren't needed Sasuke." And Itachi chuckled harshly. "Sakura was perfect from beginning to end, the quintessential devil to chase us."

Sasuke felt his horror grow, crawling up like frost along his insides. "You used her to kill Akatsuki for you."

"Her and the other jinchuuriki." And there was something sharp in those words. "It didn't matter to me what drove her; love or hate or desire or bloodlust. The minute I met her I trained her to be pitted against me, to chase me until her dying breath. And she did."

His brother paused and there was a smile hanging ghastly between them. "You were never needed Sasuke. She was the one who got it right. Even at the beginning."

Something slotted with those last words and it was not something Sasuke would ever be able to explain. But he knew the wrongness in them, the taunt. "What was at the beginning?"

"Sakura needed her own challenges before I left. She wanted to dip her toes into the blood and I needed to answer if she was ready to tear through other human beings in some blind rush to chase me." The world froze right then and Itachi relished the last words. "She was there that night in the district with us Sasuke. She heard the scream just like you did, except that devil was _causing_ _them_."

Sasuke's blood turned to ice, the frost reached his skull. He was about to shatter across the floor in bloody little shards and there was no one to hold him together. A furious breath scraped up his throat and it nearly tore him apart. "Liar! Sakura was my age, we weren't even eight, she wasn't—"

"She was a monster born and bred. I was just the first to give her direction." Itachi tilted his head back and something like oil and blood was in the air. "When she was elbows deep tearing our cousins guts out, it was the first time I ever heard her laugh."

It was a split second decision, rage and incomprehension flooding out everything else. The flame went out. The tags lining the walkways ignited.

The metal twisted and screeched, plummeting down into the water and taking them with it. Sasuke launched himself at the first tremor and planted both his feet in Itachi's abdomen. Ribs splintered under him and he used it as a spring board to leap to the ceiling. His fingers barely brushed it when he sent out chakra. His shoulders wrenched but Sasuke stayed stuck to the ceiling.

Itachi was not so lucky.

The explosions kept ripping through the room, taking every foothold and sending it tumbling down. When the silence finally came it was deafening.

Sasuke could only hear his own blood throbbing in his ears. He dropped down, landing on a slab of stone above the surface. Itachi was on it, metal railing piercing his shoulder and pinning him half in and half out of the water.

It would have probably taken his brother only seconds to get loose. But when powerful shinobi fought, the first to make a mistake lost.

Sasuke dipped his scythe into the water. Lightening crackled down it. The twisted metal and water were both conductor and amplifier, and within moments Uchiha Itachi died of electrocution.

The smell of boiling, metallic water and charred flesh filled his nose.

Sasuke just stood there. Itachi had finally done it; his brother had managed to take all the joy out of his life. Killing Itachi brought him no happiness, going back to Sakura with his head was meaningless, and going back to Sakura's squad at all was gone.

So he stood there and waited for something he couldn't name. In his darkness, an alien sun still boiled overhead.

There probably wouldn't be a Sakura to go back to anyways.

**Secondary Reservoir**

Swords clashed together, ringing as metal slammed metal and sparks swirled around. To Haku's eyes the fight seemed to have no end. She thought the three of them might stay in this cavern for the next eternity fighting like one of those old fairy tales.

And it killed her to stand here helplessly watching her master in the fight of his life while she was forbidden to interfere. She held back the tears as best as she could because tools didn't cry.

Tools only fought, and when they didn't fight they were less than useless.

Kisame's blade dipped as her master drove down. It left an opening. Haku silently called for Zabuza to take it and he lashed out, catching their enemy right in the throat with his elbow and then his fist.

The opening had been a feint made to look like a mistake. The two blades that had been locked together broke apart, and with deadly precision Kisame swung straight into Zabuza's chest.

It was too swift for her master to block.

The puddle at her feet frosted over and turned to ice. One moment she'd been at the wall, the next the entire reservoir was a mirror of her own making. Kisame's blade finished its course right into her side. Her blood spattered across the ice.

She clutched at the gaping wound trying to keep her internal organs internal as both men stared at her in shock. She landed on her knees, the blood pool turned deepr.

Zabuza's eyes went wide and his shout echoed. "HAKU!"

The mirror shattered.

**Balcony, Akatsuki Base**

Blood, fire, light, fear. Rage. _Rage._

Memory of tongue and fur and bloody hands. Children's faces, animal grins, a throne of bone. Blonde and red and green. It hung in little pieces, shards that would catch the light for one shining moment before being lost. None of it made sense.

Up and down and right and left were here. _Who_, _what_, and _where_ were still a mystery.

The world burned and the fox raged. Maybe it didn't matter.

The dragons of blue flame (blue, remember blue) were shaken off. The dragons tried to eat the chakra but the fox wasn't having any of it. It was _endless_, a thing pouring out of a well without end. The fox couldn't be eaten and it couldn't be stopped.

The towers around shook, the valley itself trembling with each step. Steps._ Claws and paws. Skin and nails._

_Shredded bare feet raw. Walking on glass. Walking through fire, fire that reached horizon to horizon and it didn't even singe the fur._

_There had been children running through a field chasing each other. A girl with white eyes and a girl with green, chasing and chasing. They laughed when it was done. There was a fox with six tails and a dragon with four. They chased and chased and when the fox caught up, it tore the dragon's throat out._

_The blood was bitter. The dragon had white eyes._

_The little pale girl smiled and ran again, the second kept chasing her. They ran through flame._

The six Akatsuki on the statues fingers stayed trying to fight the fox with that abomination of stone's power. It was amusing, maybe even pathetic. They burst into flame when the fox snapped its tails forward and wrapped around them. They were lifted into the air shrieking, writhing in agony as their skin began to melt and slide off the bone. It fell into puddles, gelatinously bloody.

And this insect called himself a god. There were no gods here. Gods never bled.

All this red gore. Remember—

_Men with red eyes and a girl with thin wrists, plunging her hands in and __**feeling**__. Red eyes reflected in red eyes. _

_The corpses stretched continent to continent. He was __**King**__. War was over; the oceans of blood had been filled._

_Hell was claimed._

_She had little arms, a trembling thing. Everything she touched died. She stood on that ocean shore waiting for him, blood licking at her ankles._

_Hell was gone. So was she._

The Akatsuki bones were ash and the tails released the dust that had once been six bodies. The fox turned its attention down and slammed itself the statue in one great blow. The earth for ten miles fractured.

Stone broke and the fox rained attacks down again and again. Nine tails, a thousand blows and the statue's eyes cracked.

There was an unearthly moan as the statue's mouth crumbled apart, releasing a wave of light and chakra into the heavens. Screaming came from it and it echoed against the sky. The demons that had been trapped inside this abomination were finally being released back to the earth. Their souls disintegrated with nothing to anchor them.

The light of their dying was brighter than a solar flare.

_Eight other Kings. Conquered and broken. All bowed to him._

_The foxes bowed to her. Jinchuuriki and all that was left, there was a temple and he remembered the wine and the sacrifices. She sat on the dais, watching the humans dance. They gave her the flesh and mixed the blood in the wine. Worship. God._

_Fox God._

_The temple was gone. So was he._

The screams howled before reaching such a high crescendo it shattered the tower. For that slice of time night was day. Then that day ended and the age of demons was over.

The fox stood for a moment. Its anchor was burning alive. There wasn't much time left for it here, left for it anywhere. It didn't remember anywhere else to go anyways.

_An apartment with a boy, blue and blonde. Arms warm, chest hard, comfort soft._

_A kingdom that couldn't be measured, millions upon millions there to serve._

_There was a temple made from thought and bound by seals. That little girl, green eyes and pale, sat for eons. She died a million times._

_He died a million more._

_When he was there, red or claw or skin didn't matter. _

_She smiled. So did he. _

The chakra unraveled and what was the human named Sakura, once, plummeted to the ground. The chakra caught her at the last moment and set her down.

There was no chakra and there was no light.

A breath rattled in her chest.

**Akatsuki Base**

The ground had shaken beneath his feet, sending Naruto stumbling against a wall when he heard the ear splitting echoes of a terrible roar. It had been his first warning that something had gone terribly, terribly wrong tonight.

He'd run throwing every part of his strength into flying down the empty hallways, dodging traps, and soon obliterating walls with blasts of wind to make his way to that terrible roar.

When he was finally at a window he had jumped outside and attached to the tower made of pipe and concrete. Then he'd gone up. Sickness, terror, and an unholy chakra had washed over him the moment he breathed outside air.

When he cleared that last spire, Uzumaki Naruto was brought still.

There was a fox: nine tails, a body the size of skyscrapers, eyes that reflected the hell they came from. The monster had been destroying everything around it and sending columns of smoke into the sky. Everything Naruto could see seemed to be on fire.

Later he would only remember his own awe and terror. Sometimes when his girlfriend had been silently flipping out, he would wonder why she had such a hard time dealing with turmoil. Now knowing she'd held _that_ inside her for so long, he wondered why she hadn't been raving psychotic the first time they met.

Before he could try and get closer to find her in all of _that_, he was blown off his feet by a shock wave of pure air pressure. Rocks and debris cut his arms and face, dust clogged his sinuses, and his eyes watered as the very air seemed to start _screaming_.

He used a wind jutsu to blow away the veil of smoldering ash just in time to see. The sky had been set on fire and the nimbus of light and chakra wailed and rose higher and higher into the sky. It sounded like thousands of voices screaming.

He stayed on his knees while watching it go. Watching it die. For awhile the fox paled in comparison to that sky.

It left him half blind when it was over. Slowly a crimson beacon called his sight and he watched the nine tailed fox fragment into streams of chakra that were drawing to an unseen vortex.

That's when he saw Sakura hanging in the center by ribbons of chakra around her limbs. She was falling until he could no longer see her through the flame. He rushed forward through the fires, cutting his feet on shards of stone and bent pieces of metal.

If he didn't get to where she landed, she'd die in the fires of her own making.

Finally the flame ended and he saw her still form surrounded by smoke and ash and pools of blood that matted her hair and stained her skin. What was left of her skin. Most of it was just _gone_.

He fell to his knees beside her and waited for one agonizing moment. A breath rattled in her chest.

Naruto almost wept, but he didn't and gathered her broken body up. Even if the flesh lived that didn't mean anything, Sakura had left her body a shell before.

On her stomach, he didn't even notice the broken seal hissing steam.

/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/

She ached, a lingering pain that meant she must have done something terrible to still hurt even now. Maybe it'd been catastrophic. Except she couldn't remember why that would be a problem.

Sakura opened her eyes. A deep blue sky with white clouds met her gaze. There were stone walls crumbling around her, all bleached clean by the sun. An arch where a great gate once was stood empty and burned out. There was a surreal feel to it, an unreality that made her realize she was not outside, not really. This felt like this felt like it should be important.

It was hard to remember.

She felt lighter somehow, like something heavy had been lifted from her chest.

She felt alone like the world had emptied out.

She glanced at herself. White sun dress, dark hair, pale skin. Most of it seemed in order for what that was worth.

Sakura groaned and stretched, her back scraping along sun warmed stone. The tips of her fingers brushed against something warm, soft, and she felt that something grip her hand.

Her eyes snapped open and was on her knees in seconds. Memory hit her like a physical blow. Her voice was stark even to her ears. "We were supposed to die."

Crimson eyes looked up at her, set in an angular face that eerily reminded her of her own. The hand that gripped hers had short and sharp nails that dug into her skin, and she traced the hand up a muscular arm to a defined, lean, and very masculine chest. Her gaze flickered to his legs. He was wearing white pants.

White. Bleached out by something. Bleached out by almost dying.

His face was crowned by a spectacular bloodyred hair. It was short enough that if she chose to, she would barely be able run her fingers through it before she ran out of hair. There was such a familiarity in his eyes though that any panic she might have had flew from her mind.

There was an uncomprehending moment. She'd seen the red animal eyes first before the face or the body.

The man, or at least the thing in a human body, agreed with her. "We should have died." He looked over his shoulder absently. "Seal's gone."

He brought her hand closely to his face, examining their fingers against one another with a strangely stunned and sickened look. Like someone examining a maggot who found maggots utterly revolting.

It almost distracted her from looking at the seal that had once been a gate and then been a cancer. It was no longer there at all. Gone. Some wisps of it hung in tatters but they were like wet paper where there had once been iron. Their slow motion death sentence.

Gone.

His voice was so much lighter and so much less in a human throat. "We slammed together hard that last time, untangling wasn't easy."

Her breath caught. "Kyuubi?"

He gave her a feral smile and pulled her down so his face was inches from hers. "In the flesh."

And whatever weight that had lifted from her crashed down with full force, knocking her to earth. She laid her head on his chest and fought not to cry.

He let her stay there. His eyes went half lidded.

"We didn't die." She repeated. It was a broken mantra.

The Kyuubi no Kitsune raised his human hand to the sky. "Except that we did."

* * *

Edit: Sakura's characterization was slightly different after the rewrite. The fact that _she's dying_ was highlighted more and colors all her actions. Also what the seal is doing to her actually has problems and consequences that get written in this time (like random memories and dissociating at the drop of a hat). Naruto is a bit less desperate and clingy about Sakura's meltdown, and is more watching it from the sidelines than anything. Sakura's conversation with Gaara was cut down to the bare bones and should be less melodramatic as a result. Every battle and dialogue in here was touched up.

The pre-battle speech with Pein was redone with the prose-y kinda melodramatic talk cut out, and Sakura was just left insulting Pein for the crazy plan. Also, her having bursts of memory that are mixed between hers and the Kyuubi are new. Again, the sort of dramatic prose filled speeches with Sasuke and Itachi, and Sakura and the Kyuubi while dying, were redone too. Sakura's is shorter and a bit scatterbrained as she falls apart, and Sasuke and Itachi's now sounds more like normal people. Kinda.

The order of the scenes was shifted around but is probably unnoticeable to those who have read it before. During that fox rampage the parts in italics are memories (or maybe not memories) getting mixed up and blurred and lost in the confusion.

Sakura and Human!Kyuubi's (kind of not really) conversation is completely different.

That is all.


	30. The Price of Sins

AN: To reiterate in terms of the story, it went off canon nearly thirteen chapters ago which means that unless I specify something as cannon now, it's not actually cannon.

So to make a long explanation short I know Madara in the manga is some weird freaky Uchiha immortal but this entire story line was mapped out **months** ago (and as of the rewrite, years), and I'm not going to change this whole line of buildup to incorporate cannon that I still don't understand. So don't hold your breath to see Madara kicking around alive here.

**Disclaimer**: If I owned Naruto the cannon events after the time skip (hell even pre-time-skip) wouldn't have focused on Sasuke so much that the manga should have been renamed Uchiha Sasuke. Because if we had to pick another character to focus on, a psychotic Sakura would have been so much more _fun_.

* * *

**Within **

Another cloud drifted overhead, covering the sun and casting a veil of shadow over them. It passed, there was sun again. Sakura stared at the ground between her feet, shoulders pressed against the back of the man behind her. The Kyuubi's head was tipped back and resting against the curve of her neck, red hair brushing against her cheek. He stared up at the sky through half lidded eyes.

There had been silence for a long time. Time in here and out there didn't mean much; they could probably spend centuries in here together if the mood struck them. Though it would have little meaning, so disconnected from any point of reality as that'd be.

And her grip on reality would be suspect for a long time.

She felt the warmth of corded muscles shifting against her back. The Kyuubi took his own hand and broke his fingers one by one. He wiggled the mauled thing. "Human shells are so fragile."

Sakura took his hand and reset each of the broken fingers for what must have been at least the thirteenth time in the past hour. He didn't flinch or show any sign of pain as she pushed the fingers back into their sockets or just back together at all.

She didn't know what point he was trying to make to her. Maybe that as a Demon King he was above this messy form. Honestly, she didn't think either of them had a point to make anymore. Their moorings had been ripped out, their reality shifted, the paradigm changed. There was no solid ground left to stand on.

Even he couldn't be her anchor anymore in turmoil like he was.

"You can't go back, can you?" It was something she already knew. He couldn't go back to being that towering demon of fur and chakra and hate.

In that human flesh, wearing a face that looked like hers there was nothing in his eyes. "No." His lips curled into a snarl but his head remained resting on her shoulder. He stared into the false sky above them again. They were barely keeping it together.

"How long were we dead?" The question was for him, but her gaze was on burned out gate where the seal had once loomed.

He rolled his shoulders, mimicking the way she shrugged. She couldn't say he hadn't paid attention to her physical habits over the years. Sakura thought that while she slept, he'd been prying through her memories so he would know how to move in that new body.

"Long enough." He answered.

She shook her head. "It doesn't make sense, none of it. We should be dead. Worse than dead, we shouldn't even _exist_. Maybe we didn't completely merge, something must have happened…"

He sat up swiftly and with a sharp tug grabbed her wrist and pulled her arm up.

Her eyes snapped to him, jade and scarlet clashing. She followed his gaze to her arm where her skin was still unmarred ivory, as though she hadn't really burned off the first ten layers losing her mind and dying out there.

"This should be proof enough that we fully merged." He said and it was as smug as it was angry. "Proof that we died and were smashed into nothing for at least a moment." He pulled her arm even higher and it forced her closer so he wouldn't rip her arm from its socket.

It sent an odd, hot shudder down her back.

He pulled her arm again, sending pain shooting down instead of heat. She snarled and went surging for his throat. His free arm snapped out, catching her hand and flipping her on her back. The breath was forced from her lungs.

What followed was probably the most messy hand to hand battle of her life. The frustration that had been boiling so long had come to the surface and all that anger and uncertainty fueled their violence against the other. They had died. They had lived. They weren't dying any longer.

It was hard to come to terms with.

The Kyuubi had no concept of what it was to be in a human body and he fought exactly like a fox given human shape. Their arms twisted, their bodies contorted, he used his weight and his nails to hurt and pin her at every turn. He was half straddling and half laying on her, and with a growl she arched her back and gained a half foot of space. She pulled one leg free enough to bring it up and slam into his side. He was a demon, she was shinobi, and that difference now was clearer than ever.

He grunted and slid off. The impact broke a few of his ribs. Instead of appearing in pain though, or even angry, a grin split and he pulled her by her arms and flung her into the ground.

Her head slammed on the stone floor. It sent a jolt of pain lancing through her skull and her vision went cloudy.

Less than a second later he had one of her arms again and was crushing her wrist. She could feel her wrist buckle under the pressure and she hissed in pain when it shattered. Her other hand latched on to his, breaking at least three of his fingers as she ripped it off. Suddenly they were tumbling back onto the floor again, thrashing, clawing, ripping away at the other to cause every shred of pain they could. Blood coursed down her hands and every drop sliced through her ragged nerves. Each drop racked her body with pain.

In dying these past weeks they'd been at each other's throats. It had been too much too handle and now here they were at it literally.

Then he put his teeth an inch above her jugular. When she felt his breath she went still. "You wouldn't."

His teeth dug in. He totally would. The entire time he was biting her, Sakura was mentally debating with herself whether he would actually have the audacity to go through to the jugular.

Her blood filled his throat. His eyes went wide and she felt a thrill of triumph. Immediately his muscles seized up and with a gentle push she sent him to the floor. She climbed onto him with a smug grin.

The rage was gone, burned out in the fight. He examined his mostly paralyzed body with only faint curiosity. "So how did you manage it this time?"

She flicked her hair over her shoulder. With delicate ease she closed the bite mark with her fingers and a touch of chakra. "Does medical ninja mean nothing to you? I played around with the composition of my blood right where you bit me. I turned it into a mild and blood-based paralyzing agent."

She paused for a moment. "You _bit me_."

"You always liked the pain." He practically leered at her, then stopped to consider his body. "And my lungs constricting?"

She rolled her freshly repaired wrist carelessly. "I meant mild as in it would kill someone normal, in a few minutes that pain in your chest will fade…"

Her wrist that had once held a blood seal in the shape of a five tailed fox. Her skin was clear, the seal was gone.

She choked on that fact. "What the hell?"

He rolled his eyes and mocked her. "Glad to see you finally noticed. The blood oath we made can only disappear for three reasons. Since we didn't break it or complete the contract it can only mean one thing. There must be two beings to make it, and suddenly if there aren't two anymore…"

She picked up where he trailed off, replying back with a sickened realization. "If two are suddenly one the contract ceases to exist. We really did smash up on each other."

And there was their proof, the contract they'd made in blood all those years ago was gone, they had fully merged and yet somehow survived it. They had died for awhile and somehow rose from the dead.

She heard a harsh sound leave his mouth and it took a moment for her to recognize the noise. He was laughing. _Laughing_. Laughing with complete and utter abandon. It was such a human sound.

"We died." He told her between gasps for air.

She rolled her wrist and wondered why death had missed keeping her yet again. "We died." It was a nauseating conformation but they couldn't ignore it. Full merger meant complete death, two couldn't stay in one in that way, and the second she had blacked out kneeling under that dying seal it had been over.

Except it wasn't.

He glanced away from her and up to the sky. "What a sad existence we've held onto." He pulled himself up slowly, blood-poison already waning.

She dipped her head and another shadow passed over the sun. "Better than being nothing."

His voice went gruff when he agreed. "Better than nothing."

They sat in the sun and shade together again and he laid himself across her lap. They would never be entwined as tightly again as they had been, but still, this was…nice? Not strange? Good enough?

She didn't know.

His fiery scent invaded her senses. It was hard to remember how they even got here.

Their relationship had always been an evolving and changing thing. As a child she had worshipped him, held him in a reverence for all the things he had done for her. Once she became a genin though she had began to lose that utter devotion. She knew he pulled the strings, twisting her emotions and thoughts to serve him. But still they grew used to one another and shared their existence. Somewhere in that seal killing them, Hell falling, and being so alone, things had changed again.

This love had remained all her life, ever changing from servant, to jinchuuriki, to trusted companion. She had said _I love you_ one last time before dying. It had been almost equals then.

Something had irreversibly changed and they couldn't go back.

One of his hands reached up for her, his eyes a lazy and murky crimson. It snared at the back of her neck, tangling his fingers in her hair. "We didn't get far enough apart." He stated abruptly.

She understood what he meant. "Some parts were left stuck together."

He nodded. "Our souls."

There was no going back from that. She looked to his human body, face pressed to her stomach, human hand in her hair. It was so ridiculous she nearly laughed.

Something burned in his eyes and his grin went feral. "Someday we're going to burn each other alive." And what was left unsaid was: _We came so close this time_.

Sakura felt her lips pulling back, smiling hard. "We'll go together." Even if some things changed others remained the same.

He smirked and rose up, pushing her hard to the stone floor. Her arms were pinned by his weight but their eyes shared a hidden amusement, a secret joke that only they understood. The more things changed the more they stayed the same. His outer shell was different but what lied beneath the surface was wonderfully familiar.

The King of Hell. The last.

His head tilted, eyes tracing her, hands burning hot on her hips. "You're mine still; don't think losing either of your seals changed that."

"I never stopped being yours." There was no doubt in her. He'd had her from the moment he first laid eyes on her. There was no getting away. "How much of us is still tangled?"

He got up, oddly graceless, and offered her a hand up. "I'll show you."

She took his hand. Their fingers stayed snared together as they ascended the sun drenched stairs, paused under the arch of their almost death, and walked into the dark.

"What's beyond here?" Her voice echoed in the void.

He released her and took a few steps in. Only a single, ruby hued eye cast back. "My mind."

He walked into the abyss. She didn't hesitate to follow.

**Secondary Reservoir**

Momochi Zabuza had never put much faith in being sentimental and nostalgic; in fact he highly detested it. From an early age had always refused to become too attached to anything because it would eventually wither and die. He didn't need the weakness.

Such coldness and indifference had served him well. Instead of dying or falling into obscurity, he had returned to his home and made one last bloody purge that'd eventually left him the seat of Mizukage. He had found power, success, his dreams, and he wondered why it still hadn't been enough. And in a dark cavern in the middle of nowhere, he found out why having everything was still nothing.

Sometimes you got attached anyways.

A pale face stared up at him sightlessly, hazel eyes smoky, fingers clutching his jacket. Haku's blood, Haku's life, slipped between his hands and into the water. It spread tiny wisps of crimson in the almost mirror like lake.

The girl he'd found in the dregs of a city pretending to be a boy and hiding a bloodline was suddenly in his mind's eye. A precious discovery, a useful tool, and all discarded for him to find. He had taken her in, raised her, trained her, and watched her grow from a despondent child to a loyal assassin.

It would be pointless to be Mizukage if she wasn't there to savor it with him. It would be pointless to have his dreams with her dead. No climb to the top was worth anything if he ended up there alone.

Haku had been the perfect tool to the end when taking a sword meant for him. He sort of wished she'd been less perfect. Been less beautiful, been less fragile, been less _dying in his arms_.

He put her on the rock face just above the water. It only took moments for blood to pool around her fallen form. Rivulets of it streamed scarlet into the water below.

He wished she'd been more selfish.

Kisame laughed. "What are you doing Zabuza, going to cry because that little undertaker took your death blow? Or did you love—"

He wished she'd loved him less. There was nothing of him that deserved life where she didn't. Nothing. She deserved a million times more than he had ever had or could ever give.

And yet here they were.

A yell ripped its way from his throat and the world turned sideways. There was only murder in his heart and blades clashing, sparks flaring, and blood spattering around him. Like he had for most of his life Zabuza lost himself in battle.

There was death here but Zabuza was beyond caring, he was frenzied and more than that _berserk_ with rage. He fought through fatigue, even when his muscles should have been too tired to hold up his blade, even when blood loss from various wounds should have left him dead or damned close to it. Zabuza kept swinging his blade even when standing on hell's door.

The next strike had the force of a shock wave, rattling their bones and sending painful vibration up their arms. Kisame's blade slipped just a fraction. It was one mistake.

It was the mistake that ended in a deadly arc cleaved into Kisame's chest. Blood poured out in a fountain.

Hoshigaki Kisame, the last Akatsuki standing and one of the final two seven swordsmen of the mist was dead. His body went slack and vanished into the water, down to a cold and unmarked grave. It was the end of an age.

Zabuza didn't even notice. He already had Haku in his arms and was on a desperate search for one of the Konoha medics.

**Upper Floors, Akatsuki Base**

Naruto sprinted through the maze of pipes with shadow clones following him. Each one broke off from the group as they came to another intersection. They'd find the way down through sheer power of elimination.

Sakura laid still in his arms, unresponsive except for breathing. Naruto no longer knew if that counted as a good thing.

Somewhere one of the clones must have dispelled because he suddenly had a strong memory of a blasted out pipe, the one Sakura had destroyed. They were almost there. In another twenty minutes he found himself at the edge of a tunnel far above that great cavern and subterranean lake. There were still debris and blood floating on the water. A familiar head of white hair was waiting.

Naruto leapt down to Jiraiya like a shot.

Jiraiya only smiled until he saw the bloodied and pale body of Sakura resting in his arms.

"She won." Jiraiya sounded bitter. Sounded like: _she lost her mind, why are you carrying a breathing corpse?_

Well, maybe just to Naruto it did. He may, _may_ have been panicking just a little. Or flipping out. Same difference.

"I saw." Naruto swallowed. "Nine tails. She was so lost in the chakra it was carrying her of its own volition."

Jiraiya took a sharp breath, face harder than stone, and immediately stepped closer to examine her. There was a tense silence and the only sound was the faint echoes of water frothing along the cliffs. The Sanin raised a hand inches above Sakura's abdomen, his palm glowing with chakra as it passed back and forth. Naruto watched that hand carefully.

A black scrawl emerged from her skin, the seal rising up. It was as if an invisible brush was writing with ink on her flesh, but it was jagged and messy as the serrated outline of a ruined seal became clear.

Both men stopped breathing.

The seal was broken.

"Fuckin' hell." Naruto breathed.

Jiraiya voiced their horror. "The seal's gone. There's nothing to hold the Kyuubi back."

They shared a dark, terrified, and grim glance. If Sakura lived, if anything still lived in there, it was more in danger _and_ dangerous than they could possibly imagine.

Naruto was carrying a ticking time bomb in unsealed flesh.

**Foundational Tunnels**

Tsunade stared down at the face beneath her and the fragile skin glowing in the chakra along her fingers.

Zabuza was sprawled on the opposite wall and refusing any treatment. If Haku died under her hands, Tsunade thought he would keep refusing until he bled to death. She was saving the Mizukage here as much as she was saving the undertaker.

Her hands began the delicate work of weaving chakra into a web, each near insubstantial strand attaching to a cell in the flayed skin around the abdomen and organs therein. She began to regenerate cells at an accelerated rate, all the while trying to close the re-growing skin and heal the shredded organs.

Her eyebrows arched, ice was covering the major arteries. Apparently this girl had managed to use her bloodline to keep herself from instant death by blood loss by freezing over the punctures in her veins.

It was creative if crude, but it worked.

It didn't take much longer before Haku went from death's door to, well, slightly farther from death's door. Maybe death's sidewalk. It was far enough.

Tsunade heard coughing and glanced at Zabuza as he wheezed roughly. "Is she all right?"

The Hokage gave a rueful smile. "She's stable; I think I can say she'll live."

He sagged in relief against the decaying wall of the tunnel. Tsunade directed Gaara to wrap Haku in his sand to keep her warm and moved over to kneel next to Zabuza as she began patching up the gashes on nearly every part of his body.

How he was still alive or walking was anyone's guess. Tsunade was betting sheer willpower.

"Thank you." He said. He wasn't thanking her for healing him, she knew that well enough. She just nodded. He'd live and so would the girl and only with more scars to add to their collections. That counted as a win-win in any book.

Footsteps echoed down the tunnel. Gaara immediately rose to their defense. It was for nothing.

Tsunade nearly sighed in relief when it was only Naruto and Jiraiya. It died in her throat when there laid Sakura broken in her teammate's arms. She was already across the room with medical chakra shoving under the jinchuuriki's skin. "What happened?"

Jiraiya rushed her and shoved her away. Tsunade nearly decked him before he hissed. "Don't. We can't have her wake up now." His eyes flicked to Sakura pointedly.

At any other time she would have killed him slow for stopping her from healing her nearly-daughter with no excuse. But then she saw the stark terror sitting raw in his eyes.

Tsunade followed his gaze. Her blood froze.

The seal on Sakura's stomach was broken wide open. They all knew what that meant. If they healed that body it might not be Sakura riding in it anymore. She had to be Hokage first, not mother. That hurt in ways Tsunade would never be able to say.

But it had to be done.

A shocked silence lingered over them a long time. Tsunade broke it with sharp commands. "We need to return to the village immediately, the ANBU should be arriving in a day for cleanup and we can mark the path we took and let them handle body collection and divvying out the corpses to the proper villages. For now we're heading full speed to Konoha."

Jiraiya gave a curt nod. "We'll go. As soon as the Uchiha—"

Sasuke emerged out of the dark like a wraith, hard faced and ghastly. There was blood up his front and something ugly carved into the lines of his face. It was fury made into ice and stone.

Sasuke reached out, easy, and touched Sakura once. "She burned up, I felt her go."

Naruto wrenched her away. "Shut the hell up you morbid fuck! She'll wake up!"

Sasuke's lips pulled back but it couldn't be called anything but wrath. "Good." No one understood it, and something violent crackled in their air between the teammates.

Naruto was near completely flipping out. The seal was gone, Sakura could be erased, the Kyuubi could take over, or maybe both were gone and the body he held was nothing but a vegetable that would never wake up to smile at him again. Never to kiss him again, never to laugh, never to say that she loved him.

The past weeks their relationship had been fraying. It'd begun ever since they had separated to perform their own missions to the village. He had left for Iwa and she had dutifully remained behind to keep the council appeased. Then Akatsuki had attacked, Oto committed mass assassination and taken Hanabi, and Sakura had assembled a small team and tore after them to retrieve the girl.

Anko had died in the process and Sakura had avenged her moments after by slaying Orochimaru in a fit of mindless rage. Something else though had changed about her and when they had reunited it was like they were strangers.

Now it was likely he'd never have a chance to find out why everything had spiraled so far out of his control.

Never know. It was worse than death.

So he glared at Sasuke and wondered if he could skin his teammate alive. Sasuke seemed to be contemplating the same.

Tsunade snarled at the both of them. "Shut the hell up and move out!"

They did. No one spoke the entire journey home.

**Within**

In the beginning following Kyuubi had been rather amusing. Even if he did have some idea how to move in a human body he was awkward in doing so. He wasn't quite sure what to do with his arms and he constantly crossed them only to uncross them before letting them fall to his sides. Walking seemed a labor in torture and he changed his gait constantly. All the while he cursed under his breath the vilest obscenities he knew at her, the Yondaime, Akatsuki, Kami, and a few others that she couldn't identify.

That was probably for the best, she didn't want to stir whatever memories of him were stuck up inside her.

Her amusement at his discomfort was short lived. As the light of the gate slowly faded into the dark the first thing that she noticed was the cold. It struck her in the chest, a painful gasp of frigid air. It rubbed her throat raw and chilled her blood. She'd stumbled momentarily but kept pace behind him.

Nothing of her wanted to show how badly this place affected her. The Kyuubi abhorred weakness and so did she.

But to her horror it grew worse. The air grew heavy, noxious, seeping like a poison in her with every breath. It made her dizzy and wea, and she had fallen further behind. It was at this point, finally, the Kyuubi glanced back. "Having trouble?" He asked. And really he almost sounded concerned for her. Almost being the key word.

"Just fine." She spat back.

Her legs buckled three steps later.

She fell to her knees with arms sinking elbow deep in the muck. The dark now felt like acid. It took more willpower than she'd like to admit to bite back a scream.

In here his presence was overpowering, otherworldly. Even if he wore a body that looked human what was inside was still pure demon. Even to her. And anyone else not _his_ jinchuuriki would have already been driven past madness or fallen into a coma.

He growled and then sighed. He extended his hand to her again. It felt less like kindness and more like him wanting to move this along and have _something_ to do with his arms.

Intentions didn't really matter; she wrapped her arms around his neck and allowed his arm to settle around her hips. He shouldered most of her body weight without protest. Which he should, considering she'd carried everything of him around in her for sixteen years. He _owed_ her.

They began walking again, pace slowed. It was a sad state of affairs when a new for a few minutes human was handling walking better than someone with sixteen years of practice. Whatever, it's not like her pride had much to lose at this point.

Dying _really_ had a way of putting things in perspective.

Her eyes cast around in the darkness in some vague hope of a landmark. There was nothing, just endless shades of black that flitted in and out of sight. She sighed and looked up at the Kyuubi, tracing the lines of his new face with her eyes. "How did the human body happen? Why my face?"

He shrugged and nearly jostled her out of his arms in the process. "What do you remember?"

Her fingers made a vague sort of motion. "I remember the fight, the seal failing, feeling like I was burning alive and then…nothing. Next thing I knew I woke up and you were…" She waved at him. "Like me, kind of."

"We were in between." His voice was terrifyingly calm. "We weren't anywhere, just smashed up pieces lying around nowhere at all. I had the tiniest fragment of awareness and all around me was _us:_ fragments of memory, misplaced emotions, tangled souls, mixed chakra, twisted thought patterns, personality traits, disjointed genetic chains—"

He flicked his own fingers now as if remembering. "I pieced myself back together as well as I could under the circumstances, considering for awhile I wasn't even sure who or what I was. Unfortunately I haven't had a real body in some time, I knew my own genetics by memory but they were lost when we died. I could only…use what was left."

His look grew from oddly blank to incredibly irritated. "I had the pieces but no border to separate them from seeping back out. I was losing my mind and your genetics were still around. I took them on and altered them; I kept the face but not much else. After that I remembered there was a _you_ in the equation and I put you together after."

She blinked and stared at him in mute shock. When she finally found her voice it was less a righteous shout of indignation and more of a surprised whine. "You stole my genetics?"

"As a base only, if I could have I would have tried to remake my own. But I couldn't make demonic genetics with a lower life form." He gave her a withering look.

Dry laughter bubbled in her throat. "You know it always gives me a warm fuzzy feeling when you call me a lower life form, _you dick_."

They had a staring contest. There was a long moment of silence. Her voice went soft. "Why my face?"

"Your face…" They slowed to a stop; his arm was steel around her. "I've been staring at this face of yours for sixteen years. You're the only human I can look at without—as long as I'm this way, I might as well have the best."

He glanced away from her abruptly. "We're here."

Her head snapped around, staring match forgotten, and she noticed the crimson blaze growing on the horizon. He tugged her ahead and sped up, causing her already weak body to strain under the effort.

A few minutes of silence passed awkwardly, the only sound being the faint echoes of their footsteps and her ragged breathing.

At some point he got tired of it and just carried her. She rested her head on his shoulder and watched the crimson glow slowly becoming stronger on the dark horizon. It was like the rising of some distant and alien sun.

It wasn't a sun though, it was an ocean, an ocean of pulsing scarlet light that reached as far as the eye could see.

"Chakra." She whispered, awe clear. Without pause she locked her elbows together behind his neck and pulled herself up to see.

Intellectually, she'd known he'd had more than she could possibility imagine. Instinctually, she'd practically smelled it. Practicality, she'd felt it boiling under her skin when the tap was opened. But seeing it in reality…

There was no compare.

There were no words she had to even describe it.

He loosened his grip and began to set her down at the shallow edges, but somewhere between up and down he seemed to give up on the job and let her fall into an undignified heap. He strode past like he didn't even notice. His voice carried brusquely. "Wait here."

She growled under her breath and righted herself. "Fine, because clearly I was thinking of going somewhere else under my own power!"

He waved dismissively over his shoulder. A faint smile was on her lips in return. She eased down into the shallows, chakra washing over her and pooling in her limbs. It chased away the cold.

Her eyes though were only for the Kyuubi walking into that chakra. It flowed around him like water and yet twisted as if it was a living entity unto its own. There was no sight in her life that would ever be more beautiful.

She felt a pulse through the chakra and it passed around and through her, setting every nerve on a hypersensitive edge. The next pulse pushed the breath out of her lungs and the ocean of chakra _exploded_.

She watched in fascination as his back arched, tails one by one separating from the chakra into a whirlwind around him. They were fire, they were light, they were _his._

He got to three in a heartbeat, then five, barely a pause then a sixth. The chakra shuddered a moment before a seventh and the eight appeared, and finally a ninth bloomed from the chakra and joined the storm.

It tugged on her and took on its own gravitational pull. It coated her limbs like magma and raised her to her feet. It was chakra, his chakra.

Tails pooled out behind her perfectly made. Perfectly controlled. There was no air left anywhere for her to breathe. It was _her chakra_ now too. Some things would never be untangled. There had been only so many pieces left to put together.

She waited for it, for it to explode out of her control like every time before. She waited for herself to become only a gateway until she was dying and _losing her fucking mind_. But it was hers; it obeyed her and bent to her.

All those years and all those times with brain damage were over. She now had control of demonic charka. It nearly floored her.

For the first time she looked at the Kyuubi and found his eyes already meeting hers. A gaze of equals. It was a long time in coming, but it didn't mean they were on even ground yet. For the first time though she had a chance of getting there.

Maybe someday, she'd even be more.

He answered her question without it having to be asked. "We we're lucky there was so much of ourselves left after, but not everything was there. Just like I had to take pieces of you to make myself whole, you absorbed pieces of me. It gave you the ability to control demonic chakra among…" He trailed off and his chakra caressed her down to the cellular level.

The truth struck her and she felt that something had changed in her. She couldn't pinpoint it, couldn't name it, but it was there all the same.

She slowly waded through the vast sea of red light to him. It allowed their chakra to mix. It was his, it was hers. She felt the tails from his body reaching out to her and enveloping everything that she was, it was more than an embrace of chakra, it was mind and soul together.

"You—" He closed his eyes, wonder on his face. "An immortal body. _You_."

Sakura felt no surprise; as soon as the words left his lips she knew it was true.

Immortal. Forever and ever. Beyond the stars burning out. It was too vast for her to comprehend, not right now and maybe never.

She mirrored his voice and let her chakra mingle with him. "You're not human and you're not demon. Neither am I." Her eyes snapped open. "What are we?"

"It's adaptability," The sea of light around them grew brighter. "Demons were immortal, unchanging things that had no concept of life or time. But you held _evolution_ in you. It stayed and filled the gaps we couldn't fill ourselves. We're the next step, an instant species mutation. We're something different now." His grin was razors. "Maybe better."

"Does it change the plan?" She asked.

He thought on that with grin wide. "Not our plan for the village no, but the future will change. There's no hell for me to go back to and you can't live the life you had before." His hand reached for her, beckoning.

She let her hand settle in his, allowing him to entwine their fingers in a near painful embrace.

Her hair whipped around her as the storm of chakra intensified. They were too close together to even breathe. "Then what's left?" She asked.

All of the planning and dreams that had spanned nearly ten years of her life were about to come to fruition, and still, the future was a whirlwind of chaos.

"Us." He answered. And that was enough.

**Konoha Hospital, Maximum Security Wing. One Week Later**

Ino stared at her reflection blankly, pinching herself for a moment to make sure this wasn't one of the nightmares she'd been having lately. Her arm stung, the reflection blinked as she did, and she was morosely certain this was actually real.

And _fuck_ that

Ino rubbed her forehead and spoke to the blonde next to her. "Sakura has the world's shittiest luck. What happened this time?"

Tsunade sighed, fingers tapping on the one-way glass. The window looked into the room where Sakura was sprawled out on a hospital bed, handcuffed to the frame, looking dead except for the rise and fall of her chest.

The Hokage spoke delicately. "The short and sanitized version is that Sakura was wounded while fighting Akatsuki and had some chakra problems that needed to be resolved."

Ino rolled her eyes. "If you want my help I need to know what happened. I'm still in the dark here about _what the hell is wrong_."

The two women shared a glance, measuring one another. They knew each other as superior and subordinate, but most of their personal information about the other came from the girl currently on the other side of the glass. They were strangers now about to enter into the closest confidence.

It was a delicate matter to bridge.

Tsunade seemed to find something she was searching for and her shoulders eased. Ino waited silently to hear what the woman said next. Tsunade didn't disappoint. "The Akatsuki caught her in an extraction and tried to pull the Kyuubi out of her. At some point she slipped it and absolutely _lost her mind_ and killed everything in her path. Somewhere between here and there her seal broke."

Ino blinked and took a staggered step as if she'd been punched. She blinked again, her eyelids fluttering. She cycled through a dozen emotions in a matter of seconds. Her face smoothed out. When she spoke there was a strained sort of calm to it. "What do you need me to do?"

The older woman turned away from the glass to look at her. Ino stared right back, defiant to the last.

The Hokage smirked in pride. "I think you're the one for the job. We need you to look inside her head. Brain activity picked up the last few days so it seems like there's something inside her skull. However what that is…is uncertain at this point."

Ino raised an eyebrow. "You haven't woken her up to check?"

Tsunade laughed bitterly. "Of course not. There's no telling what the hell is in there waiting for us, and if it's something bad we can't hold it down. We've had her under heavy sedation with chakra inhibitor seals on the bed and chakra suppressor in her blood. Jiraiya and Naruto are working on a patch seal but we don't know what we're dealing with and it's just guesswork and shots in the dark. And Sakura's body has been slowly regaining consciousness for the past forty-eight hours."

Ino tapped her fingers on the glass, the rap of them echoing sharp. "Can't you dose her up on more sedatives?"

The Kage's smile was wry. "Have you ever heard Sakura: say you can't poison me twice?"

The blonde jonin considered that. "Can't say I have."

Tsunade point to the IV in Sakura's arm. "The Kyuubi gave her an unbelievable immune system on top of an insane healing rate. If one poison enters her bloodstream her body identifies it, memorizes it, and then eradicates it. That poison will never work on her again."

There was a pensive note to the older woman's voice as she continued. "Right now we've been slowly upping the dosage of sedatives to buy more time, and luckily her body hasn't seen it as a threat and is only passively growing immunity to it. However, we're going to reach a threshold soon where any more sedative will be a poisonous dosage and her body will kick into full gear and burn her whole system clean. If that happens her body be awake in seconds and then nothing will keep her or whatever is in there down."

Ino let out a hiss through her teeth. She chewed on her thumbnail until she tasted copper. "You want me to get in her head and figure out who or what is in there before it wakes up."

Tsunade gave a tight nod. "That would be preferable. You're the only Yamanaka we can trust in confidence right now. If this gets out before we get a seal on her half the village will be clamoring for her head."

Ino's eyes took on a harsh gleam, winter blue. "And the other half would probably throw in with her and spark a damned civil war. I know what side I'm on."

"I know." The Kage replied calmly. They shared an understanding glance.

"But it's not that simple." Ino's winter eyes were darker. "Mind arts are tricky and more importantly misleading. It'd be better to call them soul arts or even consciousness arts. If the Kyuubi is in control he could attack me the moment I enter, imprison me there, or even follow the connection back into my body and take it over. There are too many factors here for this to be blind. I could make it worse by trying."

Tsunade's lips turned bloodless. For a moment Ino was struck by the other woman's eyes: it was the love of a mother mixed with the deliberate actions of a military leader. It was a fragile and terrible balance to strike.

The older woman prevaricated for a moment. "I've seen Yamanaka take control of someone's body without trouble. I'm not sure of what you're implying."

Ino chose her next words carefully. "What you've seen is in all basics, taking over the uppermost conscious functions. It's like a quick hit to someone who doesn't know they're fighting. Knock them out, take over body and cognitive functions, and you have a few minutes of opportunity of using them as a puppet. What you're asking for is a deep dive into the subconscious. That's placing my mind and soul into her psyche and down there it's all mental. Most people don't have much responsiveness on that level, but if they even have a slight awareness I'd be placed at their mercy because in her head she rules supreme. If it's not Sakura in there it'd be suicide."

The Hokage spoke, not the mother. "What do you need to go in?"

Ino answered promptly. "I just need Sakura to be awake for a short while. If there's a chance it's her I'll go in and take her back unconscious. It may be the Kyuubi faking as her but I'm willing to gamble that to get the look you need."

Tsunade's nod was curt and her eyes calculating. But every so often though she would frift sadly towards Sakura. Somewhere in these musings her resolve hardened to a plan. "I'll gather the rest of Team Seven and Jiraiya; if it isn't her…they'll be there to put her down if it comes to that. I'll be back in an hour; I need to get the Mizukage and his people checked out. God knows we can't have him die here if there's some kind of explosion. That'd be a political nightmare…"

Tsunade left the room with her words and thoughts trailing in the air behind her.

Ino nodded to no one and pulled up a chair so she could look through the glass. Mostly it was to rest her shaking legs. She then clasped her hands beneath her chin and bowed her head to pray.

**Apartment Complex**

She could smell sweat in her hair, on her clothes, and plastered to her body like a second skin. Her muscles were loose from a long training session and Hanabi was certain that she was somewhere between exhaustion and happiness.

She could hear the shower through the walls; Sasuke was probably still trying to get all the dirt and blood out of his hair. Since he'd come back they'd gone training together for six straight days, and on each and every one Sasuke had been pushing himself harder.

Something had happened out there with Akatsuki. When he'd said Itachi had been killed she'd thought he'd be happier, freer. He wasn't. If anything he was sinking somewhere darker that was getting out of reach.

Hanabi could only chase after him. She tried to be challenge during sparring and a comfort when they kissed between sessions. He was still sinking though and she worried it soon wouldn't be enough. What monster was he chasing this time?

If it was worse than Itachi, Hanabi didn't want to know.

She heard the shower turn off and the pipes in the walls drawing away the last of the water. A moment later the door to the bath opened and with only a towel around his waist and long hair plastered to his neck, Sasuke crossed the hall and into the bedroom. Somewhere along the line being blind had eliminated most of Sasuke's modesty and shame. To be honest she was quite fond of this particular trait.

Even if it made her blush and forget what she was doing everty time it happened.

A few minutes later he came back out barefoot in pants and a loose blue shirt, and trying to tie back his hair. He stopped at the couch and then jerked a hand over his shoulder. "Shower's open."

She made a murmuring noise of agreement and reached up to grip the front of his shirt. She pulled down and he bent over her so she could press a kiss to his mouth. His skin was warm and she brushed her mouth upwards to kiss his cheek, and then placed another kiss to the scars that crisscrossed his eyelids.

He sat next to her on the couch, a hand pushing into the base of her spine to make her back arch and another hand on the nape of her neck to tilt her head upwards and back. She drew away and his head dropped as he trailed openmouthed kisses down her face. First at her forehead, then to her cheekbone, her lips, the edge of her jaw, the soft skin over her jugular, the hollow of her throat, her shoulder, just below her collarbone…

He paused, breath sending tremors along her skin.

Sasuke pulled away.

She sighed but accepted it, they didn't talk about their age difference, but he never initiated anything with her and always stopped short of anything that could assuage the hot slickness in her legs. Hanabi tried not to be resentful.

She got up and his arms remained around her until she was beyond his reach. She was in the doorway to the bath when she paused.

"What is it?" He asked.

His blinded and shut eyes met hers as if he could truly see her, and she shuddered. "Something's been bothering you lately, I thought that after…after you got back things would be okay. Can I help at all?"

He was silent for a long time and just when she was ready to leave without an answer, he spoke up. "I received some intel about an incident that happened nearly a decade ago. Problem is, it implicates someone high up in a lot of murders. But besides the intel there's no way to really confirm if this really happened. The person who gave the information is dead and unreliable, and the only other person who would know is the one implicated. "

Her head ached just listening to this. Hanabi hated politics; she'd left the Hyuga clan for a reason after all.

He sighed and suddenly started closing off. "It's complicated, it could be nothing." He paused. "It could be everything."

She picked her words carefully. "You can't tell me specifics so it must be sensitive."

He nodded wordlessly and she bit her lip. She wanted to help him, she really did, but she was a girl not even a genin. An outcast, a failed heiress. Hanabi didn't have many answers to give so she gave the truth. "If there really are no other sources to confirm these murders that means the only person you can talk to is the one implicated. If you want to know, ask. If you want it to stay buried, let it die with you."

She was a ninja, she knew this much.

His jaw tightened and his mind was off somewhere far from here. She gently shut the door and turned on the shower. She washed away the sweat, blood, and grit from her body. When it was done she stepped out into the steam in search of a towel. She wrung out her hair and tousled it with another towel as she opened the door.

The first thing she noticed was Sasuke talking to a messenger ANBU, and though she stayed in the shadow of the hall the masked face turned towards her briefly. Sasuke immediately grabbed the man's shoulder and nearly shoved him off the windowsill with a terse: "Message confirmed."

She also had the distinct feeling that the ANBU, just before leaving their earshot, muttered back: "Lucky Uchiha bastard."

Sasuke immediately went into the bedroom and she followed behind, watching sadly as he gathered his weapons and gear together. Was he leaving again?

"Are you going on a mission?" She threw herself on the bed and tried not to pout. Her damp hair fanned out on the sheets.

He shook his head. "Sakura's waking up."

Hanabi grinned. "That's awesome." Then she frowned at how tense his voice was. Sakura waking up should be a good thing, shouldn't it?

He flipped his scythe over his shoulder, pulled a kunai holder out and strapped it to his leg, and finally tied his headband over his eyes. He turned to leave but then abruptly turned around at the last moment to lean over the bed and kiss her. She went stiff from surprise and embarrassment, all she had on was a towel and he didn't seem to notice or care how warm his body was against her bare shoulders and legs.

His goodbye was a brief one. "I'll be back soon."

She nodded absently as he left. Hanabi never questioned why Sakura waking would need full-battle gear.

**Konoha Hospital, Maximum Security Wing**

Her body was heavy, painful even. Sakura didn't understand why her lips couldn't seem to form words or where all the light had gone from her.

"W-where…are…where are you?" Every word felt like her throat was tearing. She called for the Kyuubi and he didn't answer.

Had she been dreaming? No, she'd been floating in that chakra ocean suspended in that endless red light while drifting on her back. The Kyuubi had been right above her, the crown of his forehead nearly brushing hers as they drifted.

It was clearer now, they'd been speaking: plotting and planning their next moves as they dug through their own psyches trying to find what had been altered.

Occasionally he'd reach a hand to touch hers, or brush a strand of her hair between his fingers. Easy camaraderie, unnatural touches just to confirm that they really had survived it. Sometimes they would break out into relieved laughter and would nearly sink into the crimson ocean. At times like that Sakura was certain that nothing could stand in their way.

But she wasn't there anymore. Why did her head feel like mush? Light cut into her eyes and they fluttered open to see a high tiled ceiling above her. She found herself asking groggily. "I'm awake?"

She blinked a few times as if to test it and found that she was, in fact, awake. So she tried to sit up. That's when she found her body strapped down and her hands manacled to the bars that kept her from falling off.

"I'm awake and handcuffed to a bed?" It was a dumb declaration, but in her defense her head was addled.

Of all the places she and the Kyuubi had thought she'd wake up, this wasn't one of them. Sakura looked up at the ceiling again. It was definitely those ugly off white tiles in the Konoha hospital. That ruled out being captured by an enemy and she shook her hand to jingle the cuffs. That still didn't explain her being tied to the bed, leaving her with her initial stupid and yet accurate statement.

A cough came from the corner and she jerked up, glancing warily to the other side of the room. There were very familiar people watching her. She tried to wave but her hand was still cuffed, apparently, and Jiraiya asked her sharply. "All right there?"

It sounded like a challenge.

"Peachy." She gave her head another shake in hopes of clearing the oppressive fog of stupidity that seemed to have settled. In her subconscious things had seemed fine but now it felt like the upper layers of her brain had been fried. Maybe the heat from the chakra had finally ruined her brain cells for good, it seemed likely.

That's when she felt the drug within her blood, a mostly harmless sedative that made thinking and motor functions rather tricky. Things rapidly began to clear as the Kyuubi stirred and slowly began to look through her eyes without using enough chakra to change them.

She felt cold and glanced down, vaguely noting that she was wearing a pair of shorts and a hospital gown that had been cut and cropped so her stomach was bare. She recognized the oily feel of a chakra pumping drug on her skin, the kind used in medical cases with heavy burns to draw chakra from other parts of the body into the skin. Instead of its normal use the chakra the drug was draining wasn't fixing burns but illuminating the broken seal on her stomach. It took only a few delayed seconds to know that the whole crowd of teammates, Jiraiya, Tsunade, and oddly enough Ino, knew the seal had shattered.

It was sort of like being seen naked, but worse.

"Oh…dear." Sakura had the sudden urge to poke at it. She nearly smacked herself and if she had use of her arms, she would have.

_They must be trying to figure out what happened to me, and if I'm even me. And they drugged me so I wouldn't immediately able to start killing if I was out of my mind._

The Kyuubi bounced back a response. _That explains you being chained down, and oh, the mind girl being here and making seals as we speak._

She looked up, her vision was blurry on the edges but she could clearly see Ino moving through hand seals with a painful sort of intensity.

Sakura buckled down. _We need a plan._

His response was scathing. _Really? You just figured that out? _

She almost growled out loud. _If I could hit you I would, but at the moment I'll let you do the hard thinking and give us a few more seconds—_

"How long have I been out?" She asked mildly. Everyone visibly paused to stare at her. Even Ino had stopped in her seals. It was like talking was some kind of grade-A achievement or something.

Sakura looked to Naruto and he stared back at her warily, untrusting. It hurt but she didn't flinch. They had their doubts and she had to soothe them. That was all.

It was Sasuke that finally spoke up. "Six days."

She nodded cheerfully but had to stop when that gave her a headache. "Okay, that's good. I didn't miss Shino's and Hinata's wedding. Hell, I think there's still time to buy a gift."

One of the worst parts about dying had been knowing she'd miss that wedding. Sakura was indescribably happy now that she wouldn't let Hinata down.

Ino suddenly smiled while everyone else glanced at each other and at Sakura again as if this was some kind of coded cipher she'd just thrown at them.

Ino brightened considerably. "That's good enough for me. I'll be back in a bit."

Time seemed to slow and she heard the Kyuubi again. _I've got something, it should keep these fools from guessing what really happened when we shattered._

She nodded mentally. _Let's make it good._

Ino fell on her last seal and the air seemed to charge with something intangible. Sakura felt a cold shock hit her chest and wash over her, forcing her eyes to uncontrollably roll up into the back of her head. She slipped into darkness easily after that.

**Within**

Ino felt the world slide by her, a swirl of insubstantial sight and emotions so fleeting they felt like rain drops sliding off her skin. She curled into herself, trying to keep her mental borderline and making sure pieces of herself didn't slip away in the transfer.

Her sight solidified, her mind forcing her consciousness into her body's form. Her newly made feet fell onto dusty stone. She looked around slowly, curious, fearful. This was Sakura's mind.

Ino found herself in a hallway, like that of a temple from ages long past. There were beautiful designs on the wall but they were already worn away and bleached by the sun. Parts of the roof had collapsed and it let in light where dust swirled languidly.

The sky outside was so blue it left Ino breathless.

Still she tried to stay analytical and read the place. The mind always meant something greater; it was like symbolism on steroids.

This place was peaceful. This place was lonely. Bleached and worn and laid unabashedly bare to the sun. There were scars on the walls and there was no attempt to hide them.

It was bold and melancholy all at once.

Ino walked slowly, aware of everything she saw and how silent this place was. Most people had memories flitting about, subconscious echoes, forms of those they loved or knew whispering in voices that had no words.

None of that was here. Just emptiness.

Ino wandered for hours and maybe even days before the hallway opened into nothing but light. Leaving the hallway left her in the open under an empty sky. Crumbling walls reached up for the clouds and the ceiling had been torn off too long ago. Her breath caught in her throat as she looked straight in front of her. A girl with long black hair was lying splayed on the stone. Her small form was before an archway higher than a skyscraper. Her body was clothed in white and there was nothing but despondence about her.

The archway led into absolute blackness.

"Sakura." Ino called. This was the test to finally know.

"Took you long enough to get here." Sakura glanced back, disinterested, and looked back to the gate. "I think I've been down here years."

Ino couldn't breathe. Sakura was fully aware this deeply down and she'd been awake for the week she'd been gone outside. Ino could not even begin to calculate for the distorted time Sakura must have spent alone and waiting for something to come find her. Time moved strangely between here and out there and sometimes the price of that was steep.

Ino hugged the jinchuuriki tight and Sakura smoothed her hair, confused. "I'm happy to see you too."

The Yamanaka let the words spill out. "You have no idea how much everyone has been worrying! Your team came back a week ago and the only one who didn't show up was you. Shikamaru and Chouji heard you were in a hospital but no one could find you, and poor Hinata cried when I tried to talk with her. Naruto was wreck. He and Jiraiya have been working night and day to try to put together a patch seal and you were just nowhere for us to find."

"I'm sorry." Sakura lowered her head. "It's not easy to crawl out of here."

Ino caught her breath. "No, it's not your fault. Stuff like this—you're still alive, that's what counts."

They both sat up and Ino finally really looked over at the gate. Her breath came out in a jagged gasp. "That thing's mind…it's fused into yours. What the fuc—"

Sakura looked vaguely amused. "Always nice to know someone else appreciates how fucked up this all is."

Ino flushed and looked back to her friend. "It's…this isn't exactly something they prepare us for."

Sakura grinned. "No one ever is prepared for me. I kinda like it that way." She waved her hand to the gate. "The Kyuubi is stuck with me; he can't even leave my body anymore because we're so entwined. So we're just here with each other."

The blonde steeled. "I need to see what's in there; Naruto and Jiraiya have to know what they're dealing with to get that patch seal done."

Sakura hesitated. "Ino you don't want to go in there. I went earlier and—being eaten alive is more pleasant than that place.

"I'm a Yamanaka." Ino smirked. "I can handle it."

Sakura winced and offered her a hand up. "I warned you, stay close." And the jinchuuriki led them into the dark.

**Konoha Hospital, Maximum Security Wing**

"What's taking so long?" Naruto hissed. He was pacing back and forth at the foot of Sakura's bed while staring at Ino's unconscious body. It was as if she'd somehow wake up and answer him at that very second. Sasuke kicked at him on his thirteenth pass and Naruto hopped the kick and avoided a painful blow to the shins.

Tsunade massaged her forehead. "I will send you through a wall if you don't _stop pacing_."

Naruto kept pacing. Just before Tsunade went through with her promise, Jiraiya had him by the shoulder and brought to a halt. "Park it brat, we'll know in a bit. Be patient."

Naruto looked ready to snarl something back when a wracking gasp hit the air. Ino, who moments before propped against the wall insensate to the world, had eyes flared wide and chest heaving as if she'd run for miles.

Everyone gathered around her and Tsunade helped her sit up and ease her breathing.

Naruto kneeled down in front of the blonde and grabbed her by the shoulders. "What happened?"

Her eyes fluttered and for a moment she looked on the verge of passing out. "It was Sakura, she's all right."

Naruto sagged with relief, Jiraiya grinned and slapped the blond on the back, and Tsunade gave a brief smile. Sasuke was the only one who appeared neither happy nor angry at this announcement.

Tsunade pressed a finger to Ino's neck to check her pulse, and her face creased with worry. "Ino, your heart rate is all over the place. What's wrong?"

Ino reached forward to grab the Hokage's arms to steady herself, her eyes wide. "I don't know how Sakura's sane. I really don't. She took me into that demon's mind and I nearly went comatose from just the passive attacks. Then we finally saw…saw…it. Fuck. There was this red chakra, bloodlust, rage, and this fucking creeping malevolence trying to peel off my skin!"

Ino paused to catch her breath and reel in a hysterical outburst. "The Kyuubi didn't have a solid body; it was just poorly formed chakra that tried to kill us the moment we got near. There were so many tails and sometimes there was a head with teeth and eyes, and its voice…if I never hear that voice again it will be too soon. The only reason I got out alive was because Sakura shielded me and then the demon went berserk on her and they had a screaming match right in front of me. It was…was…something different."

It was the understatement of the century.

Behind them Sakura sighed, and they all turned to see the jinchuuriki smiling rueful. "Every time I fell asleep before now he used to be right up at the seal throwing insults at me. It's kind of how we…greet each other I guess. I'm sorry you had to see that it's—well, we were the only ones down there. The screaming matches pass the time."

Naruto nearly leapt across the room to embrace her and Sakura tried to hug him as well only to realize she was _still _handcuffed to the bed. "Ah…Naruto."

He glanced up at her and she pointedly looked down at her hands. He glanced down too before giving a sheepish laugh. "Yeah, uh…I'll get the keys."

A few minutes later Sakura was freed and had cleared her system of all drugs. Tsunade checked her over like she was finely spun glass thrown down the stairs, and Jiraiya was poking at the seal while having a hushed conversation with both Ino and Naruto. Sasuke stood at the back of the room waiting with grim patience.

Tsunade finished up and piled Sakura's clothing on the foot of the bed. "You can get changed but you'll need to wait here until your ANBU guard arrives. Until the new seal is in place…you understand that we can't let you around unattended. Sasuke will wait with you while I finish."

Sakura nodded in assent and watched as Tsunade left to go arrange her ANBU escort for the next few weeks. After that Jiraiya was ready to drag Ino and Naruto away to start to work on the seal, but he had to wait as Sakura pulled Naruto onto the edge of her bed so they could make out.

And you know, with the seal gone and not dying anymore? She could feel arousal again. And it. Was. _Awesome_.

Seeing her boyfriend without the Kyuubi's lens coloring the world was a breath of fresh air.

Finally the two blonds and the Sage left, leaving her with Sasuke.

Silence stretched between them and it was hard with something she couldn't name.

The fluorescent lights set his face in a harsh glow of pale skin and shadowed hollows, and for a moment she understood why he was so terrifying to others. The room seemed to close in on them the air thickened with an intensity she didn't understand. Not at first.

She got up slowly, stripping off her clothing and putting on the new. When she was finished she sat on the end of the bed and spoke softly. Spoke as if he was an animal to be startled. "Hello Sasuke." Her words were like ripples in water, spreading and filling this place until there was no room for anything else.

He pushed off the wall, body wound aggressive and limbs shifting like he'd shatter in front of her. When he was standing between her legs, she reached up her arms as if to caress his face. When he stiffened her hands froze in their outstretched grasp.

Her voice dropped to a hiss. "What's wrong brother?"

He flinched as if struck and for a moment she really thought he'd hit her in return. After he had lost his eyes Team Seven had truly bonded together in relationships that were as intimate as best friends and as close as siblings. More than once as the years passed she had called Sasuke her brother comfort and tease him.

Now though that word seemed like a curse on her lips.

His voice came out in a choked rasp. "Itachi was my brother before he killed my entire family and I refused to see him as that ever again. That brother told me a girl I finally thought I could trust as a sister was just as traitorous as any Uchiha. He said you were there the night _they _died."

Her hands fell away and he grabbed her neck in a hold.

A kunai pulled from Naruto's clothes when he'd been on the bed was now in her hand and pressing against Sasuke's spine. From the outside it almost looked like a hug, from within though it was a snake's chokehold.

He growled between bared teeth. "Don't lie, I can feel when you lie, hear when you lie. I know you better anyone. Even our teammate. He never could hear the lies out of you."

She sighed. Sadness came and went and it ached, but her upturned face was twisted with a harsh grin. "I'd hoped Itachi would have taken that to his grave."

The hand on her neck tightened to a near stranglehold but she only gave a raspy laugh. "Don't be this way Sasuke."

The hand cut off her air. Her elbow slammed below his diaphragm and the kunai cut through his shirt and into his back, releasing her from his hand as she wrapped herself around him so tightly he couldn't move.

She was a python curling for the kill.

Her voice dropped a few octaves, the mocking gone and replaced by fury. "Don't be so damned self righteous. Did you think I'd just lay own my life down to your anger? Listen to me carefully, how this plays out may end with one of us dead."

In the back of her mind she could hear the Kyuubi laughing. She felt Sasuke's arm wrap around the back of her neck in a silent promise. If she stabbed him, he'd do everything in his power to break her neck before he died.

She took a breath and closed her eyes. The debts were blood and this was the price of her sins.

* * *

**Edit: **The entire conversations between Sakura and the Kyuubi was changed. With the rewrite their character was flowing slightly differently, so there was no fight about Sakura saying she loved him (as it was cut out). Everything else in this chapter was tightened up with a lot of superfluous prose and unneeded dialogue cut out.


	31. Hatred

Disclaimer: I can't read, write, or speak Japanese fluently, so I'm screwed on the whole being-able-to-write-a-manga thing.

* * *

**Konoha Hospital, Maximum Security Wing**

There was a price on everything. That was the way of the world, as absolute as the sun rising and falling, as absolute as everything ultimately dying. Even immortals would end in bloodied violence. Every life she had taken, every action by her hands, every word that had passed her lips had to be balanced. Her day of bloodshed in Uchiha compound years ago was no exception to that fact. She had known that, _known it_.

Then why had the scales being brought to balance come as a surprise?

Sakura knew right then she'd been far too complacent.

In some back part of her mind she'd estranged herself from Itachi and the memories of him. Even in the apathy and agony of their relationship she'd loved him. And even when she'd loved him she'd always known all he would bring her was suffering. They had promised to kill each other, once.

It was the only way she'd known back then how to express her devotion.

But she'd forsaken that promise, that devotion, in order to have Naruto. In order to have Sasuke.

It had been simple to forget all of it when she had been given those boys in return. She felt no guilt, felt nothing for killing those Uchiha. Regret was not something she was readily capable of.

But Sasuke finding out about it had been an unexpected accident. There was no plan for this and there _should have been. _Itachi would never have let himself go quietly; despite the apathy he'd possessed a streak for cruelty that at times had surpassed her own. And he knew the intricacies of spite nearly as intimately as she did.

She should have _known_ it would come to this.

Something in her stomach churned uncomfortably. It wasn't exactly guilt but…she had never lied when she said she cared for Sasuke, but that wouldn't stop her from cutting him down in a heartbeat. He was a chosen pawn, a useful tool, a man she'd molded to stand beside her while she chased her dreams. And despite that he was a close friend that she'd cherished and doted on with affection.

She felt something at the thought of killing him and it stuck heavy between her ribs.

Her thoughts drifted. The Kyuubi was watching, waiting with sick delight to see how messy this would be.

The fluorescent lights above hummed dully, echoing against the walls until it felt as though the buzzing was inside her skull. The arms around her neck felt like steel, and the hands she had wrapped around his back were sticky with blood. The kunai she had gouged in right above his spine was steady as a rock.

She tried to form the words she wanted and it felt like there was broken glass in her mouth. "What you need to understand Sasuke, more than anything, is that if you make another move to kill me I will end you." The rage and regret made her temples throb. "I love you Sasuke but don't think that will make me pause for a second. Swallow your pride and back off."

In her arms he shuddered with rage. His voice was choked by it. "Pride? Swallow my pride when you're the one who—"

His arms tightened. With a soundless snarl she the kunai dug in further. The pain tempered his anger and his grip around her neck loosened just enough. Enough she wouldn't kill him, not yet.

"Why?" He demanded. "Why in the _hell _did you kill them?"

She debated lying for a moment but what was the point? In the end all that came out was the brutal truth. "It was something to do."

He sucked in a breath, muscles going rigid under her hands. It probably took every fiber of his willpower not to try and kill her then and there. And at that moment she knew she wanted Sasuke to see every inch of her, as ugly as it was.

She loved him so dearly and she wanted him to see her and to hurt with it. She wanted to see what kind of hatred it would twist out of him.

He bit off the words. "How could you!"

His arms slackened and with a shove he went crashing into the wall. She stood and crimson bled into her irises. She wanted him to see and she wanted to see him."How could I?" Her voice dropped a dangerous octave. "Don't play that self-righteous card on me, our kind doesn't get ivory towers to sit on. I _know_ your sins Uchiha Sasuke. The families you killed, the children you tortured in front of the parents, the collateral damage you caused on missions just because you wanted to really _feel _it."

Her blood boiled just at the thought, hot and sinuous and needy. Hot and vile and furious.

"You only care because the Uchiha were your family." And she scoffed. "You expect me to care too? I remember all those people that came after you because of what you did to their families. And you know what I remember Sasuke? You laughed, you laughed so goddamn hard and played around with them before slitting them ear to ear."

There was a heavyness around them and it ate her words and swelled. He surged from the wall. "Those people I killed were on the authority of the village, you killed my family just for the hell of it!"

Her rage lessened as she felt the slide of icy contempt. She was a monster and probably a hypocrite, but this still made her fists curl and bones grind. She laughed bitterly. "And I killed the Uchiha on Itachi's authority. It's all semantics when we boil it down."

His lips peeled from his teeth and the killing intent that followed made her blood spark and her chakra sing. It was so familiar and having it directed at her was damn near heady. He growled. "That's not the same, not nearly."

Her eyebrows arched. "Isn't it? Our so called authority comes from that pretty little title of Hokage. It's not sanctioned by god or king or the righteousness of men." Her voice dropped to a sing-song lilt. "I know your sins and I can number the graves of the people you killed on _my_ authority."

He had only needed the smallest warning: a lilt in her voice, a snap of her fingers, her blood pulsing in arousal to give him the barest hint that _this_ was what she wanted of him. Uchiha Sasuke had only needed the barest of excuses to become a monster, and now he wanted to hold her to some higher standard?

It made her want to laugh.

She could hear the bones of his hands straining. When he spoke again his words had a hollowness to them. "What would you have done if I didn't know? Kept playing this game of giving me orders and twisting me around and saying you _loved me_? How many years would I have had until you got tired of me or I outlived my usefulness and you decided I'd be better off in a grave?" He snarled. "It's all semantics anyways when we boil it down."

"I'm not that fickle Sasuke." All the heat was gone and she answered plainly. "I'm going to care about you until the day I die no matter what happens here. You know the past between us. I hated you when we were children and I wanted you anyways. You were…" She felt almost wistful. "You had so much potential and I just wanted and wanted until I had you. I would never have killed you, you were too perfect."

His voice went flat. "So I'm just some possession to you, something to put on your shelf of fucked up accomplishment and admire. Something to mock because you took _everything_ from me and I still—"

_Still loved you._ They both heard the words even if he didn't say them.

"I didn't know you then Sasuke." She sighed. "I knew Itachi and he asked something of me. Before this if I'd asked you to kill the Hyuga when we rescued Hinata instead of just knocking them out, you would have. Without question and a song in your heart, you would have."

His fists unclenched but he gave no retort. They both understood.

"I hate this." He spat.

"I know." And they saw each other clearly. "All we have is the future Sasuke, I understand what you're feeling, I do. But killing me won't bring any closure. Nothing good will come of it anymore, just let it die."

Slowly, with violent movements, his headband fell away to reveal the scars of his eyes. The wounds stood out jagged and white and barbed. They were lines that had drowned madness in pain and power in blood. "The day my family died I thought I'd lost everything. My chest felt like there was razorwire around it every second of the day. The only way I could make that pain fade even a little was the thought of avenging them. It was _everything_ Sakura." He sucked in a pained breath and she didn't know what to say

"I tried to run from the village and you shattered me into a million tiny pieces because you _wanted something." _He laughed bitterly. "You're so petty that it almost hurts."

Her gaze dipped. "You already knew this."

He swallowed. "You inflicted every kind of pain on me to make me stronger and you suffocated me during it with your love and attention. You killed my ambitions so you could replace them with your own and I hated it."

She drew a step closer, heart throbbing against her ribs. He breathed. "I started to forget why I was fighting and it started being about you and me and Naruto and Hanab—" He swallowed her name before he could finish it. "I was changing and I couldn't stop it but I trusted you. I _trusted you _Sakura!"

That accusation was what hurt the most. She didn't deny him, didn't argue anything. It was all the truth in every ugly inch of it.

He took a ragged breath. "I should be able to kill you. It should be the easiest thing I could ever do and I just can't. I trusted you and you broke it and I still can't kill you! God…" He made a sound and it sounded like a sob. "You fucked me up."

Blood was matted on his palms. He raised one hand up to his mouth and bit down all the way to the knuckle. He didn't even seem to register the pain.

She was petty and cruel and her friends were part possessions. She had loved so badly that she had poisoned all she had touched. She should have felt regret, she really should. She should have felt _sorry_.

But she wasn't.

Sakura collapsed on the bed, so tired that even her bones ached. "It's your choice. Just go back to Hanabi and—come see me if you want to, come for coffee, train with us." This was the first concession she'd ever made. "But if you can't I'll let you transfer off the team and not come near you again."

"But—"Her voice was starting to fail her. "I still want you as my teammate. That will never change."

He asked one bitter question: "And if I tell the village what really happened that night?"

The air froze and she blazed scarlet. "You wouldn't get the first word out of your mouth."

The putrid fury of her chakra stayed in the air. Things that should have been clear were muddled, hate tempered with love, rage cooled with cynicism, family ties forgotten in friendship, rage diluted with contentment, the hope of some kind of future covering up the past. She had wrought all of this and more.

Everything had its price and the debts were blood. She just didn't know whose it would be yet.

He slid down the wall and sat on the floor, pale and restless and broken edged. They waited in silence for the ANBU to arrive.

There were no more words.

Everything had already been said.

**Hyuga Compound**

There was a certain malevolence to the home of the Hyuga clan, even if Hatake Kakashi would never admit it. The walls were sterilely white and the wooden walkways shined to the point he could see his own ghostly reflection in them. For so many people living in such a concentrated area there were no voices to be heard and the wind drowned out whatever was whispered in these halls.

Even in the warmth of a Konoha autumn it had an inescapable chill. The Hyuga weight of tradition could suck the life out of any place, and here it laid the heaviest on everyone's shoulders.

"You're certain of these…people, Asuma?" Kakashi asked under his breath. He kept a careful eye on the Hyuga servant leading them down the hall.

Asuma nodded, jittering the cigarette in his hand. "Yeah. This situation is starting to border on desperate. People with similar views are being gathered to see what can be done. We're not going to let the village rot while we still have breath."

If Kakashi had a reply he never got to voice it. At that moment the Hyuga servant turned and gave a short bow before sliding open a door. The two jonin stepped inside and Kakashi immediately scanned all the faces in the room.

On the left side were over forty various jonin, some mission handlers, others familiar faces that he'd worked with on missions over the years. He recognized Raido and Aoba whispering hurriedly to one another by the wall, and Ebisu standing alone in a far corner.

On the right side of the room were two dozen ANBU crouched together or leaning on the walls, and at the front of the group were two of their own with their masks shoved up to reveal their faces. The leader was Yugao, one of his old ANBU teammates, her normally beautiful face drawn and venomous. At her elbow was the recently promoted Gemma chewing on a senbon and looking ready to bolt at a moment's notice.

At the bottom of the room were roughly thirty of the oldest chunin in Konoha gathered in small circles. Kakashi barely knew any of those in the lower ranks; the only one even remotely familiar Umino Iruka who was currently locked in a heated discussion with a fellow teacher.

His gaze was eventually drawn to the center of the room were a long, low table seated over a dozen of the most powerful political leaders and fighters in Konoha. On the end closest to him were both the Inuzuka matriarch and her daughter with their dogs curled at their feet. The two's normally feral appearance had been groomed back to reveal both women had strong faces with a certain kind of proud beauty to them.

To their left sat two grim ninja, Akimichi Choza and Nara Shikaku, clan heads to their respective families. The two men sat with a space between them, an obvious deference to their dead teammate Yamanaka Inoichi slain during the Oto assassinations.

The wounds from that attack were still fresh for some people.

The next four seats were filled by civilian clan heads that Kakashi had met only in passing, and each was known for having deep pockets that kept them firmly entrenched in the council. They were the kind of civilians that had bodyguards from the ninja forces at their beck and call.

Another five seats held more of the Konoha council, all of these men retired shinobi. Some of them had been Kakashi's own superiors when he had been freshly graduated from the academy.

In the final seat was the imperial and undeniable presence of Hyuga Hiashi, the seeming leader over the contingent. At his right elbow was the gnarled form of the deteriorating head of the Hyuga council, white eyes rheumy with age. At Hiashi's left was a pompous male Hyuga who was the youngest person there at the age of twenty-three. From what Kakashi had heard, after both heiresses had jumped ship this distant cousin had been appointed successor to the Clan headship. And considering the haughty overconfidence Kakashi could see even from here, the boy would do Hiashi proud.

Conversation began to die down as Kakashi and Asuma walked in, and suddenly Yugao was at his elbow. "So the sensei to the Death Squad has arrived. How quaint."

A murmur of derision and unease rippled across the room.

He chuckled grimly. "Hardly. Sakura was an obligation and Naruto didn't have the attention span to learn back then, let alone anything else." Unless it had involved Sakura of course, then Naruto had been eagerly attentive.

Back then Sarutobi had expected him to keep Sakura alive and not anything more. "Sasuke was my only student out of the batch, and the minute Sakura decided he was worth the time she crippled him. I was never their teacher."

But they both knew the real accusation of her question. That he hadn't drowned Sakura the first second they'd been alone when she was still a child…

No. It hardly mattered. Her mask had been too perfect and she had never really been helpless, not that monster. Attacking her then would have just forced her to show her teeth sooner.

The murmurs dipped in acceptance, though the mention of Sasuke had rankled them. That a clan Prince had fallen so far galled them even if they had stood by and watched it happen.

Yugao's jaw clenched but she gave him a short nod before taking an open seat.

Hiashi raised his hand up and beckoned to the last open spots, and the two jonin shared a glance before sitting on the cushions provided.

Kakashi sub-vocalized his words. "Asuma you're Sarutobi clan, so you get a seat. I'm somewhat at a loss for why I'm _here _and not with the other jonin."

Asuma leaned over. "You've been on S-ranked missions for three solid years. You have the most individual battle experience out of anyone here and the highest body count in the village short of _her_. Like it or not Kakashi, you're going to be a key player in this."

That didn't assure him any. He made some kind of bland reply and the room fell to silence. It was time.

Hiashi looked at each of them with measuring eyes. "I welcome everyone to the Hyuga estate tonight in what I hope will be a productive meeting to fix the ailments of Konoha." He sounded somber enough to be giving a eulogy. "As most of you know, with the Oto assassinations the council has been under quorum and unable to meet. Lady Tsunade has refused to begin seating any new members until the new Aburame's head wedding is done." He spat the last words, and no one dared mention one of his wayward daughters was the bride. "The wedding will be complete within the week but I have little doubt Tsunade will find some other excuse to delay seating."

Everyone there knew that little stipulation had been Tsunade's way of making sure the wedding went off without a hitch. Without quorum the council couldn't meet, and without meeting they were effectively neutered in their power. The Oto assassinations had blindsided everybody but that hadn't stopped the Hokage from taking advantage in the aftermath.

Hiashi continued. "The council makeup is normally decided by its members, but without quorum the Hokage has full discretion to choose who will be seated. While we may be able to subvert some of her appointments to our side that possibility is…doubtful at best. And that's dependant on if she brings in anyone new at all."

No one would put it past the woman to let the council languish into nonexistence out of spite.

Nara Shikaku sighed deeply. "I had hoped to retire soon. How utterly troublesome."

The Inuzuka matriarch snarled. "This lack of quorum is hardly the source of our troubles; we all know _this_ didn't start with the current Hokage."

And they all knew what _this_ was, the political-social shift in the ranks and utter devotion to a new regent in the form of that demon masquerading as kunoichi.

Asuma gave a clipped nod. "Agreed. What's happening now is a symptom. It all started with _Her_, that incarnation of the Kyuubi no Kitsune."

The murmurs and fidgeting began anew. Kakashi felt the air crackle with hatred and fear at that cursed name.

Akimichi Choza and Shikau shared a dark glance, and Choza cleared his throat. "It's not as simple as killing that girl. She's become nearly untouchable and even if we managed to topple her the forces she's started would move beyond her death. All of the youngest jonin and chunin absolutely adore her and that includes my own son." He swallowed the shame of it before continuing. "The Hokage gives her iron clad protection and puts that demon's beliefs into law. A corpse will hardly uproot that problem, even hers."

Yugao let out a vicious laugh, regarding the Akimichi with heavy lidded eyes and disdain. "You know what we're getting at. Her corpse might not fix it but at least it will be a start. Everyone here knows that girl must be assassinated before it's too late. She's in the bed of what is no doubt the future Hokage and if we wait much longer the Godaime's little campaign to forcefully retire her enemies or to remove their power will destroy any chance we have of saving this village. The clock's on and we have to start somewhere."

"She's right." One of the shinobi councilmen agreed. "At this rate the council will become useless and the clans will no longer be able to sustain themselves and have their dues. The Hokage will rule unchecked and with that demon pulling the strings there will be no stopping the fall that's coming."

Kakashi felt his muscles coil. He felt anger and skepticism but more than that, doubt. "And what do you propose we do then Yugao, just walk up and stab her? I could probably take anyone in this room in one on one combat but Sakura is an entirely different matter. You'd be scraping me off the ground with a knife by the time that was done."

Yugao smirked and waved over her shoulder, voice a smug purr. "Gemma."

The other ANBU came and kneeled at her side. She smiled coldly at him. "Tell them what you told me."

Gemma swallowed, his teeth chattering on the senbon until he ripped it out. "A few hours ago I was placed on a top secret and highly dangerous bodyguard part-surveillance mission by the Godaime."

He looked guilty and glanced away from those seated at the table. Everyone in the room was hanging on his words and Shikaku finally snapped. "Well what?"

Gemma steeled himself. "Myself and the other ANBU were placed to watch over the jinchuuriki. We were told there was some kind of…damage to her chakra coils, and if her chakra shifted drastically in either direction we were to immediately isolate her and notify Tsunade."

The younger Inuzuka woman, Hana, blurted. "The demon is vulnerable?"

Gemma gave a blunt nod. "It seems that way, I can only speculate that Tsunade fears something going wrong with her chakra and needs us to get her to a hospital if something goes wrong."

There were sharp gasps of surprise and then mutters of excitement. The demon, for the first time since maybe that chunin exam when she'd stepped onto the world stage, was weak. Vulnerable. _Killable._

Hiashi's lips twisted into a rictus of a smile. "We will need to move quickly if that's the case, as we all know her recovery rates are second to none. This window will no doubt be small."

Shikaku snorted and all eyes fell on him. He spat. "The window may be there, and what if you succeed, huh? If we're not perfect in framing a group outside the village it'll be our heads on a pike. Akastuki isn't around to accuse of all things that go wrong anymore."

Shikaku's lips curled. "If this fails it will be civil war. That woman has gathered around her the most powerful and influential children of this village. She has her Hokage in the Uzumaki, power in Uchiha Sasuke and Rock Lee and Hyuga Neji, future clan heads in Aburame Shino and all three children of the Ino-Shika-Cho squad, and she holds the loyalty of both direct Hyuga heirs if she ever manages to depose Hiashi. That doesn't even count the love of both Sanin, the devotion of all ninja her age and younger, and the strong support of nearly every medic ninja in the village. None of us saw what she was truly doing, we allowed our hatred of her to mislead us into thinking of her as nothing but an animal that needed to be put down. She was not a mindless pawn, but a queen in disguise."

It was like the air was being sucked out of the room and everyone inhaled sharply. They had been blind to what she was really doing and only now did they finally realize that her untouchable status was not a hated accident but a carefully orchestrated thing.

There were monsters and there were _monsters_, and they'd let one waltz right into power.

Hiashi's smug demeanor turned stormy. "We will succeed and destroy her. She is the glue that holds the new movement together, without her pulling the strings we can rip it apart and end this farce."

Some of the ninja nodded, murmuring agreements. Others looked less than sure and Hiashi noticed their unease. "We must put together a team and ambush her. Are the ANBU going to cooperate?"

Yugao's pale face gleamed triumphantly. It was no secret among those in this room that she had long held grudge against Sakura. First it had been for the people lost to the demon's attack but then it nearly tripled when the girl became the sympathetic ambassador to Suna. Suna, the same village that had assassinated Yugao's lover Hayate during the Oto/Suna invasion nearly four years ago.

Sakura had been close with the Kazekage and had easily persuaded her own Kage to not seek out those who had killed Konoha ninja during the invasion. Battle was battle and war crimes had never been sought. Yugao had been denied her revenge and she had boiled with it since.

"The ANBU under my command will assist in whatever manner you need. Gemma alone can knock out those on his detail to give you an opening. He'll can play unconscious and implicate another village later." She savored the next words. "I will _personally_ take part in the ambush."

Hiashi nodded and glanced farther down the table. Both the Nara and Akimichi shook their heads, and Shikaku interjected. "We will not assist directly, you understand, but I know there are some in my clan who will wish to help. I'll send them your way Hiashi, but if this fails I will deny them."

The Inuzuka's were next. "My daughter despite my objections, says she's in for the attack. But she will _only _provide support and tracking." The younger Inuzuka glared at her mother but Tsume remained stony.

All the older shinobi council members declined direct participation, but two of them declared an interest to help organize and operate the mission from afar.

The four civilian members of the council all offered up money to pay for any kind of supplies or weaponry that those on the ambush wanted, which was honestly far more than Kakashi had expected them to do.

Asuma fidgeted with a pack of cigarettes. He dropped his voice. "What do you think?"

Kakashi shrugged. "I can't say I'd look forward to fighting her. Even weakened and in an ambush with the best we have to offer...I can't imagine them succeeding without less than a seventy-five percent casualty rate. And if this is traced back to us…well, no one whose opinion matters will hate me for it." He paused and really looked at his friend. "Your entire squad adores her. I haven't seen Sakura with either of the boys directly, but when she was with Ino…"

A shudder passed through him because he would _never_ forget the sight of all that skin stretched between the trees. Ino had become something new on that mission to rescue Hanabi, born between the blood and the skin and the viscera. Sakura had welcomed her with open arms.

"They'll never forgive you." There was nothing else to really say.

Asuma lowered his head. "I was afraid you'd say that."

Hiashi looked to them and Kakashi shook his head. "I won't be directly involved in this."

The Hyuga returned his gaze coolly, but there was a sharp edge of venom belying it. "You were her sensei for a time Hatake; you can at least brief the squad on what you know of her skills."

He clenched his fists under the table. That monster had hid from all of them; Kakashi knew little more than the rest and in fact probably knew less as he'd been out of the village the past three years. But too many eyes were on him and he was still doubted for that farce of playing at her sensei. He could only bite back the complaint. "Fine."

Hiashi moved on to the large groups sitting by the walls. Six jonin gathered behind the table volunteered to be in the ambush, with three more offering to be support. Only one chunin was brave enough to want to be part of the attack squad and at the end there was roughly a main squad of a dozen with more yet to be recruited and nine people to organize and support.

"Those who will be part of this step to rid Konoha of a parasite I commend you. History will look back on you as heroes one day, I promise you that." Those white eyes shifted dangerously. "When thespecifics have been determined you will be contacted for the mission, lay low until then." With that Hiashi stood and left, the two other Hyuga following him from the room.

Kakashi couldn't help but notice no main house Hyuga had volunteered for the mission but three branch members had been casually offered up for slaughter. But it was too late to regret this alliance.

The sides had been chosen; he could only hope that his would be the winning one.

**Apartment Complex, Four Days Later**

"I'll be back tonight."

Sakura opened one eye slowly, pulling down the sheets so she could see Naruto's face. The room was still dark and cold. What hour was it?

She blinked rapidly and glanced at the clock. "Ah…my god, five AM ? What the hell does Jiraiya want you to do at five that you couldn't do at ten?"

He brushed a hand through her hair before bending to kiss her forehead. "You still get to sleep, what do you care?" The warm smile dulled the insult considerably. "We made a bit of a breakthrough on the seven-point-matrix yesterday, and the more time we put in the faster we can get this patch seal done."

She exhaled noisily. A breakthrough was so far from what she wanted it was galling.

Instead she grabbed the front of his shirt and hauled herself up. In the process the sheets on her slid down. Pale and naked skin enticed him. "Are you sure I can't persuade you to stay a little longer?"

He swallowed, eyes darting to the ceiling. "No…just…no."

She huffed and withdrew, hiding herself from him. "Whatever, go, I'll be here at lunch just in case Jiraiya-sama lets you come home. You know, when he's too busy doing his noon _research_ to actually work."

He chuckled fondly. "Since when did you mind Jiraiya's research?"

She didn't, she was actually quite fond of that man and his perversions. It was just this thing with the patch seal was pissing her off because it was suddenly a race between her and them, and Sakura had always been terribly competitive.

He touched her right leg softly before leaving their bedroom. The front door opened and closed and the emptiness of the rooms surrounding her crept in.

The last few days had been odd, surreal even. Naruto left early in the morning, sometimes before she would wake. Sasuke hadn't shown up for coffee in days and it'd thrown off her patterns and leaft her at ends. Tsunade had banned her from the tower, and trying to throw her chakra around training on a broken seal would like get her chained to the hospital floor.

Sasuke not showing up…wasn't a surprise. There was nothing she could do to fix this, and at a loss she'd already started and then set aside the paperwork to move him off squad if he asked it of her.

Mostly she'd lazed about the apartment and been moody. Well, that's how it looked to the ANBU watching her. In reality when she was pacing, staring at the walls, sitting on the balcony, or reading she was in reality conversing with the Kyuubi. It was a race between her and Naruto to see if she if the demon would be sealed or if she would finally fill her last fealty.

It was proving more difficult than she and the Kyuubi had imagined. While his soul could technically leave her body without the Yondaime's seal to impede it, there was no anchor to keep him around once he left. For the moment they were moving in circles and not getting anywhere because he had no shell and his body had been long ago burned and removed from this earth.

She drifted back to sleep again. She was thinking, half here and half there and absolutely nowhere at all. Her thoughts were muddled, echoes of the autopsies performed days before on the Akatsuki filling her up in every gory detail. It was white and red, sterile until her teeth ached, silver and cold and their viscera spread out like butterfly wings.

She may have been banned from the tower but she had refused to miss those autopsies.

Even disallowed to assist, she'd watched from the observation deck as Tsunade and Shizune peeled those missing ninja apart. The bodies had been mostly destroyed and putting them back together had been a near disaster. They were so broken using foreign chakra to reconstruct had nearly caused cascading failure in the first few minutes. Some of the cadavers had bloodlines, strange ones, and the bodies had been forcibly reconstructed with various chemicals and base elements kept on hand just so they could examine the kekke genkai properly.

Something stirred, silver and cold become boiling and red. There was an idea there churning sticky with promise.

A sharp knock broke the half-dream, sending the wisps of it away. She stumbled out of the bed and her feet nearly slipped on the floor in her haste. Her head ached strangely and she wondered just what that had been.

The person knocked a second time and she snarled and searched for some half-decent clothing to answer the door in. It was in shorts and an oversized shirt she found Hanabi smiling sleepily at her. "Hi Sakura." Andthen the girl breezed right in to find the nearest couch to fall back asleep on.

Sakura's breath caught, the feeling of dark and feathery and _familiar _racing across her skin.

Sasuke stood slouched in the doorway, limbs clenched like rebar and jaw sharp as any blade.

She blinked, heart racing. "Sasuke."

He turned towards her and she felt the muscles between her shoulder blades pull tight. Her voice stayed airy. "You want coffee?"

"I—" The air pulsed between them, blood and fury barely kept under. He sounded mechanical. "That'd be fine."

Hanabi glanced at them, the tiredness retreating from her eyes. Sakura wondered if the girl could smell the steel and guts and old memories that lay between them. Sasuke nudged her with his elbow, half hiding the girl in the movement.

Hanabi understood the order of retreat for what it was and disappeared to the living room.

They both stayed in the hallway, still locked in the miasma of betrayal and unable to move past it.

"Come inside." She asked.

He stiffened. "Is that an order?"

Her ribs felt more brittle than glass. "No."

He stepped in slowly to test the waters. She walked backwards and allowed him to follow her into the kitchen. He came into the room ten minutes later and she smelled the anger of him more than she saw him. Her back was turned as she made the coffee and it would be so, so _easy_ for him to slip a knife into it.

Suddenly his fingers pressed along her ribs behind her heart. She stilled to acknowledge the action for what it was.

_I could have, but I won't._

It's not like she wouldn't have smelled the adrenaline and heard the blade if he'd really been trying, but it was a small indulgence to give him, her back.

"Hanabi's asleep." He told her.

And she wasn't surprised. "I suppose there's something you wanted to say to me." She turned and shoved herself up on the counter. "Go for it."

He bracketed her in on the counter with his arms and his voice was low and feral with _need_. "Why Itachi?"

For a second she could only see a little boy begging why, why, _why did you do it—why me why him why us_—

She couldn't stay silent, but it took some time to work up an answer. "I was starved for human contact as a kid. He was the first person to…to look at me and not hate me for it. He saw me for exactly what I was and decided that made me _worthy_."

Even the Kyuubi had hardly thought her worthy back in those days.

"It could have been anyone in the beginning," She admitted. "But he chose me and I loved him for it."

His jaw worked under his skin, sinew and bone wound up so tightly. "Do you always kill the things you love?"

"What I feel for you is so far from what I felt for him it's not even in the same universe." The words that left her turned sharper."Itachi left promising me we'd kill each other and I couldn't express myself any other way besides saying _yes_ and wanting to stick my hands between his ribs so I could feel his guts and make him mine."

"Should I be worried?" It sounded like a joke but it was entirely a threat.

She sniffed waspishly. "I've learned to express myself in more healthy ways since then." She closed her eyes. "You're not the only one who's fucked up Sasuke."

"So that was it." He asked flatly. "He snapped his fingers and you leapt to attention."

"He promised me blood." Her breath was spilling out of her hotly; remembering in bright detail that puberty had come early for her and she hadn't been able to express it properly.

"For what it's worth Sasuke." She swallowed the rush of heat down into an apology. "I'm sorry it's come to this."

He didn't respond and she could smell the coffee burning in the pot.

Things would never be the same again; they were so uncomfortable in each other's presence that her skin was crawling. Beneath that there was something brittle ready to shatter and slice them both to pieces. She couldn't assuage him and there were no excuses left.

Maybe time would bury these pains. Maybe it wouldn't. Whatever happened though, they could never go back to how things were again.

She breathed out and accepted it. There was nothing else to be done for it. "I need to borrow Hanabi tomorrow."

The temperature in the room dropped to subzero and he was crowding her, hands on either side of her hips and stomach pressed between her legs. "Why?"

He was so protective, so damn obvious she could see his Achilles' heel from here.

"I need to get Hinata and Shino a wedding present." She answered neutrally. "I doubt it will even occur to Hanabi that she should buy something for her sister."

The suspicion wasn't spoken with words but by the way he coiled under her. A sigh slipped out. "The ANBU will be watching. I won't put one hair out of place on her pretty, pretty head."

He withdrew like she'd burned him. "Fine."

The coldness remained in the air behind him and there was nothing she could say to make it go away. Sasuke left and took Hanabi with him and the coffee burned and boiled over.

She didn't feel anything.

**One Day Later, 9:35 AM**

"Sakura, I swear to whatever heavenly being is up there that I'm not on lunch break. This is vital and—don't laugh, I'm not kidding!" Naruto glared up at her, scowling.

The frustration of the last few days was coiling unpleasantly in her belly and it made her grin viciously. "I don't believe you. You know with you waltzing in here and telling me to get my shirt off and get my ass on the bed…really Naruto. You're giving a girl _expectations_ here."

She wondered if this counted as taking it out on him. With venomed words and her back arching and a grin that could cut him if he got to close. She was pissed and it made her blood boil in all the wrong ways.

Naruto though seemed to take it like a godsend to annoy her. "How was I supposed to know you weren't wearing anything underneath the shirt?" He eyed her appreciatively. "I really did need to look at your seal, you know. Not that I minded the show."

She made a crooning noise. "You didn't ask." The foreplay was putting her off, she wanted to shove and bite and dig in but Naruto was too busy grinning and trying to work. She had to move slowly even though she wanted to burst at the seams.

His fingers tapped on her hip. "We have a couple of sketches of the broken outline of your seal but there were irregularities. I came to double check." His fingers nearly bruised her. "That's it."

She barked out a laugh. "Oh, that's it, huh?" Her grin was razors and she pressed closer. "And you're not enjoying this just a teeny, tiny bit?"

He shoved her back on the bed and returned to examining her stomach. Sakura could have just about _killed_ him.

From her perch her legs were spread and Naruto was on the floor crouched between them. The position was comprising but he was just staring at the seal on her stomach and scribbling on a drawing pad propped against his knees.

It was just so…so _infuriating_.

He leaned in closer to examine the outer edge and his breath pulsed warmly against her stomach. This was so unfair she wanted to scream.

Suddenly he dropped the pad and gripped both sides of her stomach, pushing her farther onto the bed. She gazed at him hopefully but he was staring at the seal so intently he might as well have been looking at a textbook. He was entirely oblivious to the expectant look she was burning into the top of his head.

His breath caught. "It's deteriorating—it's _been_ deteriorating this whole time. Piece by piece." And he swore. "Shit!"

Her disappointment in the lack of more strenuous activity was immediately forgotten.

She looked at her own shattered seal with incredulous eyes, and true to his words she could see the edges fading out. How had she _not_ noticed this?

She put a hand to her mouth to hide her smile. "It must be my blood, the Kyuubi had aspiration of me burning the seal off by making me pure seal acid. With it breaking open my blood must have finally found a chink to eat at."

It didn't really help her any, since it was already shattered. But she knew what this meant for Naruto: setback.

He swore again. "We were basing that new design to incorporate with the leftover pieces! Now—" He gave an agitated growl and kicked the sketching pad. "It's utterly useless!"

She ran her fingers through his hair. "It's all right. The most getting it done right now will do for me is save me from getting nagged to death. The Kyuubi isn't exactly in a position to come busting out right now. We're not on any timetable."

He sighed and rested his forehead against her stomach. "I guess."

He was a sealing genius who enjoyed his art and already he was plotting a new course of action. She was a breaker by necessity. And while they complemented each other perfectly in this regard, when it came to their own development of seals he was light-years ahead of her in skill.

This setback had given her time but Naruto's genius wouldn't be stopped long. But she had her ways to delay him. "I know what will make you feel better."

He snapped back."What?"

"Well let's see." She purred. "Jiraiya-sama gave you two hours to put together a new sketch and in fifteen minutes we've already realized there's no point. Nobody is expecting us _anywhere _right now."

He glanced up at her, heat sparking in his eyes. "Yeah?"

She smirked. Hook, line and sinker. "Trust me, screwing your anger out does _wonders_ for your stress level." God knows she'd been trying to do just that for the last half-hour.

Uncertainty crossed his face, duty warring with desire. "I should find Jiraiya and tell him what happened. You need this seal."

He wouldn't get away that easily. She slid her hands behind his neck, nails scraping at skin and drawing him up. She kissed him softly and then trailed down his neck, nails digging in and using her teeth as she went.

The pain triggered him and he surged up, slamming her backwards onto the bed and straddling her in one smooth motion.

"Come on." She enticed him. "Is that all you got? I didn't even _feel_ it."

He snarled at her, shoving between her legs and driving her down into the bed. She arched and felt her toes curl.

"We'll be giving your ANBU detail quite a show." He breathed against her neck.

"They know better than to—" She was already working at his shirt. "Better than to watch." Because if they did she'd skin them alive and screaming.

He grinned. "Good." And one of his hands had already started a torturous slide down her abdomen.

She gasped, utterly breathless. "Now that's _definitely_ more like it."

**Konoha, Shopping District, 11:37 AM**

"So what are we looking for?"

Sakura almost didn't notice Hanabi speaking to her; too busy replaying the morning over and over in her head. Really, she should try pissing Naruto off more before initiating with him, because _damn._

Hanabi sighed. "Could you be anymore smug?"

Sakura glanced at her, realizing just what the girl was implying. "Well somebody's not getting any."

"Twelve!" Hanabi objected.

Sakura clicked her tongue. "Most ninja hit puberty around ten, don't give me that."

The girl crossed her arms. "None of your business. Besides, weren't we here getting Hinata a present?"

Sakura hummed cheerfully but didn't answer. The other girl's gaze dipped a bit and suddenly the teasing and taunts were gone. "Why did you ask me to come?"

She felt her smile slip. "Hinata's your sister. I thought this would be fun for the both of us."

Hanabi fidgeted with her sleeve. "You and Sasuke have been fighting and you know I'm on his side."

"We didn't ask you to pick sides." And all of her good mood was evaporating and Sakura couldn't even get angry about it.

"He's been weird since Akatsuki and it just _hurts_ being around you two in the same room." The girl looked up in determination. "I can't ignore it."

She sighed. "It's all said and done. There's nothing you can do to make this any better."

The question hung, the _why_. Hanabi stared at her and Sakura stared back with glacial eyes. Hanabi looked away first. "Whatever."

That wasn't the end of it but Sakura would let it slide. There was nothing any of them could do, they just had to live and work it out however it happened, for good or for ill.

Hanabi let out a ragged breath. "So are we just going to pretend everything is fine and all damn perfect? Because I can totally start talking about how Neji and Tenten are saying they're not dating and then make out whenever they think nobody's looking."

She smiled ruefully. "If that's what you want."

Hanabi huffed but didn't bring it up a second time, and Sakura grabbed the girl by the arm and pulled them to a halt. "We're here."

Hanabi looked at the store and her jaw dropped. "You have got to be kidding me."

Sakura cackled. "Hinata and Shino are going to be the new Lord and Lady of the Aburame, and since they'll be living at the compound it's not like they need house warming gifts. I want to see that demure Lady Aburame speechless."

Hanabi made a choking sound. "With all that lace—good god, how would you get that on?"

"Very carefully." She responded sagely.

Hanabi's pale eyes widened with glee. "Hinata'll have an aneurism when she opens it."

Both girls shared a glance and grinned, their argument firmly set aside. They linked arms and cheerfully made their way into the premiere women's lingerie store in all of Konoha.

Hanabi laughed. "Hinata's going to _hate_ us."

Sakura just grinned.

**Shopping District, 3:34 PM**

He saw wisps of black hair first and then the familiar curve of neck meeting shoulder. Konohamaru couldn't help the smile despite his anxiety. When Sakura saw him her face lit up and he threw himself at her. She had to spin around once to dissipate the momentum of his jump and they were both laughing as they hugged.

"God Maru." She set him down and gripped his shoulder tightly. "You're packing muscle on there. Pretty soon I won't be able to lift you like that anymore."

His smile lasted only a few seconds before slipping. There was a reason he was here tracking her down. No one had acknowledged her return to the village and it'd been by pure chance he'd overheard rumors of her being back in town. And he'd been holding onto a secret for far too long.

Something was brewing in the village and it was coming for her, and his uncle might just be part of it.

Her expression morphed from honest joy to worry and then to grim understanding. "What is it?"

"Something's happening and I don't know what." He swallowed. "We should probably tell the Hokage."

"I guess its good I already sent Hanabi back home." Sakura's gaze was calculating. "I'll take you to Hime myself. In the meantime why don't you tell me what's going on?"

**Hokage Tower, 4:10 PM**

It took only ten succinct minutes for Konohamaru to share the conversation he'd overheard between his uncle and Hatake Kakashi. When he was done the office was silent. Tsunade sat back, face drawn and fingers laced together under her chin. It almost looked like she was praying.

Sakura sat on poised with body angled like a blade: sharp, flat and deadly. They were taking the bait, her enemies were gathering. The plan was coming to fruition half a decade sooner than she'd imagined even in her wildest dreams.

Tsunade's eyes opened and they were amber shaded darkly. "This is troubling." It was a drastic understatement.

Both Sakura and Konohamaru nodded, unable to offer anything more.

Sakura waited, feeling anticipation building in her stomach and kicking around her veins. She called to the Kyuubi. _Hear that? Our enemies are stirring, all of the maneuvering has made them realize the corner they're in. And now they're getting ready to show their hand._

A hollow sound came up, the clicking of joints and the gnashing of teeth. The chilling sensation of human hands pulling at her mind made a ripple of something icy flow across her skin. She was still troubled by that new form of his. The way it touched and moved and gripped so tightly.

His tone was low, pleasure and anticipation in one heady combination. _It happened sooner than we hoped. Now how will they strike? Blades or fire or poison in your drink…_

She had to stop herself from shuddering in utter delight. Inwardly she mused. _This could still be a year out; we may only be seeing the first signs. _

He answered archly. _Or for all we know they're already organizing, all of our enemies gathering together to plot in one convenient place._

_Our luck is changing_. She had the impression of sharp teeth, of hands on her throat and a slick feeling in her belly. _And whenever they strike we'll be ready to bring up the curtain._

The connection abruptly shattered, Tsunade's voice bringing it down. "It's only hearsay, we can't move openly on this. Not yet."

Sakura touched above her right eyebrow trying to steady herself. Now wasn't the time to get distracted. "What you're saying is we can't drag them to Ibiki and strap them to a table." She drawled.

Tsunade smiled tightly. "Accusing top jonin and arresting them on no grounds would cause an uproar, might even send any conspirators to ground. Village intelligence is already turned inward after that utter fiasco with Danzo."

Konohamaru blinked in confusion, not understanding. Sakura knew Danzo's betrayal would never be made public and merely nodded. "So we watch and wait. Fine."

Konohamaru was balled up tightly. "And we just let them do whatever they want? Sakura, they sounded like they wanted to…"

_Kill you_.

Oh god yes did they want to kill her. And she wanted it more than anything.

Her Maru liked his uncle well enough but he loved her to a level of devotion that was frightening. He would turn on his kin in a heartbeat if she wished it and someday she just might.

"Thank you,Konohamaru for bringing this to light. We'll take it from here. I promise." The Hokage soothed.

He glanced away in a sulk."Yes Hokage-sama."

Sakura rubbed his shoulder. "I'll be safe. Cross my heart." And hope to die.

He glanced at her and she reached out, arms slender and inviting, and he hugged her without hesitation. He was strong and so very talented but in a lot of ways he remained a child.

She kissed his cheek. "Trust me."

He nodded fervently. "I do." And he returned her kiss right above her jaw before slipping out obediently.

Tsunade watched him until he left. As soon as he was gone her face hardened, carved from nothing more than ice and fury and _will_. "I'm getting to old for this cloak and dagger shit. If we had more concrete information I could bring them in for questioning and end this." And then gut them, but that didn't need to be said.

Sakura sunk back, so languid with delight she was near boneless. "You don't have to justify your reasoning. If we started pulling ninja in and calling them traitors without anything but a thin circumstantials everything would go to hell. We watch and wait and do what needs to be done."

Despite the genjutsu making her appearance not a day over twenty, Tsunade's eyes betrayed her age. "If we sit by too long this may escalate beyond control. It's one thing to be cautious; it's another to let treachery breed itself."

Tsunade could not be allowed to move too soon because that was entirely the point.

Sakura felt a jolt. She caused this woman such strain and refused to stop. But there was no going back. "We both know we can only watch for now, so worrying hardly has a point." She changed the subject. "Are those Akatsuki autopsies finished?"

Tsunade seemed to find relief in the abrupt change and immediately produced a thick folder. Unsurprisingly she also produced a bottle of sake and a glass. Sakura wordlessly uncorked the bottle and poured her mentor a cup.

Tsunade read from the file. "Reconstruction jutsu went well for how badly mutilated the bodies were, but I had to pull half the medic nin from the hospital to keep up the chakra to stop decay. We restored most to full capacity and some of the results were…enlightening."

Sakura took the proffered file and flipped through idly, she was many things but the medic interest in her would always remain. The results from these types of operations were always stunning.

"We're lucky none of the cadavers had more than forty percent of their bodies destroyed, or else the decay rate would have caught the regeneration in a flat minute." Sakura murmured."Then the chakra suck would have just been making cancers instead of rebuilding."

A weary sigh greeted that assessment. "It's a pity; if we'd had some chakra samples we could have restored them further. Got the bodies restarted on their own chakra instead of waiting for the cancers to inevitably hit..."

It was the dream of all medics. Get the original chakra and rebuild the body and then experiment to your heart's content. Reality rarely worked out that well.

Those words triggered the silver boiling bloody mess of an idea that had been sitting in her head, and suddenly a thing half dreamt was unfurling into beautiful fact. The Kyuubi grabbed the thought with a snap, unspooling and untangling it as fast as it formed so even if she lost the thread he would have it gripped tight.

He cackled in abject glee. _I knew there was a reason I kept you around. _

She took the compliment for what it is worth. _I think…with the right supplies, this infinite and similar chakra of ours, I can free you completely._

She could feel his delight, malicious joy, and just a touch of pride in her, the human being no longer entirely human he'd helped create.

Sakura jumped from her seat. "Please keep me updated on any intel leads. In the meantime I'm going to…examine the autopsies at my leisure." The lie was easy and Tsunade let her make apologies and bow out with little fuss.

As she left the office Sakura kept careful track of the ANBU watching her through the windows. This would be a delicate dance to get right but she'd done harder. Without pause she slipped into a wash room on the ground floor and nonchalantly strode up to the mirror and began to touch up her hair.

The washroom was empty and she drew out the clone with hand seals to make sure none of the ANBU would feel the chakra of its making.

For a moment creator and the created started at each other. Sakura raised an eyebrow. "You know what to do."

The clone gave a nod and Sakura left the washroom and then the Hokage tower to head back home. It was exactly where she was expected to go and she couldn't disappoint.

The clone waited exactly fifteen minutes, applied a henge, and then left the tower without receiving a second glance. Under the cool autumn sun with the trees in full crimson, pale yellow, and burnt orange she walked directly to the hospital.

There were things that needed to be gathered. There was an abomination to commit on nature.

**Two Days Later, Aburame Compound**

Ninja getting married, invariably, always seemed to follow two set patterns. In most instances it was a short and almost brutally quick affair that would more likely than not find the bride and groom in their battle attire fresh from the hospital after realizing they couldn't go without getting married. The speed was mostly due to circumstance; both parties had missions to go on, squads to run, and lives to lead that couldn't be wasted on expensive flourish like a drawn out ceremony.

Conversely, all other ninja weddings were huge celebrations that put their home villages in a freeze for the entire day as festivities played out through the streets. These weddings were always the result of a political marriage: a union for a noble to a ninja they'd become smitten with, a political pact from village to village, or a clan affair that had to be acknowledged.

And the Aburame, even with their secretive nature and the general mistrust outsiders held for them, couldn't escape the latter of these options.

Sakura also couldn't help but mourn that fact.

When dawn first crested the horizon, splashing the sky with a pink-orange glaze over the clouds, Sakura had found herself being woken and whisked away by two Aburame women. Naruto hadn't even gotten the chance to protest before she was gone.

She'd then been stripped of almost every article of clothing she had on, which wasn't much to begin with, and dressed in a stunning orange-red kimono that shimmered like fire. She'd been fitted with expensive jewelry at her wrists and throat, had her makeup done with a painstaking but absolutely perfect touch, and properly had her hair done with fresh crimson lilies woven into the intricate knots.

If this was treatment she got for being a close family friend to the bride and groom, she couldn't even begin to imagine how much Hinata was being fussed over at this exact moment. And that prompted Sakura to laugh, having people buzzing around made her first female friend extremely flustered.

By the time her mirth had run its course Naruto had tracked her down, just in time for him to be swamped with a shorter but no less intrusive fitting. He was less than pleased, but since he was her date they did only the minimum to make him look decent before shoving him out the door.

They were provided a short meal and then were sent to the largest road in Konoha to watch the beginning of the wedding procession. From the gates of the village all the way to the Aburame compound, Hinata was pulled on a silvery palanquin laden with gauzy veils and hundreds of white flowers that just barely obscured her from view. Villagers, shinobi and civilian alike, threw cherry blossoms in the path of the soon to be bride and laughed and cheered.

It was times like this that allowed them to forget the realities of their world, and even Sakura let herself get swept up in the bliss.

When the procession had passed them she and Naruto ran hand-in-hand like untroubled children. They'd laughed and stumbled and barely reached the compound in time for the ceremony. They'd almost been late for all the times they stopped to kiss and share warm, secretive smiles with one another.

For the first time in as long as she could remember, they'd genuinely enjoyed themselves without it being weighed down by their other burdens.

The Kyuubi was silent, sleeping too deeply to mock her. It was a reprieve of sorts and she would relish every moment of it.

They made it in time to be seated on the bride's side for the ceremony. The cushions were thick and utterly lavish. Hinata's side was woefully bereft of people when compared to her husbands. It was, in reality, just herself, Naruto, Ino, Chouji, Shikamaru, a currently visiting Temari, Neji, Tenten, Kiba, and Hanabi after the girl was abruptly deposited by Sasuke before he retreated from the house to sit out the ceremony in the shade of one of the gardens.

Sakura thought, considering how much these people loved Hinata, it hardly mattered that they numbered less.

The soft tinkling of a harp came from somewhere behind her, hauntingly clear, drifting like the tempo of the sea. Tsunade herself came through a side door with the groom ready to preside on the wedding.

Shino to everyone's shoc, had actually removed his sunglasses. His yukata had almost no collar to speak of and for the first time since probably early childhood, Sakura could fully see his face.

He met eyes with each of them as he passed and for the moment his gaze met hers time just stopped. They smiled gently at each other, so happy it nearly broke her heart. For all their suffering, for all the things they had done and were yet to do, Shino had found his happiness. And no matter what her intentions were in the beginning of their friendship, she had never loved him more and would love him always past this.

The moment passed. Shino continued to walk by and when he took his position the harp stilled. Doors opened behind her and all heads turned as a new melody started. It was winter sun, summer rain, the thunder of spring, the loss of autumn. It was all wrapped up in an Aria of light, silvery and more delicate than filigree.

She could hear people gasping; it was an angel that swept into the room. Hinata's kimono was whiter than snow, sleeves long and skirts flowing to part just above her knees. The cloth cascaded down and behind her legs to reveal her bare feet. Every inch of her skin was as pale as alabaster.

Hinata glowed, ethereal and light on her feet, hair tied intricately as a crown and strewn with crystal and diamonds like the refinement of heaven. Each crystal caught a different ray of sun and sent dazzling shatters of light across the air. From one long, slender hairpin in the back cherry blossoms had been woven in and they trailed gently down the nape of her neck to touch the clasp of a necklace made of seemingly nothing more than silver and grace.

And Sakura, without any jealousy or resentment, admitted that Hinata was the most beautiful woman she had ever laid eyes on. No one would ever surpass her and Sakura hardly wanted to herself. Let beauty and grace and heaven belong to Hinata. Sakura would keep enough ugliness and fury and hell for the both of them.

After what felt like a lifetime Hinata reached the front. With one soft curve of her mouth, shy and dazzling, she set her hand in Shino's and together they turned to the Hokage.

And distantly, Sakura knew there would be no moment for her happier than this. When the tears fell she didn't regret them.

**Main Garden, Aburame Compound**

"To the bride and groom, may their union be long and their children strong!"

People cheered to the toast and downed the champagne or harder liquor as if they were taking shots. Somehow, even in the depths of the Aburame estate, hard booze had found it's way in and every person reveled in it.

Hinata blushed and the hand that wasn't holding Shino's pulled a sleeve up to cover her face. Shino gave a bland but pleased smile, and immediately had a glass shoved into his hand by one of his happy but slightly drunk cousins. He took the toast with grace and a shallow sip of his glass.

Sakura, farther back from the walkway they were standing on, raised her glass in salute to the couple. Shino raised his and they mentally toasted to one another. Moments later she lost sight of them as they began to circulate among their guests.

With a content sort of sigh she wandered her way through the crowd to find Naruto trying to drink Kiba under the table. Both were giving it their best and Sakura gave him a kiss on the cheek for luck but left him to get sloshed on his own.

The chatter in the gardens was light, and the glances she was getting were a mixture of either respect or recognition. She was pleasantly surprised to find herself being stopped so people could either thank her for someone she had saved as a medic or for a mission she had done recently. She was, in truth, the most famous ninja there part of an infamous but equally glamorous squad. They received the best missions and highest pay and were shrouded in utter secrecy on how much they actually left the village for Kage and country. In the world of ninja, she was pretty close to becoming something of a celebrity.

"Sakura, over here!"

She turned and delighted to see Chouji was waving at her over the crowd. He beckoned her and she readily wound her way to the group that had gathered under the bows of a latern strewn oak.

Ino was hanging on Chouji's arm, smiling brightly and looking better than she had for weeks. To their left was Shikamaru staring at the night sky, fingers twitching on his left hand in want of a cigarette. However his arm was wound around a striking blonde, and eveytime he made a move to grab one she slapped his hand with the slats of a wooden fan. When she wasn't reprimanding her boyfriend, Temari was making little breezes to set off the chimes in the trees and the sounds were near heavenly to listen too.

Then, almost from nowhere, Hinata and Shino slipped from their well-wishers to complete the circle. For a moment everyone stared at each other before smiling and breaking out into laughter.

"Adults." Sakura gave an amused sigh. "Who would have thought all of us would have made it this far?"

Ino rolled her eyes. "Considering the people that tried to snuff us along the way, it's a damn achievement."

Chouji smirked. "Definitely. I was worried for awhile that Shikamaru was going to do himself in with lung cancer."

"Hah hah." Shikamaru laughed dryly, "I'll have you know that while your deaths will be short and violent, I'll have the last laugh of a nice drawn out affair where I can make everyone pity me, buy me things, and then leave me the hell alone."

Temari none to gently elbowed him in the ribs. "You say such nice things, honey." Her sarcastic smile turned rueful. "At least you had that to look forward to; I'm still shocked I made it past my tenth birthday with Gaara lurking around threatening everything that moved that it would be fed to his sand."

"Ooooh." Sakura replied cheerfully. "How utterly traumatizing."

Temari just made a flippant gesture and they all laughed.

Sakura emptied the rest of her champagne glass in one go and deposited it on the empty tray of a passing waiter. She couldn't get drunk but it was the thought that counted tonight. Her eyes went across the faces arrayed before her and a light burned brightly in her chest. Humor bubbled up so warmly. "You know, out of all of us I hadn't expected Hinata or Shino to be the first married."

The groom arched one eyebrow. "Really?"

She nodded absently. Hinata glanced at her, clearly seeing the joke coming. "Who were you expecting?"

With a negligent gesture she pointed across the circle. "That guy."

Shikamaru choked on his champagne and began to cough. "What?"

The laughter was uproarious but in the crowd they were barely noticed. Sakura gave a mock pout but her lips quirked with joy. "I'm being serious here. Remember when we were kids? When we talked about our dreams Shikamaru would always say he would find a girl…"

Chouji grinned so widely his face was nearly split in two. "Not too ugly, not too pretty…"

Temari whacked her boyfriend upside the head, and Shikamaru for once looked sheepish. "I may have failed on that one; my girlfriend is far too pretty." The blonde next to him quirked her lips but then swiftly kissed him on the cheek.

Hinata continued, giggling as she did. "Then have kids, first a girl, then a boy."

Shino interjected smoothly."Retire after my daughter is married and my son finds a job…"

Ino had tears of laughter forming in the corner of her eyes. "Then spend the rest of my life playing shoji or go…"

Temari smiled up at her boyfriend, eyes touched by both amusement and naked affection. "And then die of old age before my wife." She'd heard it all before.

Sakura flicked her hand. "After you told us that we were just a bunch of immature brats while you had your life planned out two-hundred moves in advance. I'd always had the suspicion when we were kids that you were always sorting through every girl you met for a future bride."

Shikamaru groaned and shook his head in denial. "I hate you all."

This elicited a few more chuckles. Hinata half-smiled, soft with fondness. "Sorry Shikamaru. I'd love for this to go longer but we have to keep circulating a little while longer before leaving for the—"

Hinata couldn't finish the words honeymoon without blushing scarlet to the roots of her hair, and she looked so flustered that Shino swept his bride off to a nearby gazebo to let her regain her composure.

Ino watched them go and then glanced at those left. "I know for a fact that the Aburame have some really nice and _really_ expensive fruit wine in the kitchens. Tastes so good you won't even realize that you're getting drunk."

Sakura regarded her friend in interest. "I'm intrigued. Good stuff? Not like these foul tasting delicacies they got circulating right now?"

Ino nodded, eyes bright and clear, and Sakura couldn't help grabbing the other girl's hand and squeezing tightly. The rest of the group began subtly surveying for the quickest and most concealed way to the kitchen.

Ino squeezed her hand back and Sakura gave her a sly smile. "Then lead the way."

**Outer Perimeter, Aburame Compound**

"This is Alpha; I have the target moving through the east quadrant. She's leaving my visual, heading towards Delta. Over." Static crackled from the radio in Gemma's ear. It prompted him to pull his binoculars up to survey the distant gardens for his target.

He flicked a switch on his communicator and responded. "This is Delta, I have a visual. Target is moving at a good speed and she's already outside my sector. Visual lost. Over."

A different voice burst back against his eardrums, "This is Beta, confirming…I've got her. She's coming to a stop. Target is looking for someone…damn it—she just stepped into one of my blind spots. Standby for reconfirmation."

The commanding voice of the ANBU captain of the surveillance squad broke over. "This is Gamma, can you adjust your angle on the target Beta?"

Despite the flattening effect of the radio, Beta responded with a whine in his tone. "I can't reconfirm visual, not from this distance. Five hundred feet is too much on this angle. I could move closer, breach the guard perimeter—"

"Beta!" The reprimand was sharp and Gemma winced from the volume. "Our orders have been given, only Aburame and wedding guests within five hundred feet. Hold your position." The captain then barked as an afterthought: "Over."

Beta sulked. "But I—" His voice suddenly dropped an octave to become professional once more "Target has moved into the open again. Has one other person with her, confirming…Nara Shikamaru."

Then, suddenly, a panicky voice burst over the channel from Alpha. "I have the target over here as well—shit, when did she get here? Goddamnit, I have two of the target here now. Hold…hold…" There was suddenly laughter. "False alarm. Looks like she sent two clones to get her drunk boyfriend home."

The captain snapped back. "Confirmed shadow clones? Alpha, did you confirm?"

There was a slight buzzing and then a short reply. "Chakra is minimal but bright, definitely shadows. I'll keep an eye on them. Standing by."

A slight hiss was spat from the communicator and the captain ordered. "Hold your positions. Beta, keep tabs on your current target."

Gemma listened for another minute to the dense chatter, noting that for the moment the target wasn't moving. He exhaled silently through the slits on his mask, the warmth of his breath meeting cold air and condensing on the edges. Annoyed, he made sure his communicator was off before cautiously removed his ANBU mask and wiping the sweat from his face. His hands were clammy, shaking even.

Tonight was the night that would change everything.

The radio in his ear buzzed and he clumsily pulled on his mask.

"Delta, target is moving towards your sector. I've lost visual, do you have her?"

Gemma swallowed and nearly wretched as his dry throat protested. He licked his lips furtively and watched the dark haired form of Sakura of the Kyuubi no Kitsune get closer to him. He flipped on his communicator. "Target and the Nara are heading towards the west gate. And target is…pausing to speak with him. They've stopped moving in the gateway. I need to move to a better vantage, hold on."

The lies felt like sandpaper scraping up his throat, and he watched mutely though his binoculars as Sakura waved the Nara goodbye and left him in the doorway smoking. She kept walking towards him, down a dark and deserted street away from the compound's walls and in the general direction of her apartment.

His captain responded. "Standby—standby—hold position. Inform us when she changes location." As far as his team were concerned she was still with the Nara.

At that exact moment in time Gemma was the only person who could see her and he carefully pulled out a second communication radio from his pocket and flipped it on."Yugao, you read me?"

A clipped, feminine voice answered. "Loud and clear Gemma. Do you need us to move in on the ANBU with you?"

He flinched. "No. She's slipped the net without them noticing. She's heading north-west on a service road, Avenue Ren. Cover is good on all sides. Wait for her to get farther out before attacking. Subject was seen drinking, but do not depend on her being drunk. Repeat, do not depend on her being drunk."

She replied curtly. "Good work. We'll handle it from here Gemma. This shouldn't take long."

The comm went dead and he felt his eyes being drawn helplessly downward as the woman he was helping to assassinate walked directly beneath the tree he was crouched in. Then, with a flicker of poisoned jade, her eyes looked straight at him. His heart stopped. There was no air, no light, no escaping. Just eyes and jade and slices of—

She looked away from him utterly disinterested. Her slender form that was wreathed in a kimono that shined like fire shimmered as she slipped away into the dark.

He clutched his chest and gasped in mouthfuls of air through his suddenly claustrophobic mask.

He grabbed at the communicator and then nervously touched the one still in his ear. He could call Yugao, say there had been a complication, call it off. He could contact his squad; the distance discrepancy was still manageable enough to explain how she'd gotten so far so fast. He could lie to everyone and keep botching it until the guard was removed and the woman was too strong to be taken down.

And then he thought of that terrible night over sixteen years ago. He'd still been in the academy then, pathetically useless and ready to piss himself when hell had breached the horizon. His body had gone slack just looking at the demon that had loomed in the sky like a strange and bloodied moon. He had stood there rooted as people died and others ran screaming and fire came down like rain.

It was fitting that tonight that woman wore a kimono woven as flame.

Because even after the sacrifices and the Yondaime himself dying, that monster had lived. The fires had never stopped burning, not for Gemma.

Hatred.

That demon had become a child both weak and powerless. But they had been denied their vengeance on her and she had grown fighting and vicious and had clawed her way up through the ninja ranks without any regard. He had watched her during the invasion that followed the Chunin Exam as she cast off her mask and took up her fiery crown.

She'd turned the tides of the ensuing battle back with summons and clones, with blood and fire from horizon to horizon. She grew older, assassins fell at her feet, Orochimaru was torn down by her hands, Akatsuki slain by her wrath, and she'd only grown stronger. Full of hate, and helplessness, Gemma was first bound by his honor to the Hokage's law to not lay a hand on her and then by his own inadequacy that he couldn't face her without dying.

Fear.

He paused, looking between the communicators, balancing his fear in one hand and his hatred in the other. He measured, so carefully, and then flipped one of the two devices on. The road to hell…

His voice was smooth. "Rodger that captain, holding until more movement is confirmed. Standing by."

Hatred won.

* * *

Edit: Sasuke and Sakura's first conversation was cleaned up and the dialogue was toned down from its original melodramatic-ness. The Hyuga compound plot was essentially the same with just basic work to get the dialogue flowing more naturally.

Sakura and Sasuke's second conversation in the apartment was considerably cooled down and there was no sign made of what seemed like reconciliation like last time. Secondly between both conversations there was more emphasis on possession and want and the complications of how Sakura views relationships and how it's severely fucked up Sasuke in the process. Also during the confrontation in the apartment there was more emphasis placed on the 'why' of the Uchiha massacre in that Sakura is a few circuits short and didn't know how to properly express devotion/sexual desire/violence to Itachi or herself without everything getting terribly muddled.

During the Naruto-and-Sakura looking at the seal part, it was explained better why the seal fading was an advantage to Sakura instead of just being randomly thrown out there. Also there was an aggression/anxiety/frustration undertone added into Sakura trying to get in her boyfriend's pants.

The scene with Hanabi and Sakura shopping was considerably toned down and Hanabi was incredibly more wary of the other girl. Konohamaru coming in was shortened up and the scene changes were shifted a bit. Telling the Hokage about the plot was ironed out including the politics of why they couldn't act being better explained. Also there was improved transition into the autopsy-Akatsuki thing.

The wedding and reception was generally a touchup here and there. And last the scene with the traitor ANBU was hopefully made a bit clearer on what exactly was happening in the how/why of the assassination.


	32. Ashes

WARNING: For those of you with queasy stomachs, or don't like torture being described, when you see the first bold heading reading **Torture and** **Interrogation Department, Basement Cells** skip to the next bold heading. Nothing too important is said, but it's a kind of character expo and tying loose ends. So skip or not, that part isn't too central, and it's up to your discretion.

Disclaimer: No matter how many ways I anagram my name, it in no way spells Kishimoto, so don't own Naruto. Obviously.

* * *

**Avenue Ren, Compound District**

The light of the stars above her were pale, insipid and so very cold in their strewn arraignment. On the very edge of the horizon catching the orange glow of the city lights below, ragged clouds swirled and were poised to curtain off the sky.

Sakura inhaled deeply, tasting the air to find her ANBU escort. It took her a moment to realize they were nowhere near her. For a minute she seriously contemplated circling back a second time through the net just so they could pick her up. It wasn't as if she _needed_ the protection, but Tsunade would likely be quite putout with her if she knowingly slipped the safety net.

She teetered for a moment on going back before dismissing the idea entirely. It wasn't her problem if her guard was incompetent and it wasn't like she was trying to hide from them. When she'd left the party she'd distinctly remembered looking straight at an ANBU who thought he was hiding from her. Then again, he could have been wedding security and not one of hers, because contrary to the utter insanity of her village Sakura was well aware the world didn't _actually_ revolve around her.

The Kyuubi wasn't anywhere near escaping despite what Jiraiya and Tsunade thought, so the ANBU guard could suck it for the night. They were her babysitters and not the other way around.

With that in mind she stopped and pulled off her shoes. Even if she had a pain tolerance that bordered on the absurd, there was a limit for how long she'd willingly walk in four inch stilettos. The Aburame who had outfitted her for the wedding? Utter sadists.

With a contented sigh slung them over her shoulder and started walking again.

Despite the panic of the past days in the race to get the Kyuubi out she had well and truly enjoyed herself this evening. Akatsuki was dead, Orochimaru was no more, and the war that had been threatening had been put on hold as their enemies licked their wounds.

Sasuke wasn't talking to her but they weren't trying to kill each other and that was more than she could have asked for. Everything was going forward and her having been once dying to the seal was a distant memory. Sakura wasn't quite sure how to explain it, but she thought this is what being happy must feel like.

A scorch built in her, rising like a tidal wave and swallowing her up. It made her veins buzz with pleasure. The Kyuubi strummed the feeling, letting the gratification settle between them. _Well you're in a delightful mood. _

Her breath was steam on the night air. "I'm _fantastic_. And why do you suddenly care deeply how I feel? Did all my squishy little human feeling get you har—"

The burning feel of fingers nearly gutted her. She swallowed bile. "Killjoy."

The pain slid a little lower, ripping becoming pressure and white-hot agony turning to a low boil. It was…nice. Better than usual, at least.

_Don't say you don't like it, we both know better._ He was pressing in on her side, ghosting worming fingers into her memories and taking whatever he liked.

"You say the nicest things." She threw a memory of affection and intimacy at him and he nearly recoiled before throwing a memory of something hot and violent and Hell-tinged back at her. She had to swallow the phantom sensations of it before she broke out into a cold sweat.

The play was abruptly over and there was a restless edge to him. _Now that you're done pretending you're human with those little puppets, have the supplies been gathered for the abomination? _

She nodded and savored the delighted smirk they shared. "I've been sending clones on the sly to set it up. Now it just comes down to whether or not this theory of mine can work."

His response was one of glee. _Very good my darling, very good._

They could both feel it coming, this thing that had spent ten years on chasing. Freeing him from the prison built by the Yodaime while now more thanks to a fluke than their own attempts, was quickly reaching its ends. There was some anxiety, some fear of being _alone_ once this was done, but it was too late now for those regrets.

The Kyuubi would be free, there was no other option.

His thoughts abruptly spilled into hers, disgusted and amused despite himself. _There's nothing left to fear, nothing left that can stand against us. And the violence that broke the seal smashed us together. Even in separate flesh…_ The words were practically a purr. _There's no separating our souls._

The Kyuubi had a habit of being comforting in the strangest of ways, mocking and possessive all at once. She bowed her head. "Of course." She'd been the slave and the servant and the companion. What would follow after this?

_What have I said about whining? _He scoffed. _I have half a mind to strangle you once I'm—_

The lighthearted moment changed with the force and suddenness of a lightning strike.

Something flitted out of the corner of her eye, a shadow, and she half turned out of reflex. Then the shadow reached and her body shuddered and went taut, motionless and entirely out of control. Shadow binding. Shikamaru had used it on her enough times for her to recognize it.

A split second later the smell of human sweat and fear and adrenaline hit her. Jade eyes flickered to the shadows attached to the soles of her feet as she considered her options, joy soaring so highly in her chest she was nearly blind with it.

"Bastard." She breathed appreciatively. Finally, it was finally time. This had come so soon she couldn't possibly ask for something better.

The air sliced apart as five figures landed around her. There was a blackened shine to their weapons and she knew without a doubt they'd planned for this night assault so very carefully.

The surprise made her chest constrict tightly but there was a ghost of a smile on her lips.

The Kyuubi was near suffocating from laughter and the sound rattled around her skull and straight to her bones. _They've finally come and they have no idea! These sacks of flesh think they're so clever and they can't even see that all their strings lead back to you. _

Chakra exploded in the pit of her stomach, surging into a crimson nimbus that was fury and victory wrapped in one. Her pupils split downwards and she doubled over. Something was clawing from the chakra, rising from her back, arms tearing and pushing out from between her ribs—

_You and I, my darling jinchuuriki._ Teeth snapped and so did her bones. _There's no stopping us._

She groaned from the very depths of herself. "God yes."

Her face split into a feral grin and it was his and hers and everywhere inside her. She wasn't sure whose voice echoed in the dark. "Come and die!"

**Ten Minutes Prior, Ambush Site**

Nara Takeshi had been a chunin when the Kyuubi no Kitsune had descended on the village in that slaughter sixteen years ago. He'd stood on the front lines and watched in frozen horror when his entire team was wiped out in a single blow. One tail of the demon had dropped and his world had ended. That moment had been forever etched into him. Into his eyelids, into his skull, into every fiber that made him up. He couldn't close his eyes without seeing their fearful faces, couldn't dream without their screams following him down.

When the head of his clan, Nara Shikaku, had approached him with the ultimatum of the assassination he'd thought on it three seconds and then vowed to do everything in his power to make it succeed. Even now as he crouched in the shadows watching the center of all his nightmares walk past, he never regretted it once.

The communicator in his ear buzzed with the words of the over two dozen ninja. It was an absolute hodgepodge of static and voices that he could barely make sense of. No wonder squads were normally four members or less, the logistics of anything larger was utterly insane.

A feminine voice cut through the chaos like a knife. "The target seems to be…talking. I need confirmation, is anyone there with her?" There was a moment of silence as the shinobi paused to check. A chorus of negative responses came back.

She was talking but as far as they could tell, it was only to herself.

"Can anyone hear what the hell the target is saying?" She received more negative answers and a frustrated growl came on the line. "Then standby. Nara, get in position and freeze her down."

He flipped the switch on his radio once. "Rodger that, standby for engagement."

Adrenaline flooded him and the thrill of it nearly vibrated him out of his skin. It'd been years since killing someone had him nearly blacking out from complete anticipation. For the sheer hell of it he reveled in it for a few moments longer. He then clamped down on the emotion violently; he'd been waiting sixteen years for this moment and he wasn't going to wait a second longer.

Takashi leapt silently to the road, his scent masked and his false Oto gear heavy. They'd been told of the target's amazing ability to sense her enemies long before they reached her, and every precaution had been taken to avoid such a costly blunder.

She really was more beast than human, the Nara mused.

His feet padded on the dirt road, measuring each step as he held his breath. From his position he could see her ahead murmuring something quietly to herself. She stepped in and out of pools of light from the lamps in the trees, and each time she stepped in one she was a figure of flame.

It was a perfect setting for the Nara techniques.

He knelt down and waited still as death for her to notice. When she kept walking he wiped the sweat from his face.

Showtime.

His whisper was soft and the shadow quickly darted out from his own. The next five seconds felt like five years. The shadow took a small eternity to cross the dappled road and reach for the large pool of light she was striding through. His heart leapt into his throat when she half turned towards him from pure instinct.

Then the shadows touched her feet and she was frozen. The expression on her face was indescribable.

He chuckled in glee. "Gotcha. Yugao, move them in!"

The assassins descended from the trees like crows upon a carcass, weapons drawn for a brutal kill. They were assured in their victory of a motionless target and he nearly cheered them on, then Takeshi saw her eyes. They were redder than freshly spilled blood and there was neither surprise nor fear in them but pleasure. His neck hair stood on end and then he felt her _move_.

Crimson chakra flooded the street and raged around her, blowing back the ninja falling and sending them smashing into trees with wet splashes as bones snapped and organs splattered. The chakra throbbed and turned to a thunderhead, growing in power and strength and showing no sign of stopping.

She wasn't staring at him but he could feel her gaze tearing and searching for him as he wrestled to hold down. How the hell could she even move?

She doubled over as if in agonizing pain and he thought he'd won.

Then she _moaned_. "God yes."

The chakra around her back solidified, becoming arms and teeth and eye_s._ A raspy voice crawled past her clenched teeth. "Come and die!

Takeshi felt the first touch of panic in his heart. "Yugao! Hurry, I can't keep her down much longer!"

He didn't receive an answer and more ninja showered the road with kunai, so tightly packed together it turned the air black. The red chakra rippled and scattered weapons in one burst. The metal spun, vivid-edged with crimson before they were flung away from her. He heard muffled screams as they sliced into the trees.

Takeshi felt the panic slowly being flooded by horror. The chakra was _alive_.

His eyes were drawn to her back where her kimono was being charred by whatever that thing coming out of her was taking full form. The horror quickly progressed to full blown terror. Clawed hands of chakra were ripping from her back, extending into arms and then pushing against her as it became a mouth of razors and frenzied eyes of light. It was slashing and biting and roaring its call of freedom.

It looked human shaped, red and ghostly as it was, but it howled like a demon.

The arms shot out stretching to unnatural lengths, and the last thing Nara Takeshi saw was a glowing fist blasting through his abdomen and spilling his burnt innards out.

He gasped once, retched, and slumped over dead. His only regret was that he didn't kill her first.

/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/

Sakura could sense the Kyuubi in the chakra, stretching and ripping from her back as she kept her eyes frontward waiting for the next wave. She heard a short scream, felt a quiet snap somewhere near, and the Kyuubi's voice was almost a laugh. _The Nara's dead, now kill them all!_

She was only too happy to comply.

Her bare feet hit the dirt in a full out sprint, the chakra leaving scorched afterimages in her wake. A ninja landed on the road in front of her with blade drawn. The Oto gear was genuine but it didn't fool her for a second. These were Konoha shinobi, tactics and jutsu through and through.

When she moved in range he swept the sword down to split her head open. It was hardly a surprise and she twisted to the side with ease. Only half thinking, more on instinct than actual thought, she used the straps on her stiletto as a hold and grabbed the top of the arch.

The ANBU reversed his katana, flipping to stab in and impale her through her spine. It was a good attempt if nothing else. She felt it all and a clawed hand of chakra grabbed the sword. The Kyuubi again, always watching. She smiled up at the shocked ANBU. "Too slow sweetheart." And in one brutal strike she slammed the heel of her palm into his eye socket driving the stiletto in and ripping to his brain.

The shoe broke and the ANBU fell, the black heel still sticking from his eye and the other half of the stiletto in her hand. She threw the pair of shoes at his face. "Those heels were a gift asshole!"

The wind shifted in an unnatural direction and she back flipped just before a violent gash ripped into the ground. Dirt fell like rain and the earth that hit her chakra burned.

She kept moving and ran through seals and exhaled explosively. A stream of fire poured out into a towering dragon that wheeled around and blasted through the trees. The night was flooded with flickering orange light and she picked up half a dozen corpses scattered in the road and over a dozen more of the still living either leaping from the fire or hiding in the trees on the other side of the street.

It took two seconds to process and then she was in motion toward a stocky man who'd been flushed out by the fire. He was running through hand seals in a panic and when he completed the jutsu he shouted in triumph, sending rocks shooting up from the ground in dizzying spires.

She leapt and did a set of aerial gymnastics long ago taught to her by Jiraiya. She'd have to thank him later when this was done and the corpses were counted. It ended with her upside-down and still airborne. She was right over his head and as she came down Sakura put her index and middle finger together and a tiny blade of chakra extended from her nails. Before the ninja could touch her she reached down and flicked her hand across the nape of his neck twice.

He jerked and then fell over dead, spinal cord severed.

Just as her feet touched down three of the assassins coordinated above. With battle cries they threw themselves at her. Really, she had to commend them. If she was anyone else this might have been effective.

The Kyuubi rippled from the chakra and her eyes flickered over to the ghostly form at her shoulder. _Together now._

His arms stretched and plunged into one man's chest. The other strike barely missed the second ninja as he wrenched out of the way. The third was hers and she grabbed his wrist weidlign a katana at her neck and snapped it.

The man let out a scream and she snatched the falling sword from the air and flicked it once. The decapitated body before her collapsed but the second man who was half burned but fully alive was suddenly right on top of her.

The Kyuubi vanished only to reappear with both arms shoved through the ninja's chest and skull. He quite literally exploded in a shower of charred blood.

"Very pretty." She murmured.

_You always had fine taste_. He assured. It was entirely an dangerous move to stop and have a chat on the aesthetic of blood spatter, but that had never really stopped them before.

"Twelve down." She noted and was already spinning to avoid the next attack.

An arm massive with muscle crushed the fence she'd been standing by like tissue paper. It was an Akimichi and as the arm reverted and started snapping backwards she already knew the weakness. Chouji had given her that.

She reversed the stolen katana and severed the arm at the elbow. The Akimichi howled in agony, losing concentration on the jutsu and sending an explosive feedback of chakra through what was left of his arm. It was roughly the equivalent of his own body electrocuting him and for the few seconds he was struck motionless she took three long steps and drove the blade through his neck.

He gurgled and blood spilled from behind his mask. She wrenched the blade free and left him to collapse and die alone.

Another ANBU was on the opposite fence along the road, arms and legs jutting like a giant bird of prey. That's when she noticed one of his hands was pressed to his ear and the tiny, almost unnoticeable lip mike across his mask.

Someone was coordinating the battle from afar. She swept her right hand towards the ANBU and wind swirled from her palm. It wasn't as powerful or as neat as when Naruto did it but…

The invisible razor edges caught the ANBU by surprise and his body split into pieces before blood sprayed like rain across the street.

It was effective all the same.

The next slew of jutsu crackled through the air drawn by her motionless form. She cursed and wove around them, falling back on speed to get her to the other side without half her torso missing. On a pass by the fence she grabbed the mangled head from the ground and plucked the still squawking earpiece and communicator from it.

She didn't need a single hand seal to draw a clone from her chakra and to drop it on the hidden side of the fence. The lovely thing about her chakra? Spilling it around like this meant her clones could come from almost anywhere.

With a casual flip she tossed the communicator over and the clone caught it and slipped it on. The shadow moved away from the battle and Sakura switched from running to a brutal offensive. It would serve as a distraction until she found out what was really going on.

_Now let's see who's in charge, shall we?_

**Ambush Site, Command Point**

"…do you read me? Does anyone read me?" The frantic calls went out into static, one tiny voice searching for ninja who were dying or already dead or panicking too much to answer.

The senior council member had served in the ninja corps twenty-three years before retiring to his current position. He'd seen more than his fair share of combat and atrocities and he'd honestly thought there was nothing left to truly fear.

The first tendrils of terror had already started clawing up his insides. For every second that passed he regretted this entire mission more and what at first had seemed like a seamless victory had slid to slightly botched, then bloody, and then had quickly spiraled down to outright FUBAR.

He shared glances with the other two council members with him and then looked to Inuzuka Hana. The kunoichi didn't notice, too busy gnawing her nails down as she watched one after another ninja fall. Her ashen face did nothing to assure him.

A cool voice suddenly burst on the line, flat but feminine. "I read you loud and clear. What's your status?"

He nearly sighed in relief. At least somebody out there had kept their head and kept their head on their body too. Not many could claim that at this point. If he had someone to work with he could direct them against the monster currently rampaging on the street below. "We can see it all clearly from here, and we remain uncompromised."

"Good." The voice answered. "Have you moved position?"

The man blinked in confusion, the question was calm, strange. His response was terse. "Is that you Yugao?"

In the static and the distant sound of screams, he heard the double stereo of a raspy chuckle right behind him echoed a fraction later by the communicator. "Not quite."

He spun. There was no time to watch his life flash before his eyes or do much else. The dark haired girl smiled and his two comrades were laid out at her feet like broken dolls. They had died quickly, it was a small mercy.

Hana leapt up snarling and she and the dog that had been at her feet flung themselves with harsh growls. He didn't get a chance to call her off. This was spinning all out of control and it was far too late for strategy or even retreat.

Sakura's lips pulled back from her teeth, revealing a razor smile that should have sliced her mouth cleanly open. The demon stepped into the assault carelessly and with one flick of chakra splashed burnt dog across the roof and charred the skin off Hana's muscle. The Inuzuka heiress went down screaming, her face an unrecognizable mass of blackened flesh and smoldering blood.

He realized it was a clone belatedly, but his instincts were nonexistent after a few years too many of letting his training fall to the wayside. Even if it was a clone, it hardly mattered.

The clone would kill him just as easily as the original.

"I would ask who." She was behind him, breath impossibly cold on his neck. She smelled of death and every word rattled through his ribs. "I would ask why and how and so many questions until I knew everything."

Her arms came up like a vice around his neck as she twisted him around to stare at the burning street. "I would ask who helped you first." And her voice dropped as she leaned in, breath heavy and colder than grave soil. "But you know what?" And she was the nails in his coffin. "It would just ruin the surprise."

He clawed at her arm in a plea for air. Hana was still screaming and the wail echoed against the sky as his lungs burned.

"I want an open warrant; I want you all and even your friends and wives and children. If it's a surprise the Hokage will let me dig until there's no one left." She purred against his back and it sounded so much like arousal his skin crawled. "So don't say anything and ruin this for me, okay?"

Hana had finally stopped screaming, lungs collapsed.

The clone pulled tight, one hand on his jaw and another on his head, and with a casual flick she snapped sideways and broke his neck. And the council was three members less.

**Ambush Site**

Ashes.

The katanas guttered crimson in the unholy glow, elegance and raw power, bold attack melded into defense. They parried, struck, countered, and swirled around one another in a dance of muscle and blades and treachery.

Yugao panted behind her mask, her skin blistering raw as the heat of the chakra seared. But she never stopped, never flinched and never stopped in her relentless barrage of attack. She wouldn't give up; Yugao could remember the day the village burned. She could remember watching her friends turn to fiery dust and years later scattering what was left of her lover with no vengeance upon his killers to sate the hunger in her heart. She had nothing but ashes left, all because of one being that had killed her friends in one incarnation and defended her enemies in the next. Her rage drove her past reasoning and past reason she was nothing but instinct and rage.

The fight went on and on and on.

But each blow was met by hell; by a blade so white hot it was shimmering with heat, with hands of claws and all backed by muscles that must have been poured from molten steel. Each blow sent sparks bursting back into eyes redder than blood and into a grin that was entirely the devil.

Yugao snarled and dove into an offensive array that left most other enemies in pieces on the ground. Sakura of the Kyuubi no Kitsune just laughed and batted away her attacks as if Yugao was a second-rate swordsman.

And the ANBU's rage only grew; this was supposed to be her moment of glory, her moment to expose every one of the child's weaknesses and mock her in word and attack before striking her down. To make the monster of all monsters feel fear in its final moments.

It wasn't happening that way. This dream was a nightmare.

There was no fear. The monster had nothing but feral joy in its eyes and a blade in its hands that was a piece of sun forged into steel. Everything that should have been was being turning to ash and being laid at this monster's feet, and it laughed every step of the way.

The red chakra was a whirlwind and each crack of it on the pavement was thunder. Yugao was trapped in a burning cage of light and she struck again and again not caring for the price. So wrapped up in her rage and righteous fury, she forgot about the strange humanoid beast that followed in the girl's chakra like a living shadow. She forgot that shinobi never play fair.

Red arms burst from the chakra at her back, burning away flesh and bone before wrapping around her heart.

The pain was beyond agony. She slipped to her knees as her rage exploded into mindless terror.

The child did not gloat, pause, or even stop smiling as she slipped the blade through Yugao's right eye and into her skull. In her last moment all the ANBU could see was her burning body flaking in the hot wind, ashes. Ashes. _Ashes_.

The assassination ended leaving only one survivor, and that survivor smiled and breathed in the soot.

/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/

Her ANBU watchdogs arrived late, when the fires had just started dimming and the blood had run cold. The team leader landed scrambling, shouting orders to his squad while trying to salvage the situation and interrogate her at the same time.

It was pathetic.

Sakura ignored the Captain entirely and lifted her hand into a spiraling motion. One of the subordinates recognized what she meant immediately and set off an emergency flare that bathed everything for a mile in an eerie green glow.

Help would come. There was no reason to worry.

Within seconds of the flare ninja poured into the street, a good number of them Aburame from the wedding nearby. It took only twelve minutes for the Hokage to come on scene while floodlights were being set up and the best battle investigator squad had began piecing together the events of that night.

Tsunade raged through the crowd, reprimanding ANBU, prodding along the investigators, barking orders at the ninja standing around watching, and then she made her way over to Sakura. The girl stood alone in the middle of the chaos, nearly limp in a kimono that seemed to be held together by nothing more than charring and cooked blood.

The hug she then received from the older woman made Sakura almost wish she foiled attempts on her life more often.

"Hokage-sama you should take a look at this!" The panicked shout drew Tsunade away in a flash, and Sakura followed behind languidly. The battle was done and the chakra and adrenaline had long dissipated. Now it was time to savor the artistry of tonight.

The ninja who called them over lifted the fake Oto mask worn by one of her attackers, and a gasp rippled through the crowd as a Konoha ninja's body was unveiled.

Sakura smiled inwardly. _There's no stopping it now._

For the first time in their professional careers the investigators began panicking, and in dereliction of their training started ripping off more masks and headbands. Every face was a Konoha ninja and Tsunade became so pale Sakura worried for a moment the older woman would pass out.

The street went still as the hokage's rage flooded it, sweltering so hot and muddy they could have choked on it. Her orders were short and fierce. "Examine the scene and collect the bodies immediately. Anybody standing around like an idiot will be on border duty for a year!"

The street exploded into action and Tsunade waded through it like a general going into battle.

Sakura watched in detachment, so dazed she was practically having an out of body experience. The skin on her back prickled as if someone had laid their hands across her shoulder blades. Her eyelids fluttered shut, the world around her dissolving, and when she reopened her eyes she was sitting on the stairs of a desecrated temple awash in sunlight.

The blue sky above was so vast and so endless it took her breath away again.

The Kyuubi was sitting a step above her, his hands pressed against her back and nails digging in. The satisfaction of the moment poured off him. "What started sixteen years ago is coming to an end. This village will burn."

Burn and burn and _burn_. Her toes curled and she arched backwards, letting him hold her weight as she just let herself _feel_ it. He held her tightly against his chest, letting her stretch and rock and work through the emotion in the only way she could manage right now. His chin rested on her shoulder as he took her in like feedback and let all of that twisting ecstatic _desire _pour into him.

She arched her neck and their eyes met and their grins were mirrors of the other.

"Ten years." She breathed. "Ten long years of gathering the most powerful children this village had to offer me, molding them to desire change and despise tradition. To teach them politics and give them strength and make them unbearably dependant and _needy_." She gave another delighted shudder, stretching out this new emotion to try it on.

There was no regret, not now not for friendships made selfishly and lives ruined and children twisted around her fingers until they couldn't even see it. And there was love, so much love, filling her up and pouring out because this was _it_.

Her voice was like a gust of the breeze. "And I wormed my way into the Hokage's heart, apprentice and surrogate child capable of no wrong. It was so easy to gain support and adoration when I was Tsunade's perfect little girl. And my mother drank and gambled and I encouraged it all because it gave me power while she was too busy sleeping off her hangovers. And each little instance was a chip at the powerbase, a chance to hurt those who wanted my head on a platter."

The chuckling bubbled deep in his chest, rising up like magma to erupt. She felt the cruel mirth in his words as if they were her own. "Those who wanted us dead were all the same. Clan power seeped in tradition, wealth and corrupt political control. And the old guard of ninja, a dying generation hyped up on their own arrogance and they just lined themselves up to get a chance at you."

Her eyes went cloudy, veins clogged with ecstasy and anger and need. "It could have been done slowly, taking their power. I could have waited for another generation and for age and sickness to remove my enemies." Her eyes zeroed in on him. "But that way just wouldn't have let me _feel it_."

The snarl in his throat was rough. "We're not just destroying them here Sakura."

At the sound of her name her feet scraped at the ground, mindlessly looking for traction. But the rest of her body wanted to be here and _stay_ forever, wrapped up tightly and never let go. "Am I cruel?" She asked.

He laughed harshly. "Undoubtedly. You're the one who wanted to rend their flesh from their bones, to show them how we dominated them in every way before slitting their throats. You wanted pain and realization and that is exactly what I'll give you."

"Because I'm such a good pet." She snarled, heat furious and exploding in her chest.

His grin was that of a skull. "You may be immortal but don't mistake yourself for being _more_."

Friends, promotions, power, attack, subterfuge. Each of those things had been merely to set the stage for this assassination and then raise the curtain on the end. She had known what she was signing up for and knew exactly what he thought of her.

"You drew their hatred upon yourself like moths to a flame. You played out every act of attacking their power in plain view of their spies and painted that target on your back. And they finally came for you." He breathed the last words against her cheek. "You'll get what you wanted Sakura: civil war."

She laughed then, broken and goddamn near hysterical. This plan was cruelty to everyone, friend or foe because she couldn't stop poisoning everything she touched.

"You will use friends and children and lovers against each other, oh god yes, you are very cruel." His lips brushed fire and venom on her cheekbone. "You at least got that right."

Something was churning and growing, replacing the ecstasy with heaviness and the anger with cold. "Should I regret it?"

He laughed so hard it fractured her bones and spilled her blood. Filling her into every crevice and laying her out. It was more than body now, they were curled so tightly around each other reality was going sideways to compensate.

"Regret is for the weak. You've ascended to a higher life form and have revenge in your hand and all you think about is regret?" One hand went to her ribs and started crushing. "I should kill you right now and save us the trouble."

Her friends would be hurt in innumerable ways by this and she wasn't stopping it. "I don't feel it, I should, but I don't."

"You're not human, you're evolved." He answered. "In a few years you'll reach absolute regeneration and will live frozen in that instant. All that you held dear will turn to ash in your mouth. Their faces will run together and you will _forget_. Their lives will become less than ants and you will never regret it." He made a raspy sound, an animal noise untranslatable into human voice. "You were never very human to begin with anyways."

And she hadn't been. The villagers had seen her and hated her for the inhuman quality in her eyes. It was all a downwards spiral from there.

And she was still going down. Everyone would leave her eventually, everyone, by loss or time or death. "It's the end of an age. You were supposed to return to Hell."

"There's no Hell." The words were drenched in bitterness black. Even now that admission galled him. Hell had fallen while they sat here chained; there were no more kingdoms to return too.

"I was supposed to be the Hokage's bride and pull his strings and wile away my days in a village of my own making." She tasted the dream and loved it still. "Hell is fallen, war is still here, and this civil war will bring the other countries circling and I just don't care."

Neither of them had ever much cared for consequences.

"This age may end." He spoke and it was absolute. "But then we'll make one of our own. How would you like to be the goddess-queen of this world?"

She smiled like winter. "They'll never know what hit them."

"They never will." The Kyuubi answered enticingly. "Very soon in this world, you and I…"

His mouth was pressed against her jaw and reality splinted into burning and blood and the sky fracturing. She saw kingdoms shatter like glass and rise like mountains. Over and over, a playground that would never bore her, a crown that was hers for the taking.

She thought of blonde hair and blue eyes, thought of girls with slim hands and smiles, thought of boys with smoked cigarettes and cooked food, thought of girls and boys who had been swept up in her arms. The humanity was so thin, barely a wisp, and she curled it around her heart and sent the dream of kingdoms crashing.

"Not yet." She breathed. "I still have a life here."

His smirk turned ugly and suddenly the safe arbitrary lines they'd drawn in their relationship were shattered. "You're mine, always. Mine." The kiss was brutally swift, her neck nearly snapped back and her lips left scorched.

She had been a perfect little pet for so long and it was so comforting to stay like this, in whatever capacity he needed her.

Dozens of faces passed her eyes, her friends as children and adults. The man she loved and the teammate she adored and the children she'd wished had been her own. She saw the childhood days golden and tarnished, saw smiles and laughter and days drenched by tears.

_I'm becoming a terrible thing._

His arms wouldn't let her go and she felt little lies and little dreams curling their way through her skull. Little things, but they were enough.

She kissed him and bit the request into the skin. "You have to make me a promise, just one."

He let her bite and dig and hurt, let her shatter all across him and try and destroy him with it. He kissed her back and forced the words into her mouth. "Say it."

"I'll be yours right now, you'll have my heart. When I free you from the prison of my flesh, you'll have me again. On the day it all burns you'll have my heart one last time. And then you will wait until every single one of my friends is dead. You will give me that time and when it's over, you can try to take it all back again."

Whether he would succeed was another matter entirely.

His eyes hid nothing from her then, livid anger, disgust, pride, amusement, exasperation, surprise. The enormity of all he could feel at one moment was staggering. For the longest time she had thought he felt little but apathy or rage, but the seal unraveling had thinned the barriers between their minds and she'd realized he was so beyond her she couldn't even begin to fathom it.

"Still a child." He mocked. "Still clinging and hoping you'll become a real girl some day. Fine." He spat the words. "Have your time; it's such a pointless thing.

His hands tightened in her hair and he filled her head with the burning and blood again and this time she let him. Her toes curled against the stone stairs as he kissed her and twisted her until she couldn't see at all. There was something murky and crimson and wrong about all of it, but she ignored it. Still too small, still too fragile, still too afraid. She kissed him and let herself forget.

**Hokage Tower, Public Office **

Ino was exhausted, head throbbing from too much wine and not enough sleep. But the question had to be asked: "Does anyone know what's going on?"

The first rays of false dawn touched the window sills and most everyone inside shied away from them. Naruto groaned and threw his arm over his face. "No. Now please speak in whispers, I think this hangover is killing me."

Shikamaru snorted and fished out a cigarette. He was one of the few not to drink himself into a stupor at the wedding and he was entirely too smug about that fact. "I knew you couldn't hold your liquor." He pulled out a lighter, flicked it once, and took a deep drag and blew the smoke out.

Naruto whimpered. "Oh god. If I throw up it'll be on you."

Shikamaru pushed his chair away. "Duly noted."

Sasuke cut through the chatter. "Just shut up, all of you." He shifted the girl sprawled across his legs and chest. Hanabi slept fitfully, face pale even for a Hyuga.

Ino's eyebrows rose but she wisely didn't ask.

Tsunade blew into the room, her eyes bloodshot and movements erratic. On a normal day all in the room would have been certain they'd somehow gotten called in on a drunken whim, but one thing stopped them cold. Tsunade had come in still in scrubs from the hospital covered in dried blood up to her elbows. It was against protocol and despite everything the woman blew off, medical matters had always been taken with the utmost of seriousness.

A chill settled on them and the dawn light was suddenly little more than a pale shadow. Their headaches worsened but their eyes cleared. Ninja stared at her and Tsunade welcomed them.

"You're clothing, Hokage-sama." Ino asked unnecessarily.

The Hokage both acknowledged and then dismissed the blood with a nod. "That hardly matters now."

None of them dared questioned that.

The Kage sat at her desk stiffly and didn't bother with pretense. "Last night after she left the Aburame wedding, there was an assassination attempt on Sakura's life."

The gasps were low but audible. Shikamaru dropped his cigarette and burnt a hole in the carpet, Ino clapped her hands to her mouth, Sasuke jerked up and promptly shook Hanabi awake, and Naruto jumped from his chair looking deathly pale.

Her voice shot like the crack of a whip. "Sit." Naruto sat back down near boneless, chest heaving.

Tsunade pressed on without even pausing for breath. "Sakura is fine, the only damage she sustained was burning herself when her chakra seared the kimono she was wearing. She's currently asleep in my suite behind us so keep your voices down."

They all swallowed down their protests; sitting still as if any movement would attract her wrath. The Hokage's eyes sharpened. "The assassins were found wearing Oto uniform. But the ninja were our own."

The atmosphere in the room turned electric: anger, shock, and fear boiling like a summer storm. It stunk of ozone and chakra and that heady sort of fury that burned the fastest and hottest.

Tsunade let it roil for only a moment. "Initially we hoped they were double agents, but five of them were far too powerful to have never received cursed seals if they belonged to Orochimaru. It's become clear the uniforms were a distraction in case there were witnesses. Three of the dead were members of the council and we've determined that they were not the only backers. The operation was too large," Her gaze could have been carved from flint. "There are others.

Shikamaru's jaw worked under his skin, moving harsh and glacial. "Are the assassins being interrogated for the identity of their supporters?"

"Unfortunately no." Tsunade smiled thinly. "Sakura killed each and every one of them."

"Sorry about that." A soft voice answered, sending them all turning around. "I got a little carried away, honestly."

All eyes shot up and found Sakura leaning against the doorjamb to the Hokage's private rooms. She was wearing lavender hospital scrubs and her dark hair was a mass of tangles. Her face was as sallow as any of them had ever seen and she still had the makeup from the night before smeared around her eyes. It looked like she hadn't slept at all and while her face was pale and her hair limp; her eyes were alive with something none of them had ever seen in her before.

Everyone shifted, not knowing whether to go to her or stay far away. She raised a hand to ward them off and looked as if a single touch would shatter her across the floor. She took a shuddering breath. "We had intel on a rumored threat on me, but I didn't think it would come to this so quickly. I was alone last night because my ANBU escort somehow lost me, and it didn't occur to me until now that maybe this threat is already far deeper than we realized."

The Hokage made a shallow, breathless sound. "You think one of your escort was in on the attack?"

She nodded brusquely. "I passed right by at least five ANBU on my way out. There was no way my detail was that incompetent to leave that sector uncovered. Most of those ANBU were probably wedding security, but at least one of them was mine." She laughed bitterly. "And he let me walk right by and into the grinder."

There was a pregnant pause filled with ugly implications. This was getting too deep too fast and no one wanted to voice the conclusion everyone was already drawing: rebellion.

Wordlessly, Tsunade picked up a packet and slid it across the desk. Sakura picked it up delicately and flipped through. It was the reports made by her detail from last night. Sakura worked noiselessly and Sasuke spoke. "Why did you need us here?"

Tsunade cast an eye to the jonin. "It's uncertain if this is just about her or against all of team seven. It wouldn't be the first time." He winced at that. "You'll remain in the loop for that."

Shikamaru moved towards Sakura and gingerly glanced over her shoulder. He was quickly absorbed into the report and in a minute his voice cut out. "We found the inconsistency. The ANBU called Delta, find him and you'll find the rest."

Tsunade looked to Ino and the girl rose, cruelty and grace unfurling in the sharpness of her face and the hollows of her eyes. "I'll go to Ibiki and arrange it. I take it the ANBU are still in the holding cells?"

A nod was all the confirmation Ino needed and the smile that curled across her lips was ugly with anticipation. "Good."

The Hokage had already moved into her next set of orders. "Shikamaru, once the information starts pouring in I want you to organize it. Teams of my most loyal will be sent to you to begin arrests." Some of the Kage slipped from her and worry flickered across. "Sakura you should probably get some sleep."

The dark haired girl jutted out a hip and let a steely gaze settle. "I'm seeing this through to the end. I know my seal is problematic but at this point I don't need a guard detail or somebody babysitting me: I need answers."

The older woman's lips quirked with pride and exasperation in equal measure. "So be it. Dress yourself and join Ino, and please keep the chakra to a minimum. I trust you can handle the seal being down but I don't want to chance it."

The jinchuuriki bowed. "Very good milady." And she left. She wasn't going to wait for a kind word or to be consoled. She had no desire for pity right now, she'd just been handed blind time to do as she pleased and it wouldn't be wasted.

Naruto and Sasuke were all that was left once the jinchuuriki departed and Tsunade eyed them both. "Naruto, flush out Jiraiya from whatever dive he's passed out in and double time it on the replacement seal. Sakura may say it's under control but one less worry on that front would be all the better."

The boy looked dubious but then gave a salute and disappeared in a flash of yellow.

Sasuke stood and swept Hanabi to her feet. "You don't actually need us; someone else will be handling the arrests since my squad is currently occupied."

The Hokage chuckled dryly. "How terribly astute of you. Watch your backs and lay low, I'll call on you if I require you."

He dipped his head in the barest respect and left with the girl in tow. They didn't even _hide_ the Hyuga child anymore. Things were so far out of control Tsunade couldn't even bring herself to care about their recklessness. Instead she cracked open her first bottle of sake for the day and then began the next long slog to root out another set of traitors.

**Torture and Interrogation Department, Basement Cells**

Blood.

His blood, cracking and drying around him, sticking him to the table in a congealed mess two inches deep.

Gemma held back the scream, wishing he could close his eyes to the blinding fluorescent light. But he couldn't, that Yamanaka witch had sheared away his eyelids just that morning. He'd spent three days in the Pit as the interrogation cells of Konoha were not so affectionately called, but he had not yet broken. It wouldn't be much longer though, he could feel his resolve weakening.

His eyes burned, corneas drying brittle in the air. Very, very few interrogators could use physical torture to its full effects, use it beyond the blind-scrabble of men screaming anything to make it stop. The Yamanaka was one of the few.

His body had been mangled beyond recognition, flesh flayed from the muscle in neat little slices. When her hands weren't on the razor her chakra slipped cool, scratchy, raw into his brain to dredge up memories and turn his nerve endings against him. He wasn't certain if he had hands anymore, or feet, she was working her way inwards and even with his eyelids sheared off he just couldn't _see._

There was a grind, metal and stone, pale and knife-edged. "Gemma." His name was barely a breath and it crackled on the air like frost. "I'm still waiting for the truth. You could make this end so easily…"

In the air he could still smell scalded flesh, the metal of waters boiled that had then been used to douse his hands until his fingernails sloughed off. It was the last time he'd been able to feel his fingers in…days. The stench filled him until he nearly gagged on it.

She snapped her fingers, chakra stinging across his naked eyes and down his ruined throat. "Pay attention Gemma, I loathe having to repeat myself."

There was something slick-sharp jammed between his bones tying him to the table. Every time he breathed he felt the skin along his ribs separate—

A sharp whine brought him crashing back again. The drill was an inch from his face, spinning and serrated and held in her hand like a toy. "I guess pain is the only thing keeping you anchored here anymore. It's not a problem to up the ante. Now what would you like, your kneecaps or the soles of your feet?"

"Fuck—" He spat up a wad of spit and blood. "You." It dribbled black down his chin and she looked so terribly unimpressed.

"Have it your way."

It would take six hours to pull the bone splinters from the ceiling.

**Konoha, Abandoned District **

"Feels like old times, doesn't it?" The words reverberated strangely in the room, causing a few of Sakura's clones to pause and glance at her.

One nodded. "Yeah." And bared her teeth. "Never thought we'd see this place again." It was hardly a surprise. She'd thought she'd left this place behind for good. The clone returned back to the scale, carefully measuring out the elements on her tray.

Sakura examined the room but knew it wasn't necessary, already knowing it painfully by heart. Her feet carried her and she walked over to a small closet recessed into the wall. It was a memory drenched black, so dark she could not think of it without her stomach knotting up.

She touched the sliding door and wondered when it had become so hard to breathe. The door gave too easily under her hands and the closet beyond was dark, musty and claustrophobically small. The bare mattress where she'd slept as a child was in the far corner with decade old bloodstains still matted into the fabric.

A black cloak long forgotten was hanging on a hook in the wall. She brought a fold to her face and smelled the sweat and terror and blood that coated every inch. It was something so old and achingly familiar.

This had been the cradle of her childhood, when she'd ran from the orphanage and the apartment where she was too easily found. This was the cage of the village's making, without facilities or running water and a window more fit for a jail cell. It was the bolt hole where she'd laid for days sick and gagging with her skull boiling from fevers. She'd bled from being gutted and had woke to find herself strangely healed, skin untouched just to begin the process all over again.

In here were the nightmares left sweated out on the mattress.

In here was hallowed ground, for a demon had dragged her under until she kneeled, held her down until his voice was in her veins.

She let the cloak fall and knocked away rusted kunai that littered the floor. Even then she'd had her aspirations of becoming a kunoichi, to have beauty and power and respect whenever she desired it. She'd lived here a long time until Naruto had offered her the futon in his apartment, and it hadn't been long after that she'd found her way into his bed. This place had been left behind but the memories…there were some things that never really left her.

With the sticky and bitter taste of nostalgia in her mouth she closed the door. Even if she couldn't leave it there was no use dwelling on it like this. There were sins to commit and blasphemies to speak, heresies all lined up so she could let the hatred pour.

No child should have been forced into the life she'd lived. Not even a monster like her, and she would pay the terror and beatings and wounds back a thousand fold. It was already set in stone.

And that realization tinged her revenge so very sweetly. In trying to destroy the Kyuubi they had just given her the willpower to reach this moment of _freeing _him. It would come full circle and the irony made her breath catch in laughter.

She turned back into the main room and the wide space cleared except for nine trays filled with medical supplies. They were set in a circle with half a dozen clones picking over them and the walls, which had originally been an off yellow from disuse, now had seals painted over every square inch.

The designs were courtesy of the Second Hokage. In a village that contained a clan like the Hyuga certain precautions had to be taken in high security areas, and the solutions were chakra blocking seals both ways. Nothing got in, nothing got out. If a Hyuga used their byakugan on this room all they would see was opaqueness.

Of course hiding it from Hyuga eyes was a secondary concern, more importantly this would block out the massive amounts of chakra that would no doubt be released in freeing a Demon King. She hardly needed the village to feel the Kyuubi's chakra this deeply in their own backyard.

Out of habit she checked the array before turning to a clone. "Check it over, is everything here?"

The clone pulled up a long sheaf and after making a headcount of clones and supplies she replied succinctly: "Water thirty-five liters, carbon twenty kilograms, ammonia four liters, lime one and a half kilograms, phosphorus eight-hundred grams, salt two-hundred and fifty grams, saltpeter one-hundred grams, sulfur eighty grams, fluorine seven and a half grams, iron five grams, silicon three grams. And fifteen other small elemental amounts the slow one is still measuring out over there."

The clone by the scale snarled at her counterpart's back, and Sakura waved off the spat before it could begin "Fine. Once the small stuff is measured out do a last check and burn the list. Are you certain none of this will be missed?"

The clone with the list gave an offended sound. "Hardly. We were very careful. The morgue won't notice any of their reconstruction supplies are gone before the next shipment comes in. We'll be ready in two hours."

Sakura chewed on that, thinking through her crazy plan for the Kyuubi's freedom one last time before it would be too late to step back.

It wasn't a hard choice, this. She gave the clones the go-ahead and waited.

They could only go forward from here.

**T&I Department, Top Floor**

The amazement burned like the cloy of chemical and the horror tasted like cigarette ash and bile. Shikamaru sat before the wall and read the trails of names and dates laid out in one horrific collage. It was the trail of blood as outlined by the prisoner currently six floors below him with over three dozen holes accumulated between his joints.

Ino, as always, had been so very _very_ thorough.

The blonde was sitting next to him, eyes glassy and her fingers curled in her lap like barbed wire. He heard her knuckles popping under her skin. Shikamaru felt sicker than the first time he'd smoked and vomited, even sicker than the one time he'd been stabbed in the gut.

"How could they?" Ino grabbed his ashtray and flung it against the wall. "HOW COULD THEY!" Glass literally exploded across the wall and Shikamaru knew no one in the department would dare come in the room now. Not with the sound of Ino raging.

Her reputation had built hard and fast, but the respect Ino received was absolute in its fear.

His tongue felt like sandpaper and he rasped. "I don't know."

Two names stood out like neon signs.

Nara Shikaku.

Akimichi Choza.

A father, a surrogate uncle, a family that had taken Ino in when her own had died. They had helped orchestrate the attempted murder of their children's dearest friend.

Shikamaru would never forgive them.

He was lightheaded and it wasn't from cigarettes. "We have to tell the Hokage." He swallowed down the rush of bile in his throat. It tasted like gasoline and his skin was the tinder. "Three days to get the intel from Delta set us behind." He was justifying this to himself more than her. "We have to tell, we can't hold it here any longer."

Ino didn't hear the wordless plea. "How could they?"

They were his family and he _needed_ someone to tell him what was right. "Ino."

And this time he broke through. Her eyes were on him, blue fractured open like a thousand yards of ice. "Make them pay."

And that was all he needed to hear.

* * *

AN: The ambush fight was mostly touched up with a little streamlining here and there where it needed.

The Kyuubi and Sakura conversation was _massively_ redone. For some reason in the original version they sort of…monologued at each other (why? I have no idea why), now they're talking with each other instead of somewhat _at_ each other as was previous. Also there's a somewhat…more sexual undertone to it all at the beginning of the conversation. For whatever that's worth. Lastly Sakura's aggression was ratcheted severely back in asking her promise of the Kyuubi, there's still an extreme power imbalance here and this reflects it far better than the previous version did. (also, hopefully, this better showed why their relationship is very _very _unhealthy).

Most everything else was the same, with the small exception of Ino's characterization being less giggling bipolar and more ice-cold-smooth psychopath.


	33. Nightmare

Disclaimer: I don't own the characters or the Naruto universe, I don't own anything but my laptop and some not-so-cheap textbooks.

Oh, and on a side note: all ANBU introduced in this chapter are new so don't worry about trying to guess who they are because they aren't anybody, really.

* * *

**Konoha, Residential District**

The streets of Konoha were like most other cities that had sprung up with little planning, random like streams that had burst from a broken dam. And every dozen or so feet placed in the most awkward places imaginable were poles carrying power lines that crisscrossed the roads. The lay of the wires was so wild they were considered a health hazard to the occasional ninja that wasn't watching where they were roof-jumping and got zapped.

The residential district was no exception.

Night hung about the streets black and deep, silent with the biting chill of winter approaching. From the darkness a massive tree jutted up, ominous and ghastly in the sky. The street stones below it were cobbled around its roots like blocks forgotten by children.

It was Konoha haphazard construction at its finest.

The tree was ancient, the city had been built around it and it was untouched by the steel and concrete sprawling in all directions. In its branches sat four killers and each was ready to carry out the will of their Hokage.

In the thick boughs one mask, white and sharp like a knife, slipped into the light. The voice that came out was muffled but it delivered its words at a clipped pace. "Listen up boys and girls, the target lives a block west of here in the four story unit on the corner. His bedroom is on the south wall and the windows are C-grade glass."

Another figure shifted and the lenses of binoculars in is hands flickered. It gave the ANBU the strange appearance of having glowing orange eyes pushing from his sockets. "Target sighted Captain. There's no movement and no lights, looks like it's all quiet. How's this going down?"

The Captain responded. "It'll go fast and loud as hell. We'll split in pairs, one set on the far window and one on the door. We'll hit the bastard so fast he won't even get out of bed before we'll have him by the throat."

The one with the binoculars, codenamed Vein for his habit of actually ripping the circulatory systemsright _out_ of a person, settled immediately. No one could see Vein's smirk but his teammates felt it all the same and returned it.

A solid figure sat next to him, arms sinewy and body compacted to nothing other than muscle and bone. He was a massive man but his voice was utterly placid. "That's unusual. The superiors up top normally like it quiet. Whatever happened to plausible deniability?"

The captain smiled, a quick razor edge lost under the pale of his mask. "Not today kids. The boss lady wants a point sent and we're going to be her messenger boys. Some people need a wakeup call."

The muscular ANBU spoke again. "What kind of message are we talking about here Blade?"

The captain shot his subordinate one withering look. His codename had been nominally retired when he took on the Captaincy of a squad. That title had been given jokingly for his fighting style by his superiors back when he'd been a recruit. He'd been unusual for the fact most ninja that liked flashy jutsu and midrange battle and he loathed both intensely. To the old guard of the time he'd been a freak, a sociopath, someone who was dedicated to killing and his job just enough to make everyone else uncomfortable. He'd been called impractical and reckless on more than one occasion, and behind his back the insults had been far more venomous.

That had lasted until he'd been sent into the field for a little knife work, and then his mocking nickname had become ghastly.

He liked getting up close for his kills, getting the knife between his enemy's ribs while he constricted their screams by crushing vocal cords and decompressing lungs. It was a nasty and brutish way to kill, a throwback to a messier age were jutsu had been fewer and bloodlines less prominent. His style entailed close encounters that few ninja were ever comfortable performing, as getting close to a target meant the target was just as close.

But Blade thrived on the challenge, the rush of catching his enemy unaware, of the sharp copper tang that hit the air and the slight shudder before another life slipped away under his hands. He liked it close and that kind of killing was intimate in a way most ninja couldn't stand.

Blade growled. "You know exactly what I'm talking about. All the arrests of those dead assassin's families for questioning should be a clue. Boss lady found out who tried to kill Demoness." He paused for just a moment. "Hell's coming down kids; we're just keeping it company."

His sinewy subordinate, codenamed Inferno for his tendency of using explosives in situations that hardly called for them, dipped his head in assent. "Just curious." But his placid nature hid a violence that very few people saw coming.

Blade was one of the few.

The fourth member of the squad finally spoke with a feminine voice so sultry that even the men in her squad long use to her presence gave a start.

"The arrests won't be hidden. Shino-sama was rather…clear, that those part of the assassination attempt are going to be taken to the wall."

The Aburame woman, codenamed Butterfly for her connection with the poisonous creatures who shared her name, adjusted her hair in the back of the hood. She was a twice removed cousin of the new clan head and while she had a few years on Shino, she'd been too far away from the main line to ever be in contention. In turn though she was heavily immersed in Konoha Intel as the Aburame were the largest conduit for in-house intelligence.

For a second in the dark cloth there was a flicker of red-orange-blue wings. Her colony was different than all other Aburame, delicate and snared in her hair and hidden in chameleon patterns on her skin. Few realized her nature and even when they saw the butterflies rising from her flesh, the beautiful strangeness of it often blinded them to the danger.

Her colony burned skin on contact and poisoned men with barely a brush. There were times Blade honestly wondered who out of their squad could be called most dangerous.

With a breath the Captain refocused his team back to the matter at hand. "Butterfly's right, the Hokage isn't going to pretend like this never happened so let's stop bitching about how this is going down and do our damn jobs. Now everyone saw the file, correct?"

The other three murmured agreements. Every village had extensive files on each of its ninja and for this takedown they'd be more than ready. They were allowed to be loud and visibly violent and were given their targets stats right down to his last vaccinations, it would honestly be one of the easiest captures they'd ever have to perform.

Blade continued. "Split and get into the position. Inferno will handle the bang, and you two," He pointed at his other subordinates. "Come through the door and get to the bedroom fast. Got it?"

They nodded and with a flurry of motion the tree stood empty. It took less than three minutes to get into position. It was one of their own they were arresting and radio contact had already gone dark.

Blade hung upside-down from the lip of the rood and casually flipped his head down to look in the window. It was pitch black inside. No confirmation.

He waved Inferno over. "Start it."

The ANBU grinned and pulled out a lusterless metal cylinder. He pulled the pin swiftly and then threw it into the window, shattering the glass and sending it tumbling into the dark. Both ANBU turned their backs to the window, covered their ears, and screwed their eyes shut.

Inferno hit the radio. "Flash-Bang away."

The cylinder exploded in a deafening burst and as it spluttered out Blade threw himself into the window and rolled once before leaping towards the bed against the far wall. The bedroom door exploded open behind him, Vein coming in hard with Butterfly less than half a step behind him.

It was then he realized that the room was empty. All of his adrenaline dropped and his heart felt like it flat-lined."Shit."

He flicked on the light switch to reveal an empty and neatly made bed. The other three ANBU crowded in the room shuffled about, carefully stepping over the melted burn on the carpet still smoldering from what was left of the flash-bang.

The Captain clenched a gloved fist, took one irritated breath and let it out. He turned to his team. "Check the place over and see if there's some clue of where this bastard is. Girlfriend, any family blood-related or not, whatever."

His team dispersed. While they picked apart the rooms Blade sat on the bed and pulled out his radio to send in the no-show report about their target. While he waited for the encrypted channel to zero in, Vein came back. "It looks like our target left in a hurry, a lot of clothing and weapons are gone. Judging by the fruit rotting on the table it's been two or three days at least. There isn't an address book around or any photos that are recent. We've re-consulted the short file and there doesn't seem to beany family blood-related or surrogate."

Blade pulled off his hood and ran his hands through his hair. "Target probably bailed right around the time Ibiki's girl started taking apart Delta. They knew we'd be coming, the real question is where did our target get to?"

The radio finally picked up the channel and the words that suddenly started crackling in Blade's ear made him shoot up.

"Captain?" Vein questioned.

He made a cutting motion with his hand, silencing his subordinate while the radio kept sparking out information. Under his mask his eyebrows nearly rose to his hairline. "Get everyone in here. It looks like our target isn't the only one that went AWOL."

Vein's head jerked in surprise. "…you mean?"

Blade confirmed their suspicions flatly. "At least a dozen other squads can't find their marks. We have a leak."

The team quickly reformed but Butterfly lingered by the bed, fingers brushing a picture frame nearly lost in the clutter.

"I never understood him." She said bitterly. "How did he hate his own student enough to try and kill her?"

Blade eyed the photograph in the frame. "Who knows. Grudges don't always have to make sense." There was a pause but he shared the gossip despite himself. "I heard Demoness got the target demoted on a whim, not exactly the move of a loving student."

Butterfly gave the picture one last glance. Inferno shut off the lights and for a moment they stood in the crushed glass, lost in the dizzying blue-orange sodium light shattered across the walls.

Blade looked at the picture one last time, at the faces turned ghastly in this sliced prism. On one side was a sullen boy with dark eyes and even darker hair. His arms were crossed and he was scowling and nearly out of the frame. On the opposite side was a blond-haired, blue-eyed boy grinning so manically he was practically baring his teeth. The smile didn't reach his eyes.

In the center was a girl with a vapid expression looking away from the camera. Even in the center of the shot it was like she wasn't there at all. But even with her green-jade eyes looking away Blade could see something seething in her.

In the back of the frame was a tall man in jonin gear. The children orbited him like planets around a dying sun losing gravity. They only maintained their orbits out of habit, not devotion.

The jonin's expression was inscrutable behind his mask and for maybe the dozenth time that night, Blade wondered what it was that drove Hatake Kakashi.

It was a picture of a team that few would understand, least of all their sensei, until the lies had been cast off and the blood was already flowing five inches deep. Team Seven had an ignominious beginning but that hadn't stopped their meteoric rise any.

The ANBU left the picture behind to rot and jumped through the broken window. Dozens of civilians and ninja watched them from the street below and somehow Blade knew this was only beginning.

**Abandoned District**

The medic community was just one of many inside the village, and like all others it had its quirks. Medics tended to move in social circles with mostly their colleagues, married other medics or doctors, lived mostly in the same district of the village, and even had their own sleeping schedule of coming and going at odd times in the night or very early in the morning.

While by other shinobi they were seen as givers of life, the view of the medics had of themselves was vastly different. For as much as they knew about life, the truth was they were better versed in death.

Learning one way to save a person inevitably led to learning the adjacent ten-thousand ways to kill them.

When Sakura had begun her apprenticeship under Tsunade she'd had misconceptions. As time went on though and she studied every aspect of the human body: every muscle, every bone, every nerve ending, every organ, and each of the diseases that could destroy them, she understood.

Medics could save life but they knew better how to take it. A medic ninja was one of the most deadly on the battlefield, but since they usually stayed behind the front lines few understood the terror of facing an enemy who could touch one in the foot and cause a blood clot in the brain.

Sakura in her own twisted way had slid very neatly into the community. She enjoyed the work and all the unfortunate implications it led too. She wasn't conflicted like some medics were when weighing their duty to save and their ability to kill, and as a result she was very close with the hardcore medics that not only worked in the hospital but also joined ANBU squads to take their abilities into the field.

It was because of this perverse joy she took in learning that Tsunade found her ready and taught her the ultimate jutsu a medic ninja could learn.

The ability to bring back the dead.

Of course it wasn't actual resurrection. Not by a long shot.

They could with base elements recreate cells and eventually an entire body. Of course they had to have a complete genetic chain and a hell of a lot of patience and time to get there, and once the body was formed they could pump it with chakra and make it breathe and blink and move. But it wasn't a true human. The soul and memories were gone no matter how hard they tried to restore them. The knowledge that person had in life was lost and it didn't matter if they were brining them back ten minutes after death or ten years. Without a soul the body couldn't produce chakra which left the medics filling the gap, and foreign chakra always had consequences.

Eventually the cells would divide incorrectly until they turned cancerous, and those cancers would spread until the body fell apart. The genetic chains would become corrupted beyond recognition and the experiment would end.

Some medics refused on moral grounds to execute the procedure. For them it was too troubling to bring some being to life only to know it would shortly die in a very ugly fashion.

One only had to point to Orochimaru perfecting the technique into that resurrected abomination called Edo Tensai to know how things could go wrong. Though for every medic that pointed out the horror, another two none to secretly mourned that the snake sage had taken those secrets to his grave. Somehow, someway, that man had learned to call back the souls.

And every medic secretly and darkly dreamed they might someday learn how to do the same.

Despite the limitations though, the things they could still learn from the body made all the time and money and heartache worth it. Nobody though, even Orochimaru, could permanently bring a body into existence and make it alive.

But Sakura could.

The Kyuubi had based his new genetic chain off of hers and she could reconstruct outside of herself. More importantly though: she and the Kyuubi shared the same chakra. With the same chakra the cells wouldn't corrupt, they would divide on their own and become a living cycle. She could make a body that would function without life-support and the Kyuubi's soul and memories could be anchored to it.

Her plan, for all intents and purposes, was a one in a billion chance.

It was a chance she was going to take with both hands and jump.

The stench of ink, harsh chemicals, and sweat scouring to the back of her throat. Sakura opened her eyes and looked at the gathered supplies that would be molded into human flesh.

One of her clones, the one monitoring the field radio and the ANBU channels therein, spoke up. "Got something here. It sounds like the arrests are being carried out and…scratch that, it seems the arrests are going and failing. The arrestees seemed to have vanished. How terribly unexpected." The clone giggled. "And how tragic. Escaping arrest will only escalate things further."

Sakura responded dryly. "I'm shocked. Like having three days of warning, of knowing they failed and then learning the compromising Intel about Delta, I absolutely expected them to have been oblivious and hung around like sitting ducks. I've been rendered speechless by this sudden change in events."

The clone giggled again, rocking on her heels as she adjusted the dial. "I know what you mean. It's simply _baffling_ how they figured it out." Every clone in the room cackled and Sakura herself smirked. Leaking the information about Delta, Gemma, had hardly been accidental.

The clone sing-songed. "I bet I know where they're hiding and it's going to be hell to dig them out."

Sakura was amused at the conversation despite herself. "That was the point, wasn't it?"

Sakura had been so very thorough in disseminating that leak herself. She wanted her enemies running and gathering and escalating things far out of anyone's control.

The clone paused. "Hime's ANBU should figure where they are, right? Because if we need to clue in Tsunade's idiots too..."

Sakura waved her own fear off. "The ANBU we have aren't brain-dead. I'll give it three hours tops before they figure out where those moronic would-be murder conspirators are hiding. That should be plenty of time to get this first stage taken care of before Naruto wanders back to the apartment for the night."

The clone by the radio shrugged while her sisters stilled against the walls. They were done and waiting for further instruction.

She smiled tightly. "Good." And turned her sight inwards. "It's time, everything's more than ready."

It was if there was something in her that had been deep within the ocean that had finally come up for air. The Kyuubi rose inside her and with him he brought up something chained and coiled and more massive than the blackness between stars. The meditation to align his bastardized genetic code was done and he brought the monstrosity of it with him.

This had to be absolutely perfect for them to succeed. The moment of truth was starkly _here_ and Sakura had to stop and catch her breath as it hit. The enormity of waiting over a decade for this nearly brought her to her knees.

He flung the chain into every corner of her skull and his ghosting hands dug into her. _Now._

For a moment the world was in balance and then it was tipping and tipping and then falling. The yawning dark was a chasm beneath them and no one would stop them from going down.

She moved swiftly, a kunai in her hand and then into her palm and carving out blood. Scarlet beaded in the hollow of her hand and chakra flowed like water along her fingers to gather the tiny droplets together into one larger gem. She manipulated the droplet with her chakra, increasing the surface tension of it until it was wholly cohesive. The drop rose off her palm to float above her hand and she immediately brought her second hand high above to stabilize the current of chakra and keep the blood afloat.

From her cross-legged position she let herself still, muscles like marble, bones to steel. She made herself a living statue and then barely breathed the words: "Your move."

His response was a burst of chakra bubbling about her like sea foam before it twisted. Magma like sea became a ghostly pair of arms, and the sharp fingers reached forward as if to grasp only to stop short and form a cage around the drop. A small bolt of chakra flickered from his fingers to the blood like lightning followed by another and another.

The heat seared at her but she remained perfectly still, holding the blood in place between her hands as if cradling a thunderstorm in her palms.

And she felt it change, felt her genetics being altered bit by bit in this excruciatingly delicate act. If he hadn't based his new genetics off hers and if they hadn't been so humanoid this step would have been impossible. The amount of time it would take to alter one human chain to another, let alone to a demon's? It would number in the decades if not centuries.

Time went sideways as she lost herself in the hurricane of the Kyuubi riding high inside her. They were laid out in full, shattered and chained and wrapped round and round. Then as if reaching the eye of this storm or maybe the end, the chaos finished and the chakra stilled.

A pride and exhilaration like she had never felt washed over her. _Behold my darling, artificial perfection._

That glowing drop of red was reflected in the darkness of her irises. Sakura felt a rush of joy so fiercely from looking upon that single drop of the Kyuubi's blood she became breathless. She gasped to a clone. "How much time?"

The response was succinct. "Four hours, forty-nine minutes, and seventeen seconds."

The exertion of staying still for so long sent a tremor down her arms. She almost unraveled then and there across the floor. But they still had work to do. She offered her hands to the clones. "Start it."

They obeyed her command, one rushing forward to gather their precious creation as the others pulled on latex gloves and pushed the trays together. Sakura slumped down and pressed her cheek to the floor. She would rest for just a moment, the abomination would continue just fine without her.

**Hokage's Tower, Public Office**

At exactly 11:47 pm Tsunade's grand plan of over two dozen simultaneous arrests spectacularly blew up in her face. She had placed her bets wrongly on where the targets would be, and now the commotion the mistake had caused had the entire village both up in a frenzy thinking they had been invaded.

Like that was anything new.

While her office buzzed with ANBU rushing in and out, her assistants nearly lost their minds in panic, and other ninja ran in demanding to know what was going on, Tsunade was aloof. Instead of panicking she sat with her legs on her desk and the Hokage's ceremonial hat over her face.

If it wasn't for her occasional shout at someone to shut up, most would have thought her asleep.

From an open window an ANBU abruptly flung himself in and landed. A few ninja who'd been in the office jolted and one high strung assistant shrieked in alarm. The ANBU hardly seemed to notice. "Lady Hokage."

Tsunade groaned. "What?"

The ANBU seemed unperturbed at her lack of interest and cleared his throat "We've located the whereabouts of a lion's share of the missing conspirators."

Tsunade rocked up in her chair and the hat that had been blocking the office lights fell to the ground. It was gathered up by the assistant who'd screamed but the Kage barely noticed, attention riveted on the ANBU like a hawk spotting prey.

Her amber gaze was harsh enough to cut. "Where are they?"

The ANBU answered. "When trying to arrest the clan affiliated conspirators we found that the compounds of the Hyuga, Inuzuka, Akimichi, and Nara were locked down. From the Hyuga we have on our side, we ascertained that the missing targets are being protected by the clans. Consequently we've been denied entrance and your authority is no longer recognized by any of them."

Tsunade didn't let show how horribly her stomach plummeted at the news. When her bets were wrong they were catastrophically wrong, like Murphy's Law except tenfold with pointy things involved. She was completely, utterly, and truly the legendary sucker.

To deny her authority was just short of declaring all out civil war. They weren't just going after Sakura anymore, they were practically asking for an all out fight. Her mind ran and her words could have been coated in frost."Is it feasible to infiltrate the compounds?"

"Ah…" For the first time the ANBU was flustered. "No. It's not just security; all the compounds have a large mob of civilians around them. It seems they heard what happened and decided they're willing to defend the perpetrators. If anything it's almost like a celebration out there."

Sakura had always been intensely disliked and feared by the civilian population. Ninja at least had a frame of reference to deal with demons, the civilians did not. And of all the times things could have leaked this badly that even the civilians knew…

Tsunade flexed her hands and stared into the brightly lit street below. It was filled with people wandering and shouting to one another trying to find out what was going on. Everyone was restless and the village was being brought to a boil.

When nothing was demolished in the following twenty seconds the ANBU raised his head. "Hokage-sama?"

Her gaze snapped back to him. "Bring me Nara Shikamaru, Yamanaka Ino, Inuzuka Kiba, Akimichi Chouji, and both Hyuga heiresses along with Hyuga Neji."

For a second no one moved and Tsunade's fist hit her desk with a deafening crack. "NOW!"

The office burst back to life, everyone rushing to fill her wishes before she took it out of their hides.

With a level calm that most thought impossible for her, Tsunade coolly took her hat from her assistant and reclined back into the chair. Without ceremony she placed the hat back over her face and crossed her ankles on the desk. Within moments no one in the office could tell if she was sleeping, and that was how Tsunade wanted it. She needed time to replace her bets.

**Abandoned District, 12:01 AM**

The large room glowed, shimmering with pulses of chakra and the surges from the seals keeping it inside. No one sat watching any longer, Sakura had long left to be back at the apartment in time for Naruto's arrival. Every clone knew how careful they had to be in this, in both procedure and keeping things under wraps. And one of those things involved keeping Naruto placated and otherwise occupied.

The clones who remained only vaguely noticed her departure. At the moment they were so entranced with their work Orochimaru could have risen from the grave and asked for a rematch and they would have stayed oblivious.

The droplet of blood was gone and floating in its place was something new, something sprawling and ghastly. On the dozens of hands reaching up was a partially constructed skeleton with chakra clouded around it like heat mirage.

With painstaking detail five of the clones were carefully weaving muscles together while another five created blood and began carving out veins.

As they neared completion of the chest cavity another nine of their number guided the organs they'd created into the flesh. The organs not yet finished sat inside dishes of fluid by their knees, chemicals swirling and stitching them together out of the ether.

When the torso was finished the muscle weavers continued downwards, their fingers twisting intricate webs of chakra and elements. The organ makers all stood and moved to the top of the body. They gathered around the head cavity like priests around an altar and fell to their knees.

Carefully they began one of the most fragile jobs of all: construction of the brain.

**Apartment Complex, 1:12 AM**

The night was a dark one; cold and motionless as Tsunade's ANBU crept along in the light of a half moon. To normal eyes they were hidden. Even the byakugan of the Hyuga would have trouble keeping track of them when they rebuffed them from their compound walls later that night. But to Uchiha Sasuke they showed like beacons in the night, trails of chakra slipping behind them like ripples in water to mark their passing. When the village had exploded into a frenzy and the ANBU had begun shooting around spastically in alarm, he had hardly been surprised.

Sasuke re-crossed his arms and let his damaged eyes resonate with the chakra of all those scurrying around the streets. He was uncertain exactly _what_ was going on, but the distinct uncomfortable feeling of standing on the crest of nightmare struck him repeatedly.

It was a nightmare he had felt building once before, boiling and writhing in the dark halls of the Uchiha compound as Itachi's madness had reached its breaking point and spilled across them all.

And he knew what laid in that nightmare; chaos, pure and utter anarchy that would stain the wind with blood and fill the skies with ash. Konoha was very close to igniting and he wasn't certain anymore if that horrified or thrilled him.

He had no more loyalty to this village than he had during that failed escape attempt to Orochimaru all those years back. He still thought of the village as weak, as rotting and stagnant. He knew so many of these shinobi were determined to wallow in the mediocrity of honor, laws, and limits. He was lucky to follow a woman that abhorred rot even worse than he did but he flinched at the thought. It was hardly lucky to follow a psychopathic murdered who kept secrets enough to break them.

If Konoha burned he wouldn't care because everything that mattered to him was curled under the blankets of the bed behind him. Hanabi slept on and Sasuke didn't know if he wanted this to burn, if he wanted the secrets out, or if he wanted everything to be like it was before.

His loyalty, razor thin as it was, had once belonged to Sakura. Now all that was left was a bitter acceptance that he was either unable or unwilling to kill her for the sins of his family's massacre. Academically his reasoning was simple: a monster like her couldn't be challenged. A monster that had killed so many times the details of the murders that had shattered his world remained elusive to her, a monster that would comfort and cry and smile and still mean it every time, a monster that could love him even as she killed him.

He was left with a slippery fear and a sense that serving her was inevitable. Power was absolute and it governed the world, and it chose what was right and what was wrong. It was all relative when you boiled it down. And whoever had power determined what was relative, and Sakura had said they could let it all stay buried—

His fists clenched and sinew rolled over rigid bone. He was alive, the only Uchiha left, but that really didn't matter as much as it used to. He was alive though and suicide had never been an option.

And throwing himself at Sakura would be assisted suicide in its most base form.

But letting go of his family's killer was a bitter thing to swallow. Because even now Sakura didn't regret their deaths, only that he had found out about them. But he had to let go, didn't he? There was no other option and there was something he had to protect at all costs.

Sasuke knew he couldn't let the grudge fester much longer, even if Sakura released him from his service even being within five miles of her would have him seething. He knew if he allowed this pressure to build too long he would snap, and if he didn't die almost instantly by Sakura's hands Hanabi would get dragged into the grinder with him.

And Sakura had already well proven what _mercy_ meant to her.

And weighing the person he loved more than anything else against vengeance for his already dead kin...Hanabi was here. They weren't. The choice wasn't hard when he laid it out that way.

He would choose Hanabi no matter what the circumstance.

In the end this was easier than he would have liked and he wrestled with it, holding the festering memories close and drinking in the venom. He couldn't let go. Not yet. What would the last decade mean if he just abandoned all his ideals right now at Sakura's feet?

Cool hands touched his shirtless back. Hanabi pressed her cheek to his spine. "What's wrong?"

Getting words through the black ugly _thing_ twisted up inside him took a long moment. "It's nothing."

"Liar." She answered simply and he couldn't stop himself from grabbing for her, pulling her into his arms and onto the bench seat with him.

They laid sprawled together in the moonlight and Sasuke for a moment contemplated the horror of losing her. He knew then without a doubt it would destroy him beyond any repair.

Her kiss was feathery, cold with the night. "I wish I could do more for you." The undeniable love in those few words beat the ugliness in him down and allowed him to breathe. For the first time in his life Sasuke loved someone so dearly he felt as if he was dying from it.

His fingers moved without him really thinking. First to her eyelids, then to the crown of her head, through her sleek hair to the nape of her neck, up along her jaw, tracing up to her cheekbones, then to flow down the arch of her nose, and then over her lips as light as frost. She gasped once and it sent something wracking through him. Somewhere along the line his hands fell away to be replaced by his mouth.

Her breath was raspy, pulsing in some rhythm he half remembered still. She was wrapped around him and for a second there was no frost but only warm skin and the weight of her on him. Then in the dark something pulsed blue and he jerked away to turn blindly to the window.

Hanabi's byakugan activated instantaneously. She made a resentful noise. "ANBU messenger. Fucker."

Sasuke lifted her back to the floor. She wordlessly retreated to the bed as he hauled the window open to allow the ANBU to cling to the frame. Sasuke could smell the heady perfume on the female ANBU, and for an irrational moment he knew she was staring at his chest instead of his face.

His suspicion was confirmed when Hanabi was suddenly back at his side, chakra a practical lightning storm against him.

Sasuke smiled blandly. The woman made a disappointed sound and then relayed briskly: "The Hokage has called an emergency gathering. Hyuga Hanabi has been requested to the main office ASAP."

"Alone?" He asked.

The ANBU affirmed his guess and he snorted."I'll follow."

The ANBU bristled to disagree but he merely turned his scarred eyes into the light. She thought better of it. "Don't keep Tsunade-sama waiting."And with that the ANBU slipped back into the chaotic night.

Hanabi pulled away in regret. "I'll get changed."

A new kind of dread seeped into the air. Violence was coming down, the village was divided, and the hatred here made the air sing until if felt like they were scorching with it. Something massive was boiling on the horizon and it would wait for none of them.

Sasuke knew he would be at the front of it ready to kill and maim because Sakura would desire it. The ugliness in him returned, clawing and shredding all that it touched.

Submitting to Sakura had a steep price that had already been paid in full and in blood, and as he restlessly changed into his gear with Hanabi flitting at the edge of his senses, he felt it weighing on his shoulders.

This had to be worth it.

_It had to be._

**Abandoned District, 4:34 AM**

All of the shadow clones true to their name were merely shadows of their maker. Even with the same knowledge, memories, and skills of the original, as each came into existence they fully understood they were something less. Something not as alive, something not as real, and with that came strange sort of quirks that Sakura had utilized to great effect.

They were independent, free thinking, but fairly linear tools that would be where Sakura couldn't. They would think as she did and without direction could solve problems on their own and sacrifice themselves as the need arose. Sometimes ending their brief existence was merely to relay memories to the original, and they didn't even blink at the sacrifice.

So the shadows left behind to continue construction of the new body worked swiftly, one of their number every two hours destroying herself so Sakura would know the progress that had been made.

The body was finally lying on the floor on a sterilized sheet, newly grown skin still raw as blood was funneled into the flesh and the nervous system was etched into every cell. Another sheet was covering his lower half, more to keep them focused than to preserve any perceived sense of modesty.

Dozens of hands kept the flesh in a partial stasis as they manually oxygenated the blood and forced the cells to begin their natural cycles. The heart had not yet been started and the brain was but a blank slate held in limbo, and it was done so the delicate tissue wouldn't degenerate.

But they were reaching a threshold; the body would soon be brought off life support to breathe on its own. It could then be called a truly _living creature_ and that's where the real difficulties would begin. They would stitch his soul right down into the flesh.

And each shadow in their fervor forgot they were less, forgot they would soon not exist, because in the end they shared the same vindictive dream. And it was a dream that would bring this village to its knees.

**Hokage's Tower, Private Office, 4:46 AM**

Hinata felt like yawning, she should have been sleeping in her marriage bed on her honeymoon and yet here she was instead. But Hinata felt no resentment; she was a shinobi first and foremost and her Hokage needed her.

Shino gripped her hand tighter and she gave him a brittle smile as she cradled Kiba's head against her shoulder. The guilt almost choked her. While she'd been lost in delirious joy Sakura had nearly been assassinated leaving_ her_ wedding, and in the process had been forced to kill the sister of Hinata's teammate.

She hadn't known until just this morning.

Kiba had remained stoic and hadn't contacted his teammates out of some stupidly noble desire not to ruin their honeymoon. But when they'd stepped into the Hokage's office and found him sitting in the corner with his face buried in his hands, she only had to call his name softly to bring him to tears.

Hinata comforted him as best as she was able and frankly, after the years of soothing away the fears of her dearest friends and holding Sakura when she'd been beyond any kind of reasoning, she could safely say she was an expert at this.

Kiba alternated between mourning his sister, cursing her and reminiscing of memories long past. Hinata said little, letting Kiba grieve on his own because even if she felt his pain she hated Hana with a red hot fury that honestly shocked her. Hana had tried to kill Sakura, and Hinata would more likely spit on her grave than mourn her.

The leather chair behind the vast desk they were sitting before creaked and Hinata looked up to find Tsunade had seated herself. Silence fell and Kiba took a ragged breath and sat up.

The time for tears was over.

Tsunade looked at each of the gathered group and gave her orders: "I'll make this simple. You've each been called here to either give your services to stop this civil war before it happens or to provide Intel if the worst comes to pass." The air crackled with something heated and Tsunade didn't pause for a moment. "The conspirators responsible for the planning and execution of the assassination attempt have been located and corralled inside the compounds of the Hyuga, Nara, Akimichi, and Inuzuka. The few civilian leaders of the lesser clans involved have been detained and are at the Torture and Interrogation Department."

The Hokage looked to Ino and the girl gave a thin smile that did not bode well for the lives of those in her section's custody.

There was no light on the horizon, the sun still kept away by the night, but Hinata felt something monstrous and scorched climbing up the side of the world.

"The Yamanaka no longer maintain a central compound and most of them have taken refugee among the others. As is the clan's…" Tsunade spat venomously: "_Privilege_, the exact layout of their compounds have never been disclosed outside the family. In a moment all of you will report to the secure boardroom below here to use what blueprints we have on file to fill out the exact specifics of each compound you lived in."

No one argued or even objected. The three Hyuga shared glances, Shikamaru growled, Chouji's demeanor turned somber, and Ino's smile slowly bloomed poisonous. Kiba swallowed but his eyes burned bitterly with rage.

Tsunade felt pride for a brief moment, for these children not children under her command. Their discipline was perfect and their loyalty unwavering. Even the youngest of their number Hanabi was tempered with a resolve so cold it could have frozen rivers still. They were the best the new generation had to offer and it eased Tsunade's anxiety to know that Sakura would have them at her back no matter the outcome.

"I know that some involved in this atrocity were some of your parents. When the blueprints are done I would ask you to deliver a message from me to them."

"You want peace talks." Shikamaru affirmed.

Tsunade nodded grimly and no one asked further. They all knew Kumo and Iwa, currently licking their wounds, would leap on them the second news of civil war reached their ears. All their lives were riding on this going no further.

She snapped her fingers. "Dismissed."

The group filed out and Tsunade was about to hit her intercom to send another squad of ANBU in when she realized there was a straggler. It was none other than Nara Shikamaru and he sketched a bow before speaking. "I have a request."

She leaned back in her chair allowing the silence to sit uncomfortably long enough for him to squirm. When he didn't squirm, she smiled. "What is your request Jonin?"

His eyes rose and they burned like coal. "When we make these appointments to our parents it would be prudent to bring Ino with to each. Whether in a single group to the compounds or with just each of us and her, I am impartial."

Tsunade knew that this was leading somewhere she'd like a bit too much. "And why would you bring her with?"

Shikamaru's gaze never wavered. "Hokage-sama, what you must understand is that among myself, Kiba, and Chouji we are merely seen as legacies. We are no more or less than our parents; equals in every sense of the word to our fathers or mothers." He paused a second to tread out his next words lightly. "Ino is not a legacy. She is a torture specialist and sadist that is known to be as vicious as she is meticulous. To the clans of the Ino-Shika-Cho squad and the Inuzuka to a lesser extent…" Shikamaru paused then and gave a rueful grin. "Ino scares the ever-living shit out of them."

Tsunade could not help the laughter, low and raspy and damn near sultry. "If you truly believe it will improve your bargaining position take _whoever_ you like with you. Just do me the favor of keeping the Hyuga out of it and delivering my message to Hiashi yourself." The heiresses still remained in exile after all. No need to tempt Hiashi in stealing them back now that he had crossed so many lines.

Shikamaru bowed again. "Naturally." And that was that.

**Konoha**

The chaos of the night slipped into day and the mobs surrounding the compounds thinned only to be replaced by other civilians coming off the graveyard shift.

The civilians, unlike the shinobi that had at least some degree to defend themselves; had been terrified senseless when the Kyuubi had attacked. With even less understandings of seals they could only look upon the young girl that had emerged from the carnage of that horrific night as the demon reborn. Even from the cradle she'd been too spiteful to die despite their efforts, and as she grew older they been left cowering as she walked among them. She'd been a merciless, proud, and unforgiving devil and they knew that fact too well.

Then Sarutobi the man who had at least turned a blind eye to their attempts, had been replaced by the brazen Tsunade who placed the girl beyond any of their reach and had actually cracked down on them. The resentment from that still ran deeply and a large segment of the population had festered. They'd watched their own children be turned against them and brought to worship at the altar of Sakura of the Kyuubi no Kitsune, and those who protested usually ended up visiting T&I without warning.

But then came the assassination and it was their fears and hatred given action. In their eyes those responsible were heroes that had tried to save them all, so it was with jubilation they partied in the streets and brought gifts to the doors of the compounds. Most were honestly oblivious to the tension building on all sides.

The ninja in the four compounds remained on high alert and stared down their watchers scornfully, and the ANBU watching outside their walls looked back with equal disdain. The stalemate continued and gossip spread like wildfire as the village continued to polarize. There was almost no middle ground to be had, either the assassination attempt was applauded with more people going to celebrate in the streets of the compound district, or was met with appalled horror that was quickly turning to rage.

In an emptier part of the city the original Sakura stood above her last four clones with the Kyuubi staring through her eyes. One clone put her hands on the body's chest as if to bless it. A shock of chakra raced through her palm and the body jerked up and let out a strangled gasp, red eyes flying open and straining unseeingly at the ceiling.

The Kyuubi cackled in delight and Sakura's lips twisted to a grin as her irises flooded scarlet.

Elsewhere in one of the homes owned by the rich and lecherous Jiraiya of the Sanin, the man himself and his apprentice poured over a sealing array that was becoming more complete by the hour as they rushed forward in a race they didn't even realize they were in.

Naruto thought only of protecting Sakura as he worked, and Jiraiya saw only a solution that would take care of a dire problem. Neither knew that a clone of Sakura's was watching their progress under a multilayered Genjutsu. She didn't want to have to resort to drastic measures, but this thing of theirs couldn't be finished without her notice.

As the sun burned its arc higher into the sky four jonin, clan children all, began their diplomatic mission.

When the sun reached its highest Nara Shikaku was face to face with his son while surrounded by their family members. Even then the cold hatred in his son's eyes stabbed through him.

The meeting had begun with a bang. Argument against argument, logic against logic, point after point in an endless cycle trying to prove right and wrong with neither side willing to see compromise or give ground.

In the end Shikaku felt numb. His righteous stand did nothing to protect his heart from the utter loathing that Shikamaru spat at him. "Sakura is my friend and unlike you I'm actually _loyal_. All of you are dead to me, don't beg me for forgiveness when the time comes, don't except a shred of mercy when the blade falls because none of you deserve it."

It was Ino that shattered their already fractured family. "The Hokage is benevolent. Those of you who were not part of the assassination planned at the Hyuga estate are free to leave without repercussion. You are guaranteed safety from retribution and sanctuary in total. But if you leave thinking to infiltrate our ranks you will die painfully, slowly, and by my hand. And trust me when I say I will _enjoy_ _it_."

A shiver passed through the crowd and nervous glances were exchanged. To Shikakau's shock almost two dozen of the youngest left the crowd and fled under Ino's wrathful gaze.

He tried to order them back but one particularly mouthy chunin yelled in return: "Like hell we will! You may have a death wish but the rest of us want to live past twenty!"

For once Shikaku honestly felt vulnerable despite outnumbering the group of his son and friends nearly fifty to one.

Chouji and Kiba hung back but their glares of contempt spoke for them.

Shikamaru snarled with words formal but tone furious. "The Hokage is benevolent. Meet with your allies Shikaku-san, in two days we expect a time and place for negotiations to solve this mess you've created. If you continue to refuse—I cannot even begin to imagine the hell that you will unleash on us all."

The group of jonin said no more and as they left the bleak sunlight illuminated their backs. It seemed dusty, bleached as bone and so far remote. Shikaku wondered just when it was he handed over his son to the Hokage to become her messenger of ruin.

And behind them dread remained among the Nara.

At the Akimichi compound the conversation was short and to the point, and Chouji refused to acknowledge any who remained behind as family. Fewer left this time despite Ino's coercion, the family was too tightly knit and they'd chosen their path.

Chouji merely spat on the ground between them. "All of you are a disgrace to your name."

Shikamaru left the same message to arrange negotiations and they moved on.

The Hyuga compound refused them entrance, but the message would get there all the same and those inside would have their chance to flee or fight.

The Inuzuka were last and by the time they arrived Kiba had built up a full head of steam. He barged into the front courtyard with Akamaru howling at his heels. He shouted to the house. "Mother! Show your face you traitorous bitch!" Then the accusations poured out. "Where is your Inuzuka loyalty, where is your pride!"

It was almost five minutes before the Inuzuka matriarch came to stand on the walkway dressed in black. Her eyes were red from crying but her hackles were up. Her own pack of beasts were snarling behind her. "Hold your tongue you insolent whelp! This is a house of mourning for your sister and cousins, how dare you—"

"How dare I?" Kiba roared. "You sent my sister to her death for your stupid vendetta! You turned your back on the Hokage you swore to serve and attacked one of your fellow shinobi. You're the traitor you bitch!"

His mother reared back as if struck but then raged forward. "You have no idea! That so called fellow shinobi is the Kyuubi no Kitsune herself! You can smell it just like the rest of us Kiba, what we did should have happened a very long time ago."

Mother and son began circling each other and Kiba gazed back at her through heavy lidded eyes with predator's hunger. In the Inuzuka clan the line between human and beast was razor thin,\ and more feral instincts sometimes won out. Kiba rumbled. "I know exactly what foxy lady is. She saved us all from destruction; she held the beast at bay and used its powers to protect us. It was my proudest moment as an Inuzuka when I learned what she sacrificed for us and I stood in her pack numbered as one of her own. Honor and loyalty still mean something to me."

Kiba then snapped around and glared at his family that had gathered to watch. Some were jeering at him in anger but others were muted in shame.

He turned his back on his mother, insulting her purposefully as he turned the blazing eyes of an alpha male on his kin. "Show you still have pride you spineless bastards! Walk away from this or you'll find your lives will have a messy end."

As if to emphasize this Ino, from all her play in the arts of psychology and psychological torture, merely let her lips split and ran her tongue across her teeth. It was animalistic, hyper sexual, and downright terrifying as the Inuzuka instincts recognized the predator of men before them. It was one thing to kill but it was another thing entirely to kill and kill slowly and _like it_.

Even then only the youngest fled, and for Kiba it was far too few as they left the final message before drifting away.

Throughout the meetings some Yamanaka had been scattered about, and the majority of those not directly already condemned fled to the sanctuary they were offered. Even the civilian members knew what Ino was capable of and they wanted no part of her vengeance.

It was the first time in a long while that Ino had actually saved lives, and it made her feel strange. She's long given up on anything but hurting people and leaving them in bloody ribbons behind her.

The four of them didn't speak because they were long past words. Their world had turned into a nightmare that they couldn't wake up from, and all they could do was keep moving and praying.

**Hyuga Compound, 6:48 PM**

What should have been a glorious sunset vanished under a curtain of clouds as night set in; bringing the last warm summer storm with it. In the streets outside the compound Kakashi and Asuma could hear laughter as umbrellas were shared by the partiers and hot food was passed around through the crowds.

The jonin was irritated by their flippancy. They were utterly _oblivious_ to the huge fight boiling on either side of the street as Hyuga guards watched ANBU and the ANBU returned the favor. And they were treating it like a damn excuse to party.

Torches were lit and paper lamps were set on the wide grounds, and they were points for shinobi to gather and talk quietly as they waited for the hammer to fall. Would their rebellion gain traction or were they all unknowingly heading to the gallows?

Kakashi glanced to his longtime friend and the gauze pressed to a horrid gash on his face. "Kurenai didn't take it well?"

Asuma responded with a guttural snarl. It twisted the kunai wound that stretched from the edge of his mouth up through his cheek to his ear. It was half a Glasgow smile and was ugly as it was painful.

His speech was a little slurred from the injury but Asuma managed. "Obviously it didn't go well. I tried to convince her to come with me but…" He lifted away the pad to stare at the black blood smeared on it. "She was furious with me. I didn't even realize my arguments weren't getting through until she nearly took off my face. It was all I could do to knock her out before she drew too much attention."

He clasped his comrade's shoulder. "I'm sorry, I know you loved her—"

"Hey!"

Both jonin turned at the voice and saw a chunin pelting through the rain. As the shadowy figure leapt onto the walkway Kakashi was able to see his rain streaked face. It was Umino Iruka and former academy teacher. The chunin announced: "Hiashi wants the word out that there's a message from the Nara. It looks like the Hokage is willing to try peace negotiations, if things go well they may take place in less than three days. But there's no sign of immunity yet for any of us involved in trying to assassinate h_er_."

The jonin blinked and the chunin gave a wave before going back into the rain to continue spreading the word.

Kakashi was honestly surprised. "That's…interesting."

For the first time in hours Asuma brightened. "I think we might be getting somewhere."

Hope sparked between them but neither yet dared voice it. This was first ray of light showing through in days since the assassination had failed and then Intel had broke lose that Gemma was spilling his guts. They'd all fled for cover expecting the worst.

Slowly the hope was weighed down by unease. Things couldn't be as easy as negotiating their way out, it just couldn't. "Maybe." Kakashi finally allowed, gazing up over the compound walls to spot an ANBU sitting on a roof across the street.

The ANBU captain noticed Kakashi noticing him, and abruptly flipped him the bird before vanishing in the rain. The younger ANBU Blade had once respected Kakashi when he'd been an elite black ops agent, but that was obviously no longer true.

The words slipped from his mouth before he could help them. "Even if we survive things will never be the same again."

Asuma grimaced and pressed down on his wound more tightly, and the pain was all he needed to know that was the truth.

**Abandoned District**

If not for the gag one of her clones had placed in her mouth, Sakura would have shrieked in agony as the Kyuubi's soul was dragged from her. Black as the night sky, swirling in a miasma of boiling red, his soul bled out of her stomach causing the bare edges of what was left of the seal to glow an ominous shade of violet.

The seal could fight all it wanted because no matter how it burned and tore at her, her true pain came from elsewhere. For his soul to finally leave the sanctuary she had given him for all these years they had to disentangled the blurred strands of themselves just enough to loose him. They would never be truly separate anymore, not without both of their souls literally disintegrating, but it would be new distance she had never experienced.

At the moment though best she could hope for was enough _slack_ to get him into a separate shell. And separating things on a spiritual level, truthfully, hurt like a bitch.

She did her best to focus elsewhere as she laid writhing, her clones pinning her down as she had something close to a seizure. Another few guided the Kyuubi's soul into his new body and didn't even seem to notice her trying to crawl out of her skin right under them.

It was agony, purple-black as bruises and boiling half over. She was molten and barely held in her skin and weightless with fever, filled with Hell and demon and barbed wire three layers deep. The memories of him were a river out of her, tinged with fire and flowing in blood and so distant they were sinking under the earth never to be found again. There was gauze and whiteness filling where he left, separating them the way the clouds did the ground from the sky.

Every moment his soul drained out of her she felt a little more relief. Would they still be able to speak? Would they still roil together not knowing whose memoires were whose? Would she feel like a hollowed out sepulcher and finally understand what it was to be truly alone?

The last black tendrils oozed from her and she slammed into the ground as if thrown. She wretched and gasped, fighting down vomit while her clones tried to soothe her. Chaotic surges of color splashed across her vision and the back of her throat burned as she spat out the gag and let herself dry heave.

Her body began to ache with sickness, ice spreading along with muck to her fingers and down her guts. Her head was blistering and her stomach was filled with broken glass and acid and magma. It took her awhile before the heaving passed. There was nothing her chakra could do for a spiritual wound of having her soul splayed apart like a dissected cadaver.

Eventually the wounds on her soul came to terms with the greater degree of separation and closed in on themselves. Despite her stomach aching she immediately felt light without his weight in her body, and she almost floated to the Kyuubi's side.

Her clones gathered around her, all of them looking into his eyes roiled muddy and murky and remained sightless. They held their breath and waited, barely able to breathe through their prayers to gods none of them believed in.

Sakura swallowed down another wave of bile. "Tattoo the chakra sharing array on his tenketsu and back. I kept the reserve." They'd wondered what their chakra would do when they entered separate bodies, and it seemed the theory that she would hold it all had borne out.

The clones complied and began the fallback plan. The array they tattooed was complex in practice but simple in theory. It allowed a specifically attuned array, placed on a person, to draw chakra from another that it was set to. He would be able to leech chakra from her no matter what the distance. He wouldn't be happy having to depend on her like this, but she was quite happy to retain at least something of a connection.

Something in his eyes churned brighter and a muddled emotion jolted her. It was not as clear as she was used to and she actually had to spend a few seconds processing it.

_Pain._

The same pain she was still wrestling with right now as her soul writhed in unseen agony.

The body began twitching and retching on its own. The clones tattooing quickly rolled him on his side to let the bile clear from his airway and then continued their work when the seizure passed.

As another tenketsu seal was applied, only to sink into the skin and vanish, she took the Kyuubi's larger hand into her own. "Come on." She couldn't reach him inside so she did the only thing she could: speak. "Wake up. You know how to do it; you've been in me long enough. _Wake up._"

The minutes slipped past and her worry grew. His soul was fighting and his mind was a jumbled mess.

"Wake up, wake up. Come to me, follow my voice." Despite the steadiness of her words her panic rose. Had she failed in the calculations, was this body rejecting the soul? If she waited much longer and it truly was it could cause irreparable damage to him before she pulled him out.

She placed her hand on his chest ready to drag him back in when those crimson eyes dilated and contracted. The clones paused in their work with gasps of reverent awe. Sakura felt his hand tighten around hers and slowly, so wonderfully slowly, he grinned at her in delight.

"What are you waiting for? Welcome your God-King into the world."

She laughed and everything fell away. She was light and wind and rushing, screaming up to the sky and falling back down. She wasn't crying but she felt the tears sting. She wasn't smiling but she felt her lips stretch back. She gathered the joy exploding through her, tempering it to the grace necessary for dreams being fulfilled before her eyes.

She finally whispered what she'd been waiting ten long years to utter. "Welcome back to the world Kyuubi-sama."

And it was the most natural thing in the world when he propped himself up and she lowered herself to kiss him. It did not matter that the bitterness of bile still lingered because this was command and persuasion, his smell fire and bitter all at once. He tasted like spilled blood and new glories and victory long awaited.

She was pride and the fall, her taste saccharine lies and bitter sweet truths, and her scent was indescribably the sky splayed all across her skin.

Their kiss was a pact finally sealed, and it all led to their dream that was plunging the rest of the world into a nightmare.

* * *

AN: Admittedly, the rebuilding of the Kyuubi took a bit longer than I expected. Just a '**new body no jutsu'** would have fallen kind of flat and been like, why was this so hard to do again? So I had to go step by step and I still only ended up giving the bare bones minimum to make it credible because it was taking too long.

Oh, and on another side note, a Glasgow smile is the nickname for the practice of cutting victim from the edge of each side of the mouth to the ears. If the victim lived through the massive blood loss, the resulting scars would resemble a "smile". This was "popularized" if you could call it that in the Scottish city of Glasgow.

There, you all just learned something today.

Edit: Did a streamlining of the ANBU dialogue in the beginning and fixed up Sasuke's reasoning and made him far more uncertain and unsettled in what he wants to do in dealing with Sakura. Everything else was just cleanup to make it sound better.


	34. Unraveling

AN: Sorry this update took awhile, fall semester got a little…weird this year and time slipped away from me.

But never mind that, because I'm here to remind you this chapter of Hells Radiance is rated **M** for: political intrigue that might turn your stomach, a surprisingly small amount of violence, another reminder that Sakura is _really_ not a good person, frank sexual talk, an insinuation of sex occurring, adultery of a sort (is is adultery if you're not actually married?), and a good dose of Sakura/Kyuubi interactions that in and of themselves could probably be seen as disturbing (though, mind you, the main pairing remains Naruto/Sakura), and some, no, _a lot_ of swearing.

Disclaimer: If I owned Naruto most problems with other ninja villages would be solved with a gratuitous use of violence like shinobi should, not trying to achieve some unattainable peace in a military world. Peace is overrated when you're ninja, because then you're out of a job. So I'd advise Kishimoto's Naruto to quit trying to put himself out of a job.

* * *

**Konoha, Abandoned District**

There were so many things they should have thought of then.

So many problems the Kyuubi should have foreseen.

So many mistakes she shouldn't have made.

The village was reaching a frenzied peak, and all they needed was one push to set them all down a slippery slope that no one would be able to climb back up. That night she put the Kyuubi's soul into the flesh should have been a crowning moment of their ambitions, just a few steps removed from the glorious fall he'd orchestrated.

But in their celebration, almost drunk on ecstasy and power, they'd pushed aside what they'd been striving for so viciously. For a few muddled hours there was only her and him and a long spiral down. Only the dawn itself the next day would force her to hide what had happened and bring her wretched mistake crawling back to sink its teeth into her.

But the dawn had not yet come. This night was yet their own to see what new lines they would carve straight into each other, and Sakura was spinning from somewhat distracted to devil-may-care about the consequences.

She remembered the first kiss clearly, the heat, the taste seared, the fiery scent of his hair, the rasp of his skin. She wondered why he was kissing her, dazedly, because she understood that from the beginning the Kyuubi had twisted her and broken her in ways that couldn't be fixed. He had been whatever she needed him so his whispers could reach and make her love him beyond any kind of reason.

Whether as a protector and confidant to a child emotionally stunted, a taskmaster to a student so hungry for power she'd boiled herself alive for it, or a master that tore away her delusions and showed her the flaws she tried to hide, he always knew the part to play to keep her pliant.

She knew it was wrong and knew that there was no love lost here between them, and in that lust filled haze she wondered what he was playing for now.

After the second kiss she seemed to lose her sight, during the third most of her rationality was gone, by the forth any sense of time had been disregarded, and before the fifth the Kyuubi gripped her feverish body and dragged her to the floor. That's when the haze left her smoldering and unable to tell if her eyes were opened or closed. Her upper extremities were heady like each kiss was champagne and her lower half throbbing as if her blood was boiling.

She couldn't breathe.

She didn't want to breathe.

The euphoria of their physical contact had her feeling intoxicated for the first time in her life. It drew her into a violent embrace that was so deeply primal that she didn't even care that every kiss was raw to the point they were nearly tearing each other apart.

She was reminded that on some level, yet again, that they truly hated each other.

When a particularly violent exchange left her mouth bloodied, the sticky and bitter aftertaste curled down her tongue like a burn. The scorch of it ran into her jaw like water and spiraled to the back of her neck to slip between her shoulder blades. Breathless as their mouths tangled again, she managed to gasp. "Have…have I changed? From that selfish—" The next kiss was bloody. "Hateful child I was—" The next was sharp as a blade. "Have I changed?"

He didn't pause in kissing her and for a minute she couldn't find any more breath to question him as he jammed her between his wide shoulders and the floor. Her right arm was numb and pinned to her side, her left splayed across his back with fingers snared up into his hair. His body seemed to engulf her and he wrapped his arms around her back and pulled them so tightly together she couldn't tell where he ended or she began.

She couldn't quite bring herself to care even knowing before now he'd hated her body as much as his own.

The pressure of his mouth on hers shifted sideways and he spoke guttural words into her cheek. "What the hell does it matter?"

Her chest was constricted against his bulk and she heaved for even a wisp of air. She wanted to know why now, why she worthy _now._ She'd been something wretched and ugly. She'd been so tangled up inside him. What had changed?

She fought to hiss as her neck arched in an excruciating arc. "I was an idiot." It felt like her neck would break. "I clung to your words as if nothing else mattered while you…you hated it so fucking much."

He growled. "What did your love mean to me? You were a child clinging to any scrap of affection. You were weak! I had to give every encouragement to keep that fragile mind together, play that childish game that I actually cared for your life." He breathed deeply and he was stealing all of her air. "I wanted to snap your neck during every second of it."

And they stared at each other and she thought that this was completely insane. She dug fingers into his scalp, reminding him where they were and what posistion they were in, and the grip of hr hands said what she coudln't: _T__hen why now?_

He her hiked her up, legs on his hips and pushing her head back into the floor. "I can't undo what got snarled up between us, there's no going back."

Soul and mind; memory. No longer in the same flesh but their was chakra still left snared between them. There was no getting away from each other and she let the thought form that this was somehow him settling. He'd always been settling for her, he'd told her as much. She was a poor substitute.

The stolen hospital sheets twisting between them were too thin to separate his searing skin from hers, too thin to protect her from the venom of his words slipping between each kiss.

This thing between them was madness, it was hate and agony and regrets she couldn't undo. It was the only thing that had kept her alive and had shaped her in every way she knew how. She could never go back and this ugly thing between them went on and on. He despised everything she was but he still wanted them tangled up together in the only way they could manage.

Her skin felt carved from ice and he was the raging flame waiting outside.

This was not intimacy of flesh, this was not love, this wasn't even about sex. This was the only way she knew how to goddamn express herself and he was still in the process of breaking her, and she had so long ago given everything to him that taking it back now seemed beyond pointless.

He wouldn't let her go and she wasn't sure she could get away. What would it matter?

Sakura couldn't help the sound that slipped between her teeth. Base and needy, weak. "And you decided that meant—" There was the sharp jab of his hip on her thigh. "Rutting down here in the mud and the blood?"

He snarled against her mouth and the sharp edge of his teeth grazed her like a blade. "We can't go back. Isn't _this_ what you wanted?" He breathed, scraping with nails and teeth and sending a thrumming pulse deep inside her. "Don't think I couldn't see what went on in that head of yours. You never gave a fuck what it cost, enough pain and enough force and you'd get on your knees for it. Having it be me is just icing."

Anger and shame roared up in her warring with the damn _need_ to finally figure out where they stood and what lines she could finally cross. What words she could finally say.

"It's your choice if this world becomes our kingdom." His fingers dug into her spine. "Or if it's just another gilded cage you'll trap yourself in pining after humans who can't even see you for what you are."

She bucked, nails in his neck and her knee practically driven through his thigh. "I won't regret them so fuck off." And suddenly she didn't want to break, she wanted to rend him to the bone and twist him up around her to have everything for herself. "I'll make your entire body ache for me, force your every waking thought to turn to me. I'll make you want so much your demon pride will weep for your fall."

He broke their embrace laughing in a way she had never heard. He twisted her head so they were eye to eye. "You can certainly try. But let me tell you, my darling—" The endearment was a mockery and a bitter blade right between her ribs. "We have all the time in the world to see who breaks first. And I'll drive you to madness a thousand times and you'll come back to me still _begging_ for more."

There was something here in the sting of the words and the rage. Something he wanted, some kind of challenge. It wasn't control and it wasn't sex and it most definitely wasn't love. He wanted something else of her and she didn't know what it could possibly be.

She honestly didn't know if she was supposed to back down or break his neck. He saw the indecision and with a snarl drove them both into the floor so hard she thought their rib cages might have shattered. They were kissing again, sweat and exhilaration singeing the air, and he was forcing his anger into her with every breath. But something heavier laid between them and it was waiting for her to find it.

There was no outside world for them at that moment, no war to start, no wounds to cut, no screams of the dying to hear. Blood rushed in her ears drowning out the rain thundering against the roof above their heads.

There was nothing inside her and she couldn't think and didn't want to. All they had was their game, this thing that was supposed to let her face eternity without going mad. This thing he would use to drive her mad anyways just because he could.

Because she had never been enough for him, nothing but a poor substitute.

She didn't have enough oxygen to think, not enough to breathe, and she let their game unravel her.

**Apartment Complex, 2:02 AM**

The persistent tapping of the rain almost masked the sound of someone banging on the apartment door. Someone who, if Sasuke had anything to do with it after being woken, would be gutted like a fish and left to bleed in the hallway. However any act of violence would involve him leaving his warm bed and the girl curled around him, and that was too high a price for this hour of the night. And really, the dilemma seemed far out of his judgment skills with only two hours of sleep.

Prepared to roll over and bury his head under his pillow, Sasuke's plan was interrupted when the banging on the door was joined by a shout. "Come on Sasuke, I know you're in there!"

A flare of chakra rippled through the room and a warm sigh slipped across his shoulder. Hanabi had woken. "It's Naruto…get him to leave. Or something."

He gave an irritated groan but nevertheless shunted her to the side and swung his legs to the floor. He jerked his head, cartilage shifting back into place with a satisfying crack.

Another loud bang came from the front door and he vowed that someday Naruto would pay dearly for this. It took exactly a fifteen steps to reach the entryway from the bedroom, and with a half-formed snarl and cursing every step he threw the door open. "What!"

To Sasuke's delight he heard Naruto reel back half a step, but the blond jonin quickly recovered to blurt: "Sakura's gone."

Sasuke marveled at how much grief one person could cause him when she wasn't even within a mile of him. He rubbed at his forehead. "What do you mean _gone_?"

His teammate sounded close to having a nervous breakdown or killing someone. Maybe both. "Just what I said! We just finished the counter seal and I came back to show her and the apartment was empty. I've started contacting everyone we know and no one has seen her for days except me. If there was another assassination—"

He snapped derisively. "Sakura's a shinobi Naruto, and she _can_ take care of herself. Honestly I have no idea where she is or what she's doing, for all we know it could be one of those times she's having a_ sleepover_ with no warning. If you can't find her by morning then I might actually do something about it. Until then: I. Don't. Care."

It would have been easier for them both then if Sasuke had shut the door, or if Naruto had let him. But Sasuke could feel the anger of his teammate and it tangled with his own frustration of what Sakura had done to the Uchiha that he couldn't avenge.

Lashing out at Naruto, her lover and blind follower, was fast becoming a temptation to great to ignore.

And Naruto, after spending weeks barely sleeping and consumed with creating a counter seal, was run ragged physically and mentally beyond his rigid self-discipline. Emotionally he was no better; despite the newly regained intimacy he and Sakura had found after the period of turmoil following Anko's death and Orochimaru's slaying, they hadn't resolved their problems but merely shoved them aside as if they hadn't stopped talking and nearly become strangers. She would sometimes glance at him with dark irises and in that moment be so far away it would leave him lost. And it ate at him because somewhere, somehow, there was something wrong between them that he couldn't see.

Both jonin were under tremendous, mind splintering stress at the same time, and it brought out the worst in them.

A festering resentment rolled in his chest and down into his guts as Naruto took a menacing step forward. "You don't care? You should be grateful to her that you're even alive Uchiha. She stopped you from your little jaunt to Orochimaru, she kept you safe when you were a crippled and blind traitor! Right now you should be terrified at the thought of Sakura dying because without her there's nothing and no one to protect you from what you've done!"

His rage went up a dangerous notch. "What I've done?" He hissed. "Maybe you should take a closer look at your girlfriend Naruto; compared to the blood on her hands I'm perfectly clean. Have you ever wondered about that promise we made to help each other achieve our dreams? I destroy Itachi, you become Hokage, and she twists and bleeds people along the way so we can do it not thinking of the price. But what are her dreams, huh? Neither of us really knows just _what_ she wants but a lot of people are going to die before she's satisfied." He snorted bitterly "And you and I will be the ones up to our elbows in blood."

"Don't give me that shit!" Naruto shouted and that's when the argument started spiraling out of control. The blonds' elbow slammed against Sasuke's chest as he hauled him up by his throat. Before either knew what was happening Sasuke had his teammate's wrists and was crushing the joints to the point of shattering.

Naruto didn't seem to notice the pain or had passed the point of caring. "Remember that little town on the border of Grass country? I do. We went in half blind because there wasn't moonlight and you still couldn't find a chakra signature that wasn't already down your throat. All we had to go on was the rot in those gutters." And his teammte chuckeled harshly. "Third time we were allowed outside the village after you were _rehabilitated_."

And Sasuke remembered. God did he remember it.

Naruto's voice almost became a sing-song, an ugly little melody written out of murder. "We were just supposed to assassinate the mayor of that town but then you got carried away on the euphoria of getting your hands dirty and _you_ decided to go to kill his wife. Then came their kid and what was she, four?"

She'd actually been three, so tiny in one of her father's old shirts. She'd looked like a fucking doll after Sasuke had left her shattered across the floor.

"And she screamed because you were already elbow deep gutting the mother. So we had to kill her, then the servants who heard the screams, then the bodyguards who came to help, and after that the three other children who came along out of sheer fucking curiosity. And it when on and on until a little assassination to depose one ruler became the slaughter of an entire household. How many was it Sasuke?"

Forty-nine people. He'd kill twenty-seven of them.

"By the time we got back here the situation was ruined beyond being salvagable." And Naruto's chakra blazed with the last words. "And do you remember what Sakura did?"

The blond shook his teammate hard enough that his teeth rattled and with a furious shout Sasuke surged forward and slammed them into the opposite wall.

Something shattered and Naruto just laughed. "She lied for you Uchiha, said the kid was already there and took the blame for your fuck-up. She's been taking the blame from everyone because my father died to stop the Kyuubi but didn't quite kill it." His voice then dropped so coldly Sasuke wondered if it could give him frostbite. "I don't know who she killed to piss you off so badly, but it must really irk you, to hate her and yet be so in her debt that you'll never repay it."

A loathing for each other, a hot, burning, twisting loathing that gnawed at their sanity and sang through their blood flared in them. They had been friends at one point when all things were said and done. After the Valley of the End they'd made a vow on their dreams and found…neither really knew…kindred spirits, comrades?

And Naruto discovered he didn't resent Sasuke as much as he expected, and Sasuke didn't find himself all that superior anymore. So while Sakura had been swept into politics and the mess at the Hokage's office they had trained together and bonded in the pain, blood, and sweat to earn their reputations as two of the best fighters the village had ever produced.

Naruto had become greater than his father in ninjutsu and the sealing arts, more powerful than his mentor Jiraiya and twice as cruel.

Sasuke turned into everything the old Uchiha refused be: pride tempered and brought to heel, devoted and loyal to a dying breath, and malicious on such a base level he would have probably been thrown from his own clan out of shame if they were still alive. With a drive for strength that outstripped obsession, he'd turned blindness from a curse into a gift that left his enemies dead before they even realized he was a threat.

Their pride was well earned and until now they had never really been forced to pit their new egos or beliefs against the other. But that day had finally come and it made their childish bickering and scraps as genin look like a joke.

Naruto couldn't stop the words spilling out of his mouth and didn't seem to want to. "You never cared about all the blood on your hands before Sasuke. What changed? None of us are innocent, both our dreams are drenched ocean deep in filth. I know the price of my soul, what was yours _Uchiha Sasuke_?"

Neither really understood what happened next, there was no thought to it, no reasoning. There was a shout, a heated snarl, pooling chakra, the odor of blood, a flash of light blotted black, and then pain knife edged into the chaos.

They both went for the jugular at the same moment. They hit the door with a crash, then the wall buckled, then something made of glass splintered as everything they'd once been to each other ignited into rage.

What stood out the most though, in the chaos that followed, was the terrifying and eerie wail from the hallway as Hanabi began to scream.

**Abandoned District, Dawn**

Sakura could not pinpoint what woke her, if it had been anything at all, but one moment she had been sprawled on the floor and the next she had spasemed into a sitting position and was blinking at the wall. It was then she noticed one of her clones haloed in the light spilling from the open doors and making panicky hand motions at her. Sakura tried to stand only to be halted by the arm flung across her hips.

Sakura winced as the movement managed to rouse the man sleeping next to her. Being nocturnal and all, the Kyuubi was _entirely_ not a morning person.

She was not disappointed by his reaction. "What the hell are you—lay back down or I'll break your legs."

Sakura ignored him and rubbed at her eyes, trying to recall exactly how she had gotten to this moment in time. This was quite possibly the most awkward morning-after she'd ever had the misfortune of having.

She looked at him. He was naked.

She looked down at herself. Definitely naked.

Self-despairingly, she asked no one in particular: "Do I smell like sex?"

The Kyuubi buried his head against her side, and after a few moments of deliberation announced: "You smell like sex."

"Fuck you." She answered.

"Already did that." He replied smugly.

This time she wanted to punch him. "Fuck you twice."

His grin was practically feral. "Which is what we—"

She had a feeling, somehow, that this would be blackmail for a good long while. She swiftly hit him in the side, stopping his retort with a low grunt and well applied medical chakra. While he tried to get his lungs restarted she looked to the clone. "What is it?"

It frowned and jerked its head twoards the door. "Three things. First: loyalist ANBU squads started sweeping the village late last night searching for you discreetly to see if you died in a ditch somewhere."

"A ditch." She answered flatly.

The clone looked tremendously uneasy. "Second: there's some kind of disturbance at the hospital. I don't know exactly what it is since I couldn't show our face and let people start asking for an alibi I haven't come up with yet, but Tsunade-hime has been there for hours."

Sakura nodded. "It's either a medical emergency or she's waiting to see if I turn up from that ditch."

The Kyuubi chuckled against her side, lungs apparently revived, and the hot rasp of his breath sent last night racing back thorough her and it almost felt like dying. He pillowed himself into her abdomen out of pure spite, knowing that she loathed being constrained during anything other than outright screwing.

The clone coughed. "The third thing: peace talks have been scheduled to take place in the next three days between the rebels and the Hokage's office."

Sakura felt her heart rate pick up, almost smelled adrenaline as the Kyuubi's eyes shot open. They were both standing, stark naked and furious, before either of them had thought it all through.

Their game was deferred; play set aside for revenge still undone. Their entanglement had an endless amount of time to play out in, but the bubbling civil-war in the village had a window of opportunity that would last for probably less than a week. Any interference from reaching the conclusion of what they planned would not be looked upon kindly.

Sakura could feel her every muscle twisting, curling so tightly that she wasn't sure if she'd explode or shatter.

The Kyuubi's jaw seemed to be set in granite as he locked a snarl behind his teeth. "If they think we'll let them just turn right back to that rotting peace—"

"They won't." Sakura hissed vehemently. "Those peace talks are going to fail horrifically. This war won't be stopped by them playing for a treaty." Her muscles began to burn from the tension they were under and reluctantly Sakura let her body unwind. Not yet, not now, losing it could come much later.

The man across from her seemed to recognize this was one of the moments where rage would be of no help, and with a reluctance equal or even greater than her own he choked out a few breaths and relaxed.

Sakura dismissed the clone and let its memories pour into her skull. She ran a hand through her hair only to find it tangled. "First things first, I need to put together an alibi for last night with as much truth and not-quite-lies as possible."

The Kyuubi raised an eyebrow and she wondered when he'd figured out that human gesture. "Does our time need to be wasted on placating humans?"

Sakura felt her lips curl. "If I don't have a good lie do you think it will go over well if I say: hey, I just freed the Kyuubi and for the hell of it we decided to celebrate by having sex and that's why I'm late."

Even as she said it though, she felt the wrongness of reducing their very long, complicated, and emotionally arduous relationship into something so…tawdry. It wasn't about sex and it wasn't about love. It was about something far uglier than that.

However, vicious sarcasm and flippancy had also been a long standing trademark of their relationship, and the Kyuubi took it without batting an eye. "Do what you will, but our main objective is the peace negotiations which means…"

He left it trailing but she already knew what he had in mind. "I'll have to squeeze an invitation to go. This could be difficult." She began pacing not heeding her own nakedness. Neither of them hardly cared for it. "I'm the root of this all and the other side won't exactly be pleased to see me there and Tsunade iwll absolutely _hate_ the idea...which is really all the more reason to do it."

She caught sight of a very familiar glint in the Kyuubi's eyes. A cruel smile spread across his face and she mirrored it knowing he was about to tell her something she'd love far too much to be considered healthy.

"I think…" He declared venomously. "It's time there's another _attempted assassination_ on your life."

Sakura drifted closer, wanting under his skin and to be draped all over him. "What kind?"

"What do you think—" And his glee couldn't be mistaken. "About poison?"

And there was that delicious heat back inside her. She breathed. "That…that would be lovely. Audacious even, two assassination attempts within days? The first by the blade failed so logically they'd try something more subtle. A poison surely, but not something common, god no." He voice rose in her excitement. "They'd pick one so deadly even my legendary healing factor would be pushed to the limit. An attack like that would incite the Hokage's faction to hysteria. The rebels would deny any involvement of course, and that'd just dig their graves deeper in those compounds."

The Kyuubi nearly purred, predator's hunger wanting in her. "But we don't want them just holing up in their fortresses, that's not nearly enough."

"Most of the rebels took their families with them to the compounds." She looked up at him in realiztion and thrummed with it. "We attack their loved ones."

Something sweet filled her voice, the venom of a beautiful and poisonous thing. "While I'm dying there should be an…explosion in the Hyuga compound. Enough fire and shrapnel to be seen for miles. Lovers who will no longer have their faces, children without their limbs, comrades screaming as what's on the inside goes out—oh god—they'll flush themselves out for a slaughter once we do that."

His eyes shined with a strange fervor as she spoke and she thought of kissing him but bit down on it. Last night had belonged to him but in the daylight she stood alone.

"I'm going to give you this world on a platter someday." His gaze pinned her. "You will be a Goddess of cruelty over it."

"A Goddess of war…a Goddess of agony." She breathed in the promise and held it for one long moment. There was a throne waiting for her if she wanted it, but there was so much left to do and being offered that crown so easily felt like another cage.

Here was a silvery web of dreams he would weave before her eyes, tantalizing and vivid but far out of her desperate reach. He would twist and break her until everything she was became nothing at all. It was another form of his control, another binding cord of his arrogance, and the fact that she suddenly realized it in blinding clarity nearly had her stepping back.

For the first time she had the right words. "My throne will be my own. Some day you may find yourself bowing to it my _dear _God-King."

"You dearly wish." His grin was amused and delighted and near enough to pride that she couldn't stand it. He never actually gave praise and if he did it was all blatant, vicious lies and anyone who said differently was a damned liar.

Every word she spoke next cleared the temptation away. "We're getting ahead of ourselves." Demands would get her nowhere and begging even less so, and frankly insults were as good a place to start as any. "Are we done here or do you need to cuddle?"

He moved closer and crowded her space, reminding her of the night before in one visceral moment. "Run along _brat_."

"Your perogative."It was time for a temporary retreat. "Do try and behave yourself while I'm gone."

He hummed a wordless acknowledgment but his gaze blazed hotter than a furnace. They stared at each other one long moment and then she turned on her heel, picked up her clothes, and walked into the rain without a backwards glance.

**Sarutobi Compound, 7:45 AM**

At the first gentle tap on his bedroom window that wasn't rain, Konohamaru shot out of bed as if under attack and rolled to face the window. With a kunai in his hand and his hair sticking out at every conceivable angle, it was almost ridiculous.

When Sakura waved at him from an odd angle under the roof, he dropped the kunai and shoved the window open. "Sis?"

She dropped to the sill and gave him one fond look. Once inside the dark room (conveniently on the opposite side of the compound from the Sandaime's quarters and the ANBU guard therein) she ruffled his hair. "I need a favor."

He nodded promptly. "Anything."

She gave him a small grin, glad again that one person was so fanatically loyal that her showing up at dawn with no preamble didn't even make him bat an eye.

"I need an alibi for last night and to borrow your shower." She answered plainly. He did not need window dressings or even explanations, just orders. He nodded and she offered nothing and he didn't ask. Instead he reached for her and she embraced him back, glad to shower him with affection as long as she was here.

"You smell different." He commented.

It wasn't an accusation but she cursed the Kyuubi's existence anyways. "It's nothing." There was a reason she'd come here before trying anywhere else, considering he had no idea what sex smelled like.

"Okay." He was so easily appeased it was downright impressive.

"So, the shower?" She asked.

He responded ."Down the hall and second door on the left."

And that was one nuisance checked off the list. "Get ready to head to the hospital, when I'm done cleaning up we'll need to speak with Tsunade."

She was almost out of the room when she heard his voice again. "I'm sorry."

There was anxiety there and she immediately turned back. "For what?"

His eyes flamed awith anger and shame. "My uncle Asuma, I should have been able to get more information from him. I should have gotten a better warning that could have stopped those bastards from trying to kill you."

She had honestly forgotten. Asuma was just one name on a very long list, but Konohamaru needed this assurance.

She kissed his cheek. "You've given me enough, I'm still here and we'll get through this. His sins aren't your own." It didn't look like he was convinced and hse tried a new tack. "Remember when you were a child? I asked you for a promise; that there would come a day where I would need your help and you would give it."

He nodded reverently; remembering that promise like it was a covenant between them. Her voice slid one octave lower to something hypnotizing. "That day is almost here, are you ready?"

He was a boy who needed action and purpose to feel whole and she would give it to him."Of course. I'll do anything for you."

And she wondered, inexplicably, if he just might do anything she asked even if she told him of demons and monsters and betrayals neck deep. But she couldn't take an unnecessary risk so close to the end; there was still too much room for things to be averted, still too much uncertainty and human kindness to heal the wounds she had reopened in the village.

And Sakura wasn't about to let her plans go to waste just to test a curiosity.

**ANBU Post Central Konoha, Transcripts of ANBU Radio from 0900 to 1200 hours**

"Command? Do you read me? She's back, she's _safe_. I've just spotted her heading in towards the hospital—"

"This is Command. Demoness has re-appeared in sector five, all patrols disengage search patterns."

"Did you hear? She's alright—"

"All units, requests for further Intel is unavailable at this time. Where Demoness was these past nine hours remains undetermined."

"Where is she now? My unit worked with her in the past and wants confirmations of safety with their own eyes."

"All squads, remain at your posts, the Hokage has denied all requests for anyone to see Demoness at this time. I repeat, remain at your posts until further notice."

"My squad is about to go off surveillance at the Nara Compound, we're going to try and swing by the hospital to see her."

"Traffic is increasing in all areas in sector five; Squads eleven through sixteen will need relocation at this time. Squad 11 you'll be placed—"

"This is Squad six, news of Demoness' reemergence is causing disturbance in civilian crowds by the Hyuga compound. A riot may be brewing, stand by. Stand by."

"This is Command, keep a tight net on civilian crowds, any unruliness should be put down immediately. But remember tha permission for physical force hasn't been granted by the Hokage's office at this time."

"This is coming through private channel Bravo: we have a request from Aburame Shino to confirm Demoness has returned. Can we release information at this time?"

"This is Command: information may be released, but all other requests must be cleared beforehand."

"All squads the threat elevation has been raised—"

**Konoha Hospital, 9:07 AM**

Unaware of the storm of chatter occurring in the ANBU channels due to her reappearance, Sakura remained in her chair as if one wrong move could end her life. Under the stony glares of two Sanin she tried her best not to look like a small child with a hand caught in the cookie jar.

At least she did _try_, until she realized that the embarrassed and petulant child look was much better to divert their attention than the: woman-who-had-freed-a-demon-and-was-about-to-be-found-out, look.

So after that realization she fidgeted, pouted, and blushed under their scrutiny while wondering whether or not her lies were holding water.

It was doubtful, but one could hope.

Tsunade's sarcasm quickly sunk that wish to a shallow and unmarked grave. "So let me get this straight. Yesterday afternoon when you were moving through the village you picked up a tail of an unknown identity, so for the rest of the day and into the night you ran around trying to draw them out without contacting anyone for backup. And_ then_ just for the hell of it, you slipped through the ANBU guard for the Sarutobi compound to see what your tail would do only to fall asleep on Konohamaru's bedroom floor while you were waiting?"

Tsunade's incredulity wasn't a surprise; it was rather irresponsible of her. This story was beyond even her daily and well known recklessness, and while known to take laws and orders as suggestions, making a rookie mistake like falling asleep on watch was unheard of for her. In fact it was suspicious as hell and Sakura knew her story was sinking down fast.

She fidgeted again and picked at a stray thread from her jacket. "Well…yeah."

Tsunade's skeptical gaze doubled in intensity and was about to border into anger. Jiraiya gave a small, derisive cough into his fist, and with a labored sigh she shed the first layer of lies as if they were dirty clothing no longer fit in their unsightliness.

Her eyes hardened and the fidgeting slipped from her body for the illusion it was. It was a jonin and cold blooded monster now before them and her shoulders were set in haughty disdain and her head was thrown back in pride.

Her posture spoke of her true nature, but the words that slipped past her lips were just another layer of her lies. "Last night I was followed by at least three ninja of above average skill, the delicate problem is that I picked them up while surveying the Hyuga compound for any weaknesses in their defense. I raided that place before to save Hinata and Hanabi, and I thought with my experience I could find us an opening previously unseen. That's when those spies noticed me. I didn't know which side they were from so I decided to thresh them through the ANBU bodyguards around the Sarutobi for confirmation." She sighed unhappily, lies coming so easily. "But my pursuers didn't take the bait."

Sakura saw the slap coming, registered it blandly, and accepted it without complaint and turned her head to lessen the impact. Tsunade's hand cracked her across the face and despite her preparation her head turned to the point of almost snapping her neck if she'd been a lesser being. The sting was duly noted, and red chakra curled to the surface of her skin to soothe inflamed skin and mend her broken cheekbone.

The pain was well worth it when it was joined by a sense of smugness that her lie had _worked_. Nothing was more useful than the anger that her story had finally generated. Anger made people careless, made them forget logic and details at the worst possible times. Admitting something so detrimental to herself (even though it was a lie) made it seem like truth and they accepted it readily.

So with her self-satisfaction carefully masked she looked back to Tsunade wordlessly, and the Hokage was either homicidally furious or about to break out into sobs.

It was always hard to tell with Tsunade.

The rage and-or impending tears made the Hokage's words a rasp. "How could you be so reckless? It's been less than a week since they nearly killed you and you just traipsed right back to their doorstep. If you had died or been captured—we're on the edge of civil war! You should know better than anyone that one more incident could set this off."

_That—_Sakura thought bitterly_—is exactly what I'm counting on._

She paused to wait for the sarcastic comment the Kyuubi would chime in just to make her feel worse . A few seconds later she realized it wasn't going to come. Either they were too far away from each other for communication or the mental link actually snapped.

For a second her façade nearly crumbled under a wave of pure dissapointment. The fact that she would no longer have that unhelpful and vicious second voice in the back of her head upset her more than anything had that day.

Instead of voicing any of her distress she swallowed it down. She had learned from her childhood to never show pain in any facet and wouldn't start now. Sakura looked away from both Sanin and felt another lie weave its way off her tongue. "I'm sorry Hime, this…this has been difficult for me. Since we came back from Akatsuki I've been sidelined waiting on the replacement seal, and now when you need my strength the most I'm a liability."

Tsunade's visage softened from that indecipherable mask of pain-or-rage to something near mothering. She reached a hand to Sakura's once damaged face. "I'm sorry Sakura, it's just…"

Their eyes locked amber to jade and Sakura thought she felt a fracture running through them. Tsunade breathed deeply. "Are you angry with me because I'm letting them get away with it?" Get away with nearly killing her. Peace for her blood; that price had been traded by more than one Hokage.

Sarutobi had always been a devastatingly practical man when it all boiled down.

And honestly yes, just a little. But it was politics and Sakura understood, it'd be strange for Tsunade to try and string those rebels up just for her when it could start civil war and then lead into international struggle.

"I don't blame you, I just want to help." It was the worst lie yet and she gently guided Tsunade's hand away from her cheek. "I know the politics of this situation _perfectly._"

Tsunade let out a tired sigh and Jiraiya stepped towards her with tattooing ink in hand. "The replacement seal is done."

She'd beaten them by less than half a day. It made her nearly light headed how close she'd come to it all falling apart.

He kept talking. "If we're done with the guilt-fest I'm going to get the matrix on her. Unless this degenerates into a clothes ripping brawl, in which case I'll be happy to wait for you two to sort this out."

Both women scowled at him but Sakura immediately started mouthing absolutely filthy things to him the moment Tsunade's back was turned. The man grinned at her and winked and she knew he'd already forgiven her for dropping out of sight or had likely not even been angry in the first place. He'd long ago accepted that leaving her to her own devices the first thirteen years of her life wouldn't lend itself to her suddenly obeying protocol down to the letter now.

"Shouldn't Naruto be helping?" She asked coyly. "Hell, shouldn't he be the one putting this on his likely soon-to-be-naked-for-sealing-procedure girlfriend?" But the way she made eyes at Jiraiya and splayed one of her legs told him she hardly minded the switch.

Her relationship with Jiraiya had always been an odd one, but it was good.

Something wary crossed his face and suddenly the warmth of spending time with an old teacher died. She felt the frost creeping in. "Where is Naruto?"

Jiraiya motioned for her to undress. "Seal now, Naruto later, don't think I don't know howdistracted he got when I sent him to check up on the state of your seal last week." He grinned but there was something brittle under it. "I don't need a horny boy wanting to do his girlfriend during something this delicate."

And he was telling the truth, but it was a truth Sakura was all too familiar with: something that while correct was not the real answer to the question.

Despite how _off-track _she and Naruto got when clothing started coming off, she knew he was one of the most professional shinobi in the village. She had trained him to be that way and Jiraiya's excuses were simply not enough to justify the man who'd over half made the seal not being here.

She felt a curl of fear in her heart. "What is it? Why isn't he—"

"He's fine." He responded vehemently. "Now do I have to undress you myself or can we get this started?"

Sakura tried in vain to think of a way to summon a clone without the Sanin noticing, but hiding the chakra signature of it forming took the hand-seals, and a sealless clone's chakra would be so obvious the clone wouldn't get a step before it would be dispelled. Seeing no immediate exit without raising more suspicion, Sakura huffed and began stripping. Nerves nearly had her fumbling but a life of callous reserve gave her a steadiness that didn't betray her doubts.

Jiraiya was a master of the perverted, Tsunade the queen of Medical ninja. Irrationally she feared they'd be able to tell from her body that a soul had been dragged out of her just before she and the Kyuubi had torn into each other.

She fretted they'd somehow _know_ just by the guarded shame in her eyes and then everything would fall apart. The truth of all her atrocities would be known and her friends would see the depths of her depravity. Exposed for all the village to see the Kyuubi would scrap their elaborate plan and it would likely devolve into a bloodbath.

And who would be lost in that she wouldm't have any control over.

When Tsunade left a moment later for hospital rounds, Sakura nearly wept in relief.

Once her shirt was off, her bra cast away, and her pants folded below her hips she caught Jiraiya's eye and to cover her nerves struck a pose. The self-proclaimed pervert had seen it all but that didn't stop Sakura from her lifelong goal of getting him to double-take.

She tried to pretend like this was something fun to feel good about and hoped faking it long enough would make it true.

Jiraiya chuckled. "Still got it I see. The hips, that flawless skin those gorgeous eyes…I want you to know I always liked you better than Naruto."

She snorted and the tension slipped out and made her feel like she was soaring. Her duplicity would remain hidden and Jiraiya still loved her best. It was more than enough. With delighted laughter bubbling up she struck a few more poses for good measure and her elated prancing about the room had them both smiling.

Unfortunately, their smiles were for far different reasons.

In the end he never did double take and she gave it up as a bad job and took her place inside the pre-made array laid out on the floor.

She remarked casually. "I would hope you liked me best, if you liked an annoying hormonal boy going through puberty better than the girl who ran around you half-naked during her teenage years I'd be shocked, shocked and appalled."

"If I had to keep coming back to the village because Naruto refused to abandon his poor girlfriend—" Jiraiya was still sore on that point "I'd better have been compensated by an adorable chunin girl who liked nothing better than to strip before sparring."

She half-smiled in nostalgia, reminded of the pleasant years when Jiraiya had trained Naruto while she was under Tsunade's tutelage. Things had been simpler, the lies less numerous, loyalties less tested, lines uncrossed. The summers were hot and whenever Jiraiya came back into town he would heap attention on her like a dotting uncle. So every so often she would forget her shirt when visiting Naruto for a between training make-out session, and the old pervert would let them go as long as she gave a good show before dragging her boyfriend off.

She missed it and with a sort of melancholy she fell silent and left Jiraiya to his work.

It was a pity that if he realized the Kyuubi's soul was no longer in her flesh she'd have to kill him.

**Hyuga Compound, 1:48 PM**

The air hummed with rumors, the whispers of ninja down not-so empty corridors and supposedly peaceful gardens. Kakashi sat on the railing in the largest house in the compound. He turned a page in his book idly as the wind carried another whispered piece of gossip to his ears.

He made note of the new rumor, filed it back into some deep part of his brain, and without missing a beat flipped to the next page. But his sanctuary of reading smut and gathering information, unfortunately, was disturbed as he once again felt his senses ripple with another person entering.

His gaze flickered to the silent Hyuga carrying a tea set arrayed in front of her. She was preparing for the master of the house to arrive and a green seal showed brilliantly from her forehead, the brutal marking that caged her body in service to the Main Family. It was uncovered so all would know her shame. Her robes were impeccably clean and her was hair swept back into a long braid. She worked mechanically, eyes wide but registering nothing.

She looked like a well trained dog and Kakashi was once again reminded that if not for their mutual hatred of that demon and the change she represented, he would loathe the Main house Hyuga with every fiber of his being.

He snapped his left hand to the side to grab the servant's attention. The almost glassy-eyed attentiveness she gave him made him feel ill. "I want you to tell me something."

She bowed so low her branded forehead brushed the ground. "What information do you require? Hiashi-sama will be with you in moments, and I'm sure he could answer any of your questions far more adequately than I."

The impassive response made him wince and he waved off her suggestion. "I have found over the years of being a shinobi the servants know more about a situation than the people involved. I'm not asking for your master's secrets, just a little gossip about the last day in the village."

Her head came up a fraction and he was pleased to see a tiny flicker of _something _in those blank eyes. "You mean of the events that caused such a commotion in the ANBU last night?"

"The one and the same." Kakashi agreed, happy she caught on so quickly.

She spoke gradually with a melodic cadence in her voice that was absent moments before. "I've heard the ANBU went searching for Sakura. No one knows why and if she was actually missing at all, or if this was some kind of ploy."

The way she said Sakura's name with a hint of awe forced an awareness that after the Hyuga still couldn't recover Neji things had changed in the Branch House. Rumors ran wild that Uzumaki Naruto and Sakura had devised a way to neutralize the caged bird seal, and the small hope that triggered had been guarded zealously by the branded Hyuga. And if Sakura could give them that freedom she would have a few hundred Hyuga at her beck and call for the rest of her life.

The possibility of that woman leading an army of Hyuga fanatically loyal only to her made him shiver in dread.

The Hyuga didn't notice his trepidation. "There also appeared to be some kind of attack on Uzumaki Naruto and Uchiha Sasuke. It's said dozens of ANBU were on the scene because there was an assassination to try and take down the rest of the Death Squad; others say the two were fighting _each other_." She looked practically disdainful of that last theory. "No one knows but they've been at the hospital since early this morning. From someone's sources there Sakura showed up a few hours later with no word of where she was. Once there she met with both Lady Tsunade and Jiraiya of the Sanin, but what they spoke about is unknown. Anything else is just further hearsay."

Kakashi gave a misleadingly disinterested nod. "Some were hoping a fracture was forming on the loyalist side. What do you think _really_ happened last night?"

She glanced at him from the corners of her eyes, expression calculating. "I wouldn't know of such things enough to form any kind of opinion, Hatake-san."

Of course she wouldn't. The Hyuga were a cautious lot and this woman would never speak her real opinions on what happened. Where her loyalty laid was questionable but as Sakura couldn't walk in and neutralize their seals without anyone noticing, the Branch House would remain firmly in the palm of the Main family.

Abruptly her head dropped, all emotion gone as those disturbingly glassy eyes returned. A second later Hiashi strode out on the veranda and the woman was already moving to set up tea for them.

Kakashi didn't mention anything about the servant to Hiashi. If the Branch House ever mutinied at a later date he wouldn't be getting in their way.

"We've begun setup for the peace talks. As a high-placed jonin your spot in at the negotiation table will be—" Hiashi spoke but Kakashi gave less than half his attention as the haughty man prattled on about politics and things the jonin had little interest in. His mind was still elsewhere pondering what had _really _occurred with his old squad last night. Maybe, just maybe, the truth would finally be the foothold they needed against the unstoppable enemy they faced.

Of course gathering more information and plotting action would require more people than himself, and for that he would need Hiashi's help. If he could make it seem like the Hyuga's idea in the first place things would no doubt get done quickly.

With that in mind Kakashi waited patiently for the opportune moment to worm his idea into the conversation and let it germinate in Hiashi's mind so he himself would suggest it. For a shinobi of his caliber it would be no trouble; Hiashi was a fighter and fully ranked jonin, but his life leading a noble clan and having all bow and scrape to his every need left him blind to the manipulations of those he considered beneath him.

So Kakashi plotted waiting for his time to come. Maybe learning of the real events of last night would finally give them the edge he could use shatter Sakura of the Kyuubi no Kitsune for good, and Sharingan Kakashi would find that edge it if it was there, no matter what the cost.

**Konoha Hospital, Top Floor, Room 513**

"You're just _jealous."_

A flicker of anger singed the air and a plastic, supposedly unbreakable vase was hurled to shatter on the wall. A sizable dent was left behind and the one who it'd been thrown at only rolled his eyes. Konohamaru cackled. "Your aim sucks Naruto! People told me Sakura trained you personally." He grinned slyly. "At least I can hit a moving human target from five feet away, and I have only half of the training it took you to get to joni—"

A drawer from the nightstand followed at what could be calculated as terminal velocity, and th genin laughed hysterically as he dodged again. "Sakura must just prefer me; she stopped training you a _long_ time ago. And she came to see me when you were off fuckin' around with that new seal. That must mean something, right?"

A heart monitor was about to suffer the same fate of the vase and drawer before it when the third occupant of the room snarled. Tsunade's killing intent rolled out like fog and it nearly choked them both. If a voice could be quantified in temperature, the Kage would have reached sub-zero. "The next person to move or even _speak_ will be dismembered of both their legs and arms, in that order, and thrown in a shallow grave still breathing_."_

Both boys froze. The heart monitor was carefully placed back on its stand and Konohamaru gingerly retreated to the far side of the room.

"Now that you children are _done_." She snapped archly. "I'm going to make sure Naruto didn't re-rupture his liver before I unwire his jaw, and while I'm doing that the genin in the room will go fetch Sakura from downstairs. Understand?"

Both boys nodded and winced, and Konohamaru beat a hasty retreat. An awkward silence lasted the next ten minutes as Tsunade probed Naruto's abdomen with chakra and a few harsh jabs that were probably unnecessary. With his jaw wired shut making it impossible to really speak, Naruto could only squirm hoping his irate Kage wouldn't murder him while he couldn't scream for help.

Then as if to mock him further, Sakura swirled into his hospital room like a storm with Konohamaru hanging off her side. That boy was getting far too old for such physical affection from a girl that was neither his real sister nor a girlfriend. Yet the annoying genin continued to have his arms wrapped around her, his face upturned to hers as the two shared mysterious smiles and soft spoken secrets.

Naruto _hated_ it.

All of her other male friends had girlfriends (or wives) and as far as he could tell rarely touched one another except to brush shoulders. Sakura was only really affectionate physically with himself and the two Hyuga girls, crying on Hinata's shoulder on rare occasions that she thought he didn't know about or carrying around Hanabi around like a doll.

Ino was a recent addition to that list, but their relationship was so new Naruto wasn't sure what to make of it when he found them chatting about the difference between scalpels and straight razors while playing with each other's hair. Occasionally he saw her in strange positions with Sasuke, but the violence belying it made it more than clear he'd walked half-in on a spar that neither was willing to cop to.

But then there was Konohamaru and the annoying brat was _male_. Despite all Konohamaru's protests to the contrary, Sakura never was and would never be his sister, and their levels of affection after the kid got his headband and was declared an adult for all intents and purposes was getting far too high for his liking.

Konohamaru seemed to notice his jealousy and smirked at him from behind her back. The boy immediately turned to Sakura and whispered something only for her to hear, and Naruto felt his blood pressure spike as she bent down to kiss his forehead and whisper something back.

If his jaw hadn't been wired shut, or if Tsunade didn't have chakra enhanced hands uncomfortably close to his major organs, Naruto was certain he would have done something Sakura would have never forgiven him for.

Then her eyes caught his, jade to blue, and she left Konohamaru to come sit on the hospital bed and fuss over his wounds. It was Naruto's turn to smirk and Konohamaru gave an unintelligible hiss of anger.

Tsunade stepped away as Sakura took over his healing seamlessly, and after eyeing them she gathered a protesting genin and left the room, a glacial aftershock left in her wake. Naruto would not be given for this medical emergency, not for a decade at the least.

For a minute he just bathed in Sakura's presence, letting the cool touch of her chakra and the warmth of her fingers soothe away the worries of the past twelve hours.

She _had_ been having a sleepover with no warning or reason, according to Konohamaru's cheerful account. Sasuke would never let him live it down, though he supposed her having a sleepover because of picking up unwanted watchers after being somewhere she shouldn't might be enough of a difference he could still accuse Sasuke of being in the wrong.

The sound of her voice shattered the peace . "So is anyone going to explain to me why you and Sasuke beat the shit out of each other last night? Because Jiraiya left me with the impression you were half dead in a gutter."

She touched his jaw and before he could quite register what was happening, her chakra curled between his bones and removed the wiring with an audible snap. He spat up the excess blood floating on his tongue and rubbed at his jaw. "Thanks. And I'd like to start off by saying that I regret none of it."

"Funny," She snorted. "Sasuke told me the same thing. Coincidentally you've been forbidden from his apartment for all time. It's probably more because you made Hanabi cry than nearly ripping out his kidneys."

"Hanabi only cried a bit when the ANBU scraped us off the floors. And you know…when they had to stop me from dislocating Sasuke's knee that second time." A shadow of realization crossed over his face and the humor went out of him. "Wait—Sasuke's speaking to you? The reason we fought was because…"

Sakura gave a sigh and shifted a broken rib firmly into place. Something colder suddenly slipped into him, winter sky and the ocean half frozen under it. "Sasuke _talked_ to you."

She answered flatly. "We've already had this fight when we got back from Akatsuki. It didn't come to blows like you two but it was close enough." She didn't want to face this but knew she had to. "When we couldn't decide on weither to kill each other, I said he could leave the team and I'd let him go without a fight."

He asked her a raspy question. "What the hell happened?"

She didn't know what she was supposed to be feeling, what expression she was supposed to wear for him. "I thought you two could still be friends, I thought there was a chance Sasuke and I could fix this." She let out a bitter laugh. "It's clear now that was a stupid thing to hope for."

"Who was it?" And that he knew this so instinctually broke her heart. "Who did you kill that pissed him off?"

She hesitated less than a second but he saw right through her. This time there had to be some truth. "I was a fucked up kid. Someone I loved asked for me to make corpses and I said yes."

His gaze flickered in fury and comprehension. "You told me a really long time ago you loved an ANBU with an agenda."

It was like swallowing acid to say his name. "I did. I loved Uchiha Itachi."

He swore. Violently, brutally and straight at her. "How the fuck—"

"Itachi's greatest sin was my sin." She wanted to hide but it was too late. "The massacre of the Uchiha clan was ours."

He swallowed once and his face was set in stone. She withdrew her hands from him only for Naruto to grab her wrist. She wondered what this would be: rejection or acceptance?

He opened his mouth but couldn't find the right words. When he finally did speal she realized that this conversation had been brewing between them for too long. "After all these years I thought I knew everything about you. I thought that we could trust each other with anything." He then laughed so bitterly it scoured her. "Maybe we fell in love too young."

Her hand wrenched into a fist, knuckles white and already bloodless. She couldn't breathe and for the first time wanted to cry. "Don't say that."

"_You_ never said anything, I never saw you Sakura because you wouldn't let me. I only realized the smallest fraction of your pain." He let out a ragged sound. "It's like the older we get the more we drift apart and the more secrets I realize you've kept from me. You were so fucked up after Orochimaru and you were losing it and I didn't say a damn thing. I can't keep pretending that I don't know that you're lying to me."

And she'd thought she'd hidden herself so well.

The stone of his visage cracked and she saw pain barbed sharply underneath. "I'm the person closest to you in the world, your teammate, your friend, your _lover_, why do you always keep me at an arms distance?"

Sakura knew he'd been thinking this for months without her understanding it, without her seeing what that compulsive need to keep secrets and speak lies caused. But it wasn't until their problems had piled up far too high to ignore that her conditioning for him to love and follow her without question broke.

And suddenly she was angry. Angry at him for being too smart, at the Kyuubi for ruining her, at the Uchiha for even existing, at Sasuke for not keeping his anger in check, and most of all at herself.

She spat at him. "What do you expect from me Naruto? I had _nothing_ to call my own. I had no parents or friends to teach me how this worked and the Kyuubi was already weaving his hatred into my dreams!" That was something she'd never admitted to him before. How much was there unsaid?

Her voice kept rising. "Do you think I just came into the world with impeccable manners and a healthy range of emotions? I lied and faked my way for years to make friends and they were practically objects to me back then. It was all that pretending that let me learn how to be human in the first place! What good would it do telling you I was a murderer at seven? What good does it do telling anyone I loved Itachi because I was a fucked up little kid and him nearly gutting me was better than anything I'd ever had?"

And dear god this was just barely scratching the surface, but she knew he had already begun to see how deep her ugliness ran. He would hate her for it, and that would break her heart more than anything ever could.

He was building up, frost giving way to flame. "Because you should trust me! I don't care that you killed those Uchiha, I love you and I thought you loved me enough back to realize I don't care how terrible any of your secrets are!"

"_Trust_? I trust no one!" Even her faith in the Kyuubi was worthless. Everyone saw the mask and loved that, her friends and Naruto and Jiraiya and Tsunade saw what they wanted and no further. And of three beings who'd seen her completely: Itachi, Sasuke, and the Kyuubi, all had come to loathe her. The man she'd adored as a child had ground her down for his own use, the demon she loved still wanted to ruin her for what she'd done in dragging him down, and the friend she'd bared the ugliest of secrets too hated her for the best reason because she _was_ a monster.

Naruto stared at her in pain and the anger in her sputtered out and died. She tried to explain her flaws knowing it was too late. "I don't even trust myself. I've done things I can't undo, all these terrible awful things that I can't make myself feel regret for." Her throat felt thick. "I've been burned so many times I've lost count."

What else could she say?

"I love you." And that was the truth. "I love everyone and even depend on them but that only goes so far. My friends only saw some poor abused jinchuuriki, Konohamaru only sees a hero, Tsunade looks at me and sees some reflection of herself, Sasuke thought I was some kind of savant who knew the right path for all of us. And Jiraiya? He looked at me once and didn't come back for thirteen years." The poison poured out of her and she couldn't stop it. "I'm just a pretty body and a good weapon and supposedly this perfect fucking kunoichi who keeps it all wrapped up inside so no one has to see what _I _paid to keep this village peaceful." Her breath caught and the fury bled away. "I know if people really saw me…no one would stay. Not even you."

Naruto let her wrist go and her skin burned without him.

He asked her. "Did we ever know each other?"

"Enough to fall in love." She told him. "But not anything past that. If you did know you wouldn't keep saying you love me."

His voice turned soft. "Why can't you let me decide that for myself?"

Did she love him to the point she'd lie and carry the weight of her deceit until fears were soothed and they could be happy again? Or did she love him enough that she wouldn't lie to him even to give them false happiness? Sakura already knew that too much had been said to keep up the first, and she was far too cowardly to ever attempt the second.

"Because I know what you'd choose." She closed her eyes and the tears were coming. "And I'm too selfish to dare risk it."

"And leaving me shut out will keep me?" He demanded.

No, but losing him down the line would still be another few weeks or months of having him, telling him now would end it now. She couldn't bear that.

"For once," She declared bitterly."I don't have an answer. I can teach you to lie, to kill, how to hold a blade and how to use that to topple countries. But love, trust—I've never understood any of it."

"I'm sorry." He kissed her cheek, then her temple, and then rested his face in her hair. "I'm so sorry."

She didn't know what he was apologizing for: her misery, for him not seeing it, or for them both to finally know that love and blind acceptance wasn't enough. He held her tightly and she wanted to cry. This wouldn't last forever and she knew someday she'd lose it.

Neither of them had answers so they clung to each other trying to deflect the realization. It didn't lessen the pain any, but being held by him allowed her to pretend nothing had changed. She wanted him to love her just a bit longer, wanted him to look at her like she was perfect.

Soon he wouldn't.

His voice was wrecked. "Let me get a look at your seal, huh?"

They deflected it too easily and she knew somehow, right then, that turning a blind eye now would come back to bite her in the worst way.

She nodded stiffly, wiping at her eyes to make sure she hadn't cried before hiking up her shirt. A long, languid line circled her hips and stomach. The curving lines converged and separated on their path across her skin, connecting into hypnotizing rings around her hips. A few sharp hooks of seals shot up her stomach and dipped beneath the line of her pants, and all in all it was an intricate and gorgeous creation that had Naruto's style in every inch of it.

He brushed his thumb along one ring. "It's perfect. Chakra flow from the crimson source is completely unimpeded. But that soul can't reach past the bars any longer, not even the voice or sight. That demon will be in the dark for the rest of its miserable life."

She tried to laugh but it came out as more of a sob. If he knew—and there laid her demise.

She choked back any tremors. "Thank you, it's beautiful."

He lowered her shirt and smoothed it, and she tried to wish she hadn't succeeded in freeing the Kyuubi but couldn't manage it. The Kyuubi was free and she wouldn't take that back. The Kyuubi had made her feel many things, both terrible and beautiful, but in the end he'd made her strong and that strength was all she had to cling to.

"I'm going to kick Jiraiya's ass for putting it on without me. I didn't even get the pleasure of seeing you buck naked." Naruto tried to lighten the mood but when he looked at her the questions still hung in his eyes.

She looked away.

He kissed her then and it was familiar; comforting and protective, loving and accepting. But only for now, she knew how he would turn cold and hostile and rejecting once he knew. Here she stood stuck between the boy who loved her and the demon who ruled her and she was motionless. She had indulged herself in games of power and hate, using sex and violence and twisting words to validate herself in the eyes of a demon god who couldn't be swayed. The Kyuubi had been her crutch for far too long and it couldn't go on like this. But what else was there?

There was no answer and they stayed curled up together on the hospital bed. There were no words that could make this right, no placations or apologies for being conniving and traitorous. No words to explain that she had loved a demon her entire messed-up life and couldn't admit or regret it.

She had been so strong in facing the ugliness of life. Becoming the most gifted shinobi seen in an age had been easy, but the jaded perceptions that made her so powerful up until this moment finally made their flaws known.

Her strength had left her weak.

She had isolated herself so thoroughly that when those around her tried to get close, they realized there would be barriers she simply wouldn't allow them to cross. Eventually that would corrode them until there was nothing left.

Teamwork. She had advocated it as if she knew everything, declaring righteously that standing together was far stronger than being alone. Yet in the most basic sense of trust she had fallen short. She could work with anyone, fight with anyone, but she could never trust them and in the end stood alone.

The bonds she made had begun to fray into a thousand threads that she couldn't tie back together. She had run out of words and despite her resolve broke.

Sakura wept for what they had lost, because even if it hadn't happened yet the clock had started ticking. Things could never be the same for any of them and there was no one to blame but herself.

* * *

AN: And that's it for now. Sorry for those who wanted to see the actual fight between Naruto and Sasuke, but they were in a hallway with Sasuke's girlfriend ten feet away so all they could do without burning down the building was have a close quarter's brawl. That and the fight itself wouldn't added anything to the story, and this chapter was getting _far_ too long and I really needed to get it posted before everyone thought I had died.

On a side note: yes the adultery. Way, way, way the fuck at the beginning I warned there would be some of this in the story along with all the other morally reprehensible and screwed up things we've covered thus far. I'll be honest, if Sakura sleeping with the Kyuubi is what _finally_ offended you in this story, I am deeply worried for you and how you got through all the violence and betrayal and fratricide before this without batting an eye. I don't know why some people freak out about sex instead of innocents getting gutted or blatant emotional manipulation or people being set on fire, but there you go.

**(Edit:** Sakura and the Kyuubi's conversation at the very beginning was edited down severely and a the extraneous prose was disposed of. There was more emphasis by Sakura placed on 'why now?' in what was happening. Her character arc was also brought in line with what happens before and after this.

The second Kyuubi and Sakura scene was streamlined to hit the plot and characters points more clearly and quickly and then moved on.

Last, some scenes were shifted around bringing Kakashi's up a slot and sending Naruto and Sakura's conversation for last. That conversation was overhauled extensively, because it wasn't very clear the first time why Sakura kept all the lies bottled up and why she's still doing so even though Naruto's asked her to come clean point-blank. Hopefully the entire character logic of it is a lot smoother and everyone makes sense in their motives.

There was also a stronger theme of "what now" from Sakura now that the Kyuubi is free, and her wondering what it is their relationship is supposed to turn into. That's it for edits.**)**


	35. Moving On

AN: There will be multiple characters with conflicting points of views on the Naruto/Sakura situation. Nobody is all wrong and nobody is all right, so take what each of them thinks with a grain of salt because all of our narrators are pretty unreliable at this point.

This chapter is rated **M** for: gratuitous and unapologetic swearing, a shocking lack of morals, and the fact that at this point there are _no_ good people left in my Naruto universe.

Disclaimer: If I owned Naruto it would have _so _not been let into Shounen Jump. Too much violence, sex, politics, swearing, and ambiguous morals.

* * *

**Hokage's Office (Two days until Peace Negotiations)**

The mood of the room was anything but calm. In fact, as far as Sakura was concerned, it was downright hostile. But like most things that had happened in this past twenty-four hours: she deserved it.

With the stunt she'd pulled (going AWOL while her teammates nearly killed each other) it was hardly surprising that Tsunade was still acting chilly with her. In fact, Sakura would swear that she still felt the sting of where the Hokage had slapped her. So of course she acted with complete maturity by shifting around and trying not to glance up lest she set off another rant of why one-did-not-run-off-to-the-enemy's-doorstep.

Frankly, her remorse was only a mild twinge, and more for the fact she that she caused worry then for the actual crimes. Sometimes it wasn't such a bad thing to be on the emotionally crippled side, or at this point she'd probably be a nervous wreck.

"So." Tsunade arched a delicate eyebrow. "Do I even want to know what little _drama_ your squad has going on right now?"

Shikamaru, who was sitting in the corner, snorted.

Sakura was certain he was being purposefully unsupportive today.

"We…" Sakura was careful to pick her next words. "Have made amends to the best of our abilities. Rest assured, what occurred between Naruto and Sasuke will not happen again. Our squad can still perform at the same high levels you've always expected from us, and since I'm newly sealed and not demon-possessed we are at your disposal. We will not disgrace you further with our, hmmmm…_social issues_."

She felt proud of herself. That had been polite, precise, and extremely uninformative; the best kind of answer to give in this situation.

And she could tell by Tsunade's unimpressed gaze that the Hokage had seen right through it. Sakura could lie like a champion, but Tsunade could detect bullshit from a mile off. "And you crying all over Naruto at the hospital…?"

It was at this that Shikamaur finally sat up straight. "He made you cry?"

"I made myself cry." She corrected absently. "_That_ is strictly between Naruto and I, and has absolutely no bearing on our ability to perform missions."

Something sad flitted across Tsunade's face, but her tone remained ever professional. "Teammates who are also lovers have a way of affecting the team dynamic. And lovers breaking up? You may skew it entirely."

Sakura felt her hackles rise in defense. "Naruto and I are not breaking up." And that was the truth. After their fight and tentative makeup just this morning, they had both agreed they'd been avoiding their issues too long. Unfortunately with the nearly-civil-war crisis, now wasn't the time to hash out their relationship. Until things evened out they'd stay in the same vein, but once it was over even Sakura didn't know how things would go. For once she was going to let the chips fall without trying to manipulate them to go her way.

She owed Naruto that much. No plans, no ulterior motives, no bloody agendas. It was all up to pure chance and either they'd be better off or they'd kill each other. Sakura really didn't see it ending any other way.

The Hokage wisely let the issue drop, knowing pushing would only cause evasion. And if there was one thing Sakura was good at, it was evading.

Shikamaru spoke up. "In that case, can we start planning for the peace negotiations or is Sakura _still_ compromised?"

The Kage sucked in a breath, eyeing both jonin and likely noting the hope in their eyes. For better or worse the time of hesitation was over. With a quick flourish, she signed the form on her desk. "Congratulations Sakura, you've just been returned to the active duty roster."

The jinchuuriki practically beamed. Waiting on that new seal had been murder. Highly trained assassins rarely tolerated long periods of boredom or a lack of bloodshed, and being_ officially_ back in the game was a relief. "Thank you my Lady. I'm at your service as always." Then her voice slipped to a more serious octave, knowing the difficulty of what she'd ask next. "And while I don't have the arrogance to tell you how to proceed with the peace negotiations…I ask that I be there."

Tsunade lips going tight was only visible sign of her surprise.

Shikamaru did not restrain himself. "Are you insane?"

She smiled blandly. "The possibility of that is undeniably high. But the sanity of this has no relation to its necessity."

"Necessity?" He hissed. "These people tried to kill you. They _hate_ you. We're one step off of civil war and something as simple as bringing you to the Hyuga compound could be the tipping point. Once that goes half the village will be dead, and the surviving half will get picked off by Iwa or Kumo!"

She just sighed, noticing that Tsunade was hardly interfering. She'd let them fight it out themselves; Shikamaru was one of the few of the Hokage's advisors that could match Sakura for intellect and then surpass her. Their fights in the War Room had become legendary amongst the staff.

This would be an uphill battle the entire way, but Sakura was not one to tolerate failure. "I know the consequences, but the fact of the matter is this_: I'm involved_. If we don't deal with that, this will just crack open again a few years down the line. This entire matter should have been resolved right after I was born, but Sarutobi dropped the ball and now we're all in this mess."

His eyes seemed to drill into her head as if he was trying to see her very thoughts as they twisted inside her skull. "How exactly are you involved in the clan divide? The fact that their power is dissolving is what made them to lash out at the easiest figurehead; you. But you're not directly responsible for it."

_Yes I am_. While political currents had slowly been moving in this direction for generations, Sakura had purposefully kick started the mudslide. What would have been a quite rot to last another century had instead exploded into conflict. And if Sakura had anything to say about it, that conflict would be short and _bloody_.

But no one, least of all Shikamaru, needed to be tipped off to that fact. So she asked a question: "Do you know _why_ I am only referred to as Sakura? Why I carry no family name?"

It was practically cheating what she was about to do.

He paused and Tsunade inhaled sharply. It was a small thing really; she had hardly expected anyone to notice. She had merely been Sakura: the jinchuuriki, living vessel of the Kyuubi no Kitsune. That had been more than enough. The name Sakura was dreadfully common but in this village, there was only one _Sakura_ who could be referenced by that and be immediately recognized.

And while it pained him to say it, Shikamaru admitted ignorance. "No."

Her mouth twisted into a bitter facsimile of a grin. "The day I was born and made a jinchuuriki, the council stripped me of my family name. They said it would be an insult to whoever they were that I as a vessel kept their name. I honestly have no idea what it is; the records were sealed and likely destroyed."

Tsunade let out an appalled gasp. "You don't know who your parents are." And her words were more statement than question.

She just shrugged. "I don't. My medical records offered some clues but never an answer. My mother died in childbirth, the hospital was shorthanded and she was hemorrhaging. The medic on hand had to make a choice: kill her quicker by cutting me out or let us both die. Whoever the medic was he ripped me out. As for my father," Sakura shook her head. "If he lived where my mother didn't, I wouldn't know."

Shikamaru's voice went oddly flat. "I looked at your records when I realized you were a jinchuuriki. No family name, no documentation, no relations…it didn't even occur to me to ask _why._"

She gripped his arm. "Don't apologize. I really didn't think about it until I was a genin. I thought I might have been an orphan who just didn't have a name. That the council stripped it…I wasn't surprised."

The calm in her voice probably stunned them. They were outraged, she knew, but one ugly fact remained: Sakura had long grown use to the hatred. The lengths some of the villagers would go in their pettiness was practically banal due to its commonality. This slight, when compared with the attempts on her life as a child, was at best a mild nuisance and at worst could be applauded for creativity.

The Kyuubi had been her confidant and caretaker. He'd been almost _parental _because she'd needed it. Once she had outgrown that, the demon had switched roles and her curiosity towards her flesh and blood parents turned moot. They were either dead or hated her, and either way were unneeded.

Tsunade spoke, heat like flame in her voice. "I can write out an executive order immediately, if the file's still there or we get our hands on what's left of the council, we can find out."

It always warmed her heart when people were outraged on her behalf, but that was not the reason she'd brought this up. "There's no need. I have everything I want." Sakura looked to Tsunade fondly. "A mother."

Shikamaru draped a hand over hers and squeezed. She continued gently "I have a brother." She laughed happily. "Many, in fact." _Shikamaru, Konohamaru, Chouji, Shino, Sasuke._

"I have sisters." _Hinata, Ino, Hanabi._

"I have an uncle." _Jiraiya._

"I have friends." _Temari, Tenten, Neji, Lee, Kiba._

"I even have a kindred spirit." _Gaara._

"And most of all," She shied away. "I have someone to love." _Naruto._

The rueful grin returned. "I don't need the names of my parents, it won't give me anything."

The moment passed quietly, but it reminded her that she had more to fight for than just the Kyuubi's bloody crusade. And that realization was the first ray of light she'd seen in days. There'd be a life beyond revenge and bloodshed waiting for her, she just had to get there first.

Shikamaru cleared his throat roughly. "So all this time…"

"They hated me." She finished succinctly. "The village was in shambles and the clans were grasping for power. Sarutobi did enough to hold off civil war: he compromised. He let them strip my name and try to kill me and turned a blind eye because my body just wouldn't let me die. Instead of actually forcing executions or trying to reassert power of the Hokage…he was a tired old man. The council grew bolder, the clans fought for dominance, the older ninja entrenched their own system, and Sarutobi did the bare minimum to keep this village alive."

"Remind me." Tsunade mused, "To punch that old man during his next doctor's appointment."

The Nara chuckled. "Duly noted Hokage-sama."

Sakura did not rise to the bait. Sarutobi for his many faults, had been the only kind face she'd had before the Kyuubi. She would always love and hate that man in equal measure.

"Moral of the story." She interrupted, "Is that if we don't deal with me being a problem, this will just crop up again and again. If we want lasting peace this hatred of me _needs_ to be settled."

_Of course, our definitions of settled may be a bit...different._

The decision was made so quick and easy. Sakura should have hated herself for it.

Tsunade nodded briskly. "Then they'll just have to deal. You win: you'll have your seat at table in two days. In the mean time Shikamaru and I will start on picking the other delegates." The Kage's voice suddenly pitched up and Sakura felt a rush of foreboding. "And to make sure you don't run off _again_, you'll be staying with the Aburame. Naruto will join you...eventually."

Sakura objected. "But—"

"Too late." The woman replied, intercom already activated. "Your escort is already here to take you. Enjoy your time with the newlyweds."

She narrowed her eyes. "Oh you're good."

Tsunade preened. "A mother always knows Sakura, always. Now run along _daughter_."

She merely pouted as two Aburame, one male and one female, came to take her. "I object to this strenuously."

Tsunade's grin turned downright predatory. "Object all you like, if you go off again I'll chain you up in the basement of the ANBU headquarters and leave you there."

She shuddered. "I'll be good." It was a threat not at all in jest and they both knew it.

"I imagined you'd say that." The blonde purred.

Sakura sighed once more and stood, grudgingly letting herself be led from the room like a child. But despite her verbal misgivings, this was hardly a bad thing. She'd left plenty of clones to keep the Kyuubi occupied, though how the clones would occupy him she didn't care to know.

Overall she'd get to spend a few days with Hinata and Shino and relax until this all went spectacularly downhill.

Naruto likely wouldn't see out of the hospital until the Negotiations failed. Despite them holding off on a definite makeup or split, the guilt still burned raw as a chemical fire. Frankly, she could take all the time apart they could get. Getting her head wrapped around this new reality would take time and maybe for once she'd actually have it.

The Kyuubi was free by her hand. Unsealed, unleashed, ready to set the world ablaze into fire and ruin. It was all by her choice and she didn't regret it for a second.

Their existence was so entwined that sex was just a formality, maybe even an afterthought to the intimacy of how they were ensnared. For what it was worth, she and the Kyuubi would be companions for a very long time. While her life with Naruto and her life with the Kyuubi were overlapping now, that would come to an end and those two existences would become as different as night and day.

Naruto wouldn't live forever.

She would. And she already could feel that time slipping through her fingers.

She pushed the thought away. She needed to keep her head in the game if she was going to have the audacity to stage a second assassination against _herself_.

The Aburame took her out of the Tower and the crowds outside gave a wide berth. But that space was not out of fear or hatred, no. It was _respect. _These were the people who hadn't gone to celebrate her near murder, and as her polarizing nature dictated: those who didn't hate her adored her.

They'd all heard peace negotiations were soon to start and before their very eyes Sakura remained defiant. They would hope this was the sign that the short and bloody episode of the past week could be put behind the village for good.

But inwardly Sakura laughed, because she knew better.

Konoha had yet to realize it, but the darkest days in its history were yet to come.

**Aburame Compound (One day until Peace Negotiations)**

Aburame Shino was, to put it simply, quite pleased with himself.

He was recently married to the most beautiful girl in the village, his childhood friend, and closest confidant. He hadn't expected the marriage to come so soon, at the earliest they'd expected to tie the knot at eighteen after an extended engagement. But after his father had been assassinated by Oto ninja, the clan had been throw into utter disarray. Shino had been thrust into the position of leadership, left with no other option but to either step up or let his family dissolve.

And he had struggled; the assassinations that had taken his father had injured Hinata and killed over 70% of the kikai bugs of his Aburame brethren. Their only saving grace had been a new batch of experimental insects that had been kept in a sterile biosphere deep in the compound. Those had covered the shortage while new hives could be raised. The Aburame had just barely returned to strength less than a week ago, and before then fears had run rampant over whether they could ever recover.

Hinata had seen their need quite clearly, and to prove to both the village and her new clan that the Aburame remained resilient, she'd expertly arranged their marriage as grand show of strength. Shino couldn't have been more proud of how she'd risen to the challenge and he knew she would be the most loyal and able wife he could ask for. Hinata, even if she had been born Hyuga, was quickly becoming a quintessential Lady Aburame.

Then, naturally, Sakura had nearly gotten herself assassinated and interrupted their honeymoon in a bizarre way that only she was capable of.

But at least before their time had been cut short, Shino and his bride had gotten to _know _each other quite thoroughly. Which was a very, very strong factor in his current good mood.

Hyuga Hinata was _eager_ in bed.

He shook his head and smiled. It would be Aburame Hinata now, wouldn't it?

And while his marriage was the greatest source of his happiness, there was more to his good mood than that.

The assassination attempt on Sakura, quite bluntly, had thrown the village into disarray. He'd been furious and terrified, but at the same moment had plainly seen opportunity. All of his friends had been displaced in the aftermath, clan children suddenly without homes and family. After Ino had lost her parents she'd moved in with Chouji, but when the assassination was revealed for all its ugly glory, they'd fled the Akimichi and had been without refuge.

Refuge Shino now provided. Shikamaru and Kiba had been roped in less than half a day later with minimal fuss. Though with Shikamaru practically living in the Hokage's Tower, he was rarely seen except at breakfast.

Then quite neatly, Sakura had been deposited on his doorstep for safekeeping, and all of the people he loved were living under the same roof. And frankly, if this became a long term arrangement? He wouldn't mind in the slightest.

His generation had spectacular codependency issues and Shino was not even trying to fix them. He was clan head now, and if he wanted to hoard his family and friends he would damn well do so. Whether it was protecting Hinata from her former family, Sakura from the many assassins out for her neck, Kiba from the pain of betrayal, Shikamaru from taking on too much responsibility, Ino from slipping too deeply into depression, or Chouji from his fears, he'd do it and do it gladly.

It was the least that could be done.

The Aburame more than once had been compared to the Inuzuka in their pack mentality. But that was grossly incorrect to the point his family laughed about it behind closed doors. They all knew that if the Aburame had been the same as the Inuzuka, their clan would have been become traitors just as readily. Pack mentality made the Inuzuka more concerned with pride and pleasing the grudges of the alpha even at the cost of all else.

The Aburame had a hive mindset. They saw the big picture and knew the importance of each person from the lowliest worker to the highest queen, and realized that some would be sacrificed for the many. They saw themselves as part of the village and not a separate collection, and all Aburame did their best to support the greater infrastructure and not their own ends.

It was why the Aburame would be the last clan standing in Konoha. Even if the peace negotiations succeeded, all the other clans would be stripped of a great deal of power, their reputations ruined, and forever distrusted for what they'd done. But in this dark time where others had turned traitor, the Aburame had remained ever loyal. It was a great piece of PR and Shino, always looking for a way to improve his family's chances, had pounced on it.

Amazingly, the clan who had bugs living under their skin was now the most trusted family in the whole village. Times were changing and Shino was proud that he could change with them.

So he walked with purpose through the walkways of the gardens, for once not stopping to check on the ant hills or the new breed of beetle or the state the butterfly pupae. He had somewhere to be with a scroll in hand, and knew his various filial relations would care for what he could not.

A melody of laughter drifted to him through the crisp fall air. As he recognized each voice, he smiled and stepped into a sun drenched pavilion. A bird with jewel bright feathers flitted through the air, narrowly avoiding his face. He watched it go; mentally noting to kill it later so it wouldn't eat any of the insects in the garden.

When he looked back to the pavilion his eyes landed on Kiba.

His teammate was leaning against the large flank of Akamaru, eyes dreamy as he stared across the grass. Shino followed his gaze and immediately knew what was on his friend's mind.

Hinata and Ino were setting together, Sakura kneeling between them and having her hair braided. For a surreal second they were only sixteen year old girls and almost children in his eyes. Then Shino reminded himself Hinata was a trained diplomat and assassin, Ino a torture specialist and interrogator, and Sakura a walking-talking force of nature.

Kiba waved him over. "Hey buddy."

Shino took the invitation and sat, leaning against Akamaru's side. The dog barked and Shino patted him fondly before turning to his grinning teammate. "You're not checking out my wife, are you?"

Kiba adopted an innocent look. "Oh you know me."

"I do." Shino deadpanned. "And that's what worries me. You do know they're _all_ taken."

Kiba mock grasped his chest, and while outwardly Shino chuckled, inwardly he was glad his friends was smiling again. Kiba's sister dying had hit hard, and Shino had worried his teammate would hold it against Sakura. The jinchuuriki had been the one to deliver that brutal killing blow.

Prepared to put them on opposite sides of the compound and play peacemaker, he'd been pleasantly surprised when Kiba displayed heretofore unknown maturity. His teammate had placed the blame where it belonged: on his clan. On the day Sakura arrived Kiba had taken her aside to say just that.

They'd both come back with sad eyes but shoulders brushing, at ease.

Kiba interrupted his grim thoughts. "Where's Shikamaru?"

"Hokage's Tower again. Half the logistics staff were defecting Nara." This situation had gotten so catastrophic it was sometimes hard to grasp. "I suppose he's forcing himself to pick up the slack."

Out in the sun, Ino tugged on one of Sakura's braids and the girls devolved into a wrestling match over it. Kiba's lips rose into a lecherous grin. "Man, Shikamaru needs to relax. He's taking the sins of his father way too seriously. He could be here watching _this._"

If one of his own family members had tried to kill Sakura, let alone his own father, Shino would have gone to the same lengths of penance "You know him. He's much closer to Sakura than you are. He's her oldest friend and…I don't have to spell it out for you. "

Both went quiet for awhile, watching as Sakura threw herself into Hinata's lap and whined over how Ino was bullying her. The blonde huffed and flipped her hair, smiling in a way Shino hadn't seen in months. They were all still healing from wounds that might never close, but he was glad that hers might just be getting a little better.

"Where's Chouji?" Kiba eventually asked.

"With Shikamaru, without Temari here to keep him from working himself to death it fell to him." And Shino mentally noted that if Teamri ever got that transfer here, he'd probably have to set up a room for her.

Kiba was eyeing the girls with new interest. "That bastard Sasuke?"

"Still in the hospital."

"Naruto?"

He was wondering where this was going. "The same."

"Huh." Kiba muttered.

Shino blinked. "Huh?"

Kiba's eyes drifted along the three girls: blonde, black, and blue hair shining so vividly. The dark of his eyes kept snagging on Sakura. "Rumors have been going around, people talking." His gaze flicked to Shino. "Heard from one of your nurse cousins that Naruto and Sakura got in a massive fight. Made her cry and everything."

Shino neither confirmed nor denied, but he did throw out a warning. "You're lucky Naruto isn't here, or he'd skin you alive."

"Maybe." Kiba allowed. "But if she's going back on the market because Naruto fucked up, I'm getting in line."

Shino frowned at the entire situation. Once, he'd considered Naruto to be good for her: he'd accepted her during a time there wasn't much kindness to be found. He'd loved her in a way Shino had hoped would heal.

Sakura hid the utter desolation of her heart better now; that lack of something human she would never ever have. Some of her smiles were even real nowadays, but some still weren't. He liked it better when she smirked or mocked or screamed or cried. The ugliness in her was the person he loved, not the pretty façade she drew up for the world.

He understood what it was to be damaged and that being stunted never went away. And now he was faced with the regrettable conclusion that maybe Naruto loved the facade too much and the ugliness too little. It was coming to bite them both in the ass that Sakura wasn't living up to the pedestal Naruto had placed her on.

He knew the situation, knew there were lies and hideous things in Sakura's heart that would never be shared. He'd accepted that she would always confide more in Hinata than in him, that she had known Shikamaru the longest, that Chouji was the one she went to for a good meal and company, that she went to Naruto for sex and Sasuke for silence.

He'd accepted that as part of her baggage and had gotten the fuck on with their lives.

There was fight going on with Team seven because Sasuke resented her and Naruto couldn't accept her lies and the boys had taken it out on each other before Sakura had come clean. And he hated Naruto for it, hated that he made Sakura doubt and crumple in on herself sobbing in Hinata's lap.

It was followed though by the nagging suspicion that he was biased to her side of things, and all the blame didn't belong to Naruto alone. But setting blame had never been his job. Sakura was his friend, Uzumaki on the other hand was just...passing through.

But he was a good friend and Sakura hadn't asked him for advice, so he didn't give it. But if he was so inclined to share his views with Chouji and Shikamaru, and see if they'd like to join in giving Naruto a good shake down over it, he couldn't be blamed.

The thought left a bitter aftertaste in his mouth. "As both of your friends Kiba I'll say this: I don't know if Naruto and Sakura will work out their problems. And gods help me, if he makes her cry one more time I think I might kill him. But if _you_ somehow fuck this up either way for her—"

Kiba winced. "Hey, I was just joking."

But they both knew he wasn't. Sakura and Naruto had dated before she'd hit the bloom of puberty. Her physical aesthetic now was downright glorious, and between her confidence and being a walking powerhouse, she was wanted in a carnal way by other shinobi that bordered on the unsettling.

Shino had grasped the fact that if they really split, anything male and under twenty-five (and even some female) would be throwing themselves at her. And he dreaded that because at least Naruto _believed _he loved her; many of those new ones would not suffer under that same delusion.

Sakura didn't need that.

"The joke isn't funny. Until they actually break up or even after that…keep the hitting on her to your bare minimum level." He threatened.

"Sorry." Kiba raised his hands in surrender, "Not another word, promise. But…you know how I like alpha females. And god, she's _it."_

Now he really, _really_ wished he hadn't heard that.

They were all so fucked in the head. Sakura was an emotionally crippled assassin and a living-breathing genocide. Kiba was walking the fine line between feral and human and was professing attraction about the woman who'd killed his sister. Ino was a torture specialist who had turned nearly bipolar, and was currently braiding flowers into the hair of a human weapon. His wife was a disowned Hyuga that had married _him_ of all people. Shikamaru was a genius with an over developed guilt complex and was trying to redeem his family single-handedly. And Chouji was in love with a depressed-neurotic torture specialist and had his own crippling self-esteem issues.

Shino himself was a former anti-social recluse turned clan head whom possessed acute issues concerning physical affection, and was trying to figure out how he could emotionally blackmail his friends into remaining here forever.

It was a wonder the village was still standing. They were the next generation and it seemed like a bad joke.

"Shino…?" His teammate grabbed his shoulder.

He shook his head. "Just wondering how we were the ones that ended up with the world on our shoulders."

Kiba laughed bitterly. "Don't you know Shino? We're just fucking amazing like that."

"You're incorrigible." He responded wryly.

"Yeah," Kiba grinned proudly. "I am, aren't I?"

The scroll in his pocket dug into his side, and he suddenly remembered he'd been here for more than talking and watching the girls play. In moments he was across the garden to his wife and her face lit up when she saw him. It nearly took his breath away. They exchanged a kiss slow and deep, and in the background Ino and Sakura mock swooned and fell into each other's arms.

Shino scoffed at them, but the girls just stared into each other's eyes dramatically while mimicking something of a lover's embrace.

Hinata sighed. "Honestly you two."

Kiba shouted across the garden. "Just kiss already!"

Both girls laughed, falling in a tangle of limbs and flower strewn braids. Kiba huffed. "You two are freakin' teases, you know that?"

Shino shared an amused glance with his wife. If they could still laugh even after everything, maybe they weren't as screwed up as he had feared.

Shino was loathe to interrupt their fun, but the scroll he was carrying had to be addressed. "Hinata, the Hokage's order came through. Your request was granted."

His wife's smile slipped: cooler, smoother, Lady Aburame proud and true. "Thank you for your support in this."

"It was logical." He defended.

Ino whined. "Don't leave us out, what's the news?"

He took a deep breath. This was something that she needed to do and he would never stand in her way. "Hinata will be the chief negotiator for the Hokage at the Negotiations."

The garden went silent and a cloud rolled overhead. Sakura got up off the grass and Shino honestly couldn't decipher the look on her face.

"You'll be facing your father." The jinchuuriki stated.

Hinata was unmoved. "I know."

The cloud rolled away. Sakura bowed her head. "Then I won't be a hypocrite and say you shouldn't. Welcome aboard Hinata."

His wife shined brighter than the sun. "Thank you." She touched her hair, then his elbow. "I might as well put my diplomatic training to use. My father was the one to teach me, and I'd like to use the one thing he ever gave me against him."

"Rebellion!" Ino crowed. "I knew there was a reason I loved you."

They all laughed, bitter and proud. Today was a good day.

He bowed out. "I need to go. Clan duties." He placed another kiss on his wife and on a whim ruffled Sakura and Ino's hair.

Kiba slapped his back. "You leaving me with the girls? I'm sorry I ever doubted you: you are the best friend _ever._"

"Try and contain yourself." He answered dryly.

As he left the gardens the laughter returned to the air and the thought occurred to him again: if they could all still laugh everything would be okay.

He didn't notice a bird with jewel bright feathers sitting in a garden tree, watching his friends with an intelligence far beyond its capacity. If Ino had noticed it, she would have recognized the sign of soul-based-Yamanaka possession instantly. But nobody noticed, and the bird sat: watching and listening.

**Konoha Hospital, Room 311 **

Uzumaki Naruto gazed into the mirror on the bathroom wall, eying the new scar on his jaw. Sasuke had broken the bone in three places, some of the breaks quite nasty. He didn't mind it. Sakura had always liked his scars, giving each loving attention with her fingers and then her mouth on many a slow morning.

The memories made him grin and he touched the scar more reverently. Then the warmth slid away. The scar was just an excuse to stare himself in the face.

Where had he messed up?

Where had Sakura?

He didn't know and everything was such a fucking mess in his head. The Uchiha massacre, Sasuke lying bloody on the floor, Hanabi screaming, Sakura broken and bitter. Blood and memory turned to a roar drowning out everything and leaving only starkness behind.

Where had they gone wrong?

He couldn't tell.

Sakura had been so confident when she was young, but had then turned to him with secrets and smiles like he was the only one in the world, and his little genin heart had fallen for her then and here. Then he'd learned she was a vessel for a monstrosity and after the initial shock passed he'd just loved her more.

She'd dragged him from his self-imposed exile, refused to let him languish in his father's shadow. She had plans, saying she'd mold him into Hokage and make all their dreams come true. She'd promised to make him a legend that would leave the Yondaime wanting in comparison.

He had loved every promise, taken each to heart as gospel truth.

There were so many lies and the very foundation he'd built himself upon was breaking. The wall were crumbling and only when things were falling apart, did she barely trust him with any of it.

The Uchiha massacre.

Fucking _hell_.

The heavy ache of guilt was building inside his chest. What had he said to her yesterday about his fight with Sasuke? _I regret nothing. _That was it.

He regretted everything.

Sakura had woven a tangled web of love, hatred, lies and mistrust around them, lashing them together in pursuit of one bloody destiny. She had dragged Sasuke in and no matter where he turned, he would never be able to escape. Naruto couldn't even begin to fathom having to serve the very woman who had killed your entire family and unable to say a word. That Sasuke had exploded at him, now that Naruto had seen the whole ghastly picture, no longer surprised him.

He didn't even know if he blamed his teammate anymore. Most of the venom had been bled out of him in their fight, and all he was left with was recriminations and a heavy heart.

And even now he still wished Sakura was here to tell him what to do so he could make things right again. She'd always had the answers. She'd always had the right_ lies._

He'd depended on her too long; let himself be led without asking of their destination. Now that he was no longer willing to let her secrets go unprovoked…they were heading for a dark place he wasn't sure they could return from.

He still loved her so much that he ached for her. And in a dark, terrible corner of his heart, he wondered if she had ever felt the same.

Now wasn't the time to dig that answer out though. There was a civil-war sitting on the doorstep and nobody including him had the time. And if nothing else, he needed to apologize to Sasuke.

He ripped away from the mirror and looked to his hospital room door. There were ANBU stationed outside to keep an eye on him. They would be as likely to let him go see Sasuke as they would to start tap dancing.

So he'd take a shortcut.

It wasn't well known, but Sakura had an office in the hospital. It was just a desk and some filing cabinets mostly used to keep track of patients. Naruto only knew about it because they'd had sex on the desk a few times, and at some point during one of those happy lunch break trysts, he'd stuck a hirashin kunai to the wall for future use.

He gathered his chakra, wary of his physical state. His internal organs felt…squishy-raw. And he didn't even know what that _meant._

He flung himself towards the kunai. It was a bit like blinking really, one moment in front of the bathroom mirror and the next in a sparsely furnished office. His organs settled back into place but they felt angry with him.

Well there was nothing he could do about that.

He saluted the kunai and opened the door, casually sticking his head outside. He trotted down two flights of stairs and through a service hallway. Nobody had told him where Sasuke's room was but he wasn't a top jonin for nothing.

Room 181 had two ANBU guards. Naruto slapped a quick henge on and went to the nurse's desk. He hit the girl with genjutsu and went back and waited. A minute later the genjutsu laden nurse sent a page to the ANBU and they dutifully answered. The door to room 181 was left unguarded and he waltzed right in.

Hanabi was sitting on the bed, and when she saw him her face grew thunderous. "What are _you_ doing here?"

He raised his hands in surrender. "No fighting, I came to apologize. Where's Sasuke?"

She eyed him like an unfortunate bug she'd scrapped off the bottom of her shoe. She had the Hyuga glare of disdain down quite pat. Naruto wondered if he had legitimate reason to be afraid of this girl.

Most likely.

She leapt off the bed and moved to the bathroom door and slipped in. He heard low voices murmuring for a moment, the tone indecipherable, neither hostile nor warm. Her head stuck back out and she pushed the door open, and it was as good an invitation as he was going to get.

Sasuke was standing over the sink, hands gripping the edges as if it was the only thing still keeping him standing. Naruto had been in the same pose only ten minutes prior. If it was anyone else, he would have been sure they were staring in the mirror at themselves. But with Sasuke being blind and all, it was hard to tell.

"What is it?" Sasuke asked, his voice eerily flat.

"I'm sorry." Naruto had never really tried for anything beyond bluntness.

Sasuke's shoulders did a spasm but his hands stayed on the sink. The Uchiha did not turn his head. Hanabi hung in the corner, at least giving Naruto somebody to make eye contact with. A long silence followed.

He knew he'd be the one to have to break the tension. "I know everything."

Sasuke jerked again and this time his head turned. "About _that_?"

"Yes. About _that_."

Hanabi looked between them in confusion but Naruto wasn't willing to drag her in. This bloodbath was already three people deep; they didn't need to add a fourth.

She tugged at Sasuke's shirt, but he touched her neck and she went mute, half-clinging to his side.

Sasuke didn't raise his voice but that somehow made the rage all the worse. "If you're looking for forgiveness, I'm the wrong person to ask. And if you're looking for forgiveness for _her _you can kindly go fuck yourself."

The ache in his chest worsened. "No. This is just me. I wish…I wish thing could have been different."

His teammate snorted. "She said the same thing, you know, right to my face. Then she informed me that there was nothing I could do to change things. I'm surprised I didn't try to kill her." Something unbearably bitter filled his voice. "When she told me that, she sounded like she was crying."

A lump formed in his throat. It was all a mess. Sakura was a contradiction of kindness and cruelty and lies and truth. He couldn't pin down what she was anymore, and maybe he'd never known at all.

"We can't tell anybody about this." He said instead.

His teammate snarled. "I know that. Do you think I like how this turned out? Do you think I like having to face her and hear her voice while my head is so fucked up?" The words dropped and Naruto could only watch as Hanabi reached up, clinging turning to a hug full. Sasuke turned away from him and wrapped an arm around her.

Naruto had never felt as alone as this.

"I'm sorry." He repeated lamely. There were no words. "Sakura and I…I still love her. But I don't know if she ever loved me the way I loved her. I don't know if I ever knew her."

Hanabi's voice rang clear. "You're an idiot."

He blinked. Had the preteen girlfriend of his teammate just insulted him? He blinked again. She had alright.

"…what?" He asked blankly.

Hanabi snapped. "Of course she loves you. If she didn't love you, she wouldn't have told you anything! And she wouldn't have looked so goddamn sad when she came to see us."

The words hit like a slap, and that was the moment he finally grasped that the problem wasn't that they didn't love each other, or she didn't love him: it was that the person he'd built up in his head wasn't the person he loved. What was in there and who Sakura was were two totally different people.

And if he couldn't reconcile them, they would never move past this.

Sasuke spoke to Hanabi, dismissing him outright. "Could you help me with something?"

She nodded and Sasuke sat her up on the sink. Naruto pretended not to notice her hooking her ankles behind his legs. He also pretended not to notice the kiss they shared.

"I think..." Sasuke declared, "I'm going to cut my hair."

Naruto gaped.

Hanabi just smiled. "Okay. Give me the scissors?"

Sasuke handed her a pair and she cut and cut, taking away dark strands and cropping high and tight. His teammate had always looked disturbingly like Itachi once he'd aged, but now with the long hair falling…Naruto almost didn't recognize him. His face seemed to take on new lines: warmer and harder, stronger and prouder.

When Hanabi was done, they shared a second kiss and Naruto just stared. It suited Sasuke, having very short hair, and Hanabi already looked smitten with it judging by how she was running her hands through it.

He should have left ten minutes ago. Just as he was feeling a voyeur about the whole episode, his teammate spoke. "Naruto, when you see Sakura again tell her this: it's about time we stopped living in the past."

Naruto had the feeling, right then, he'd just witnessed the most profound thing Sasuke would ever say. His teammate added one last thing. "That goes for you too. It's about time you stepped out of your father's shadow and hers."

Naruto had no more words and the jonin hummed an agreement and turned to leave. The ache was returning; for a blind man, Sasuke saw things far too clearly.

Naruto didn't know what the future would hold. He'd spent too long trapped in the past by dreams and lies and resentment towards his father. If things could ever be made right, he would have to find the answers for himself.

He closed his eyes, vanishing in a burst of yellow.

No one noticed the bird sitting on the hospital window, watching them with too intelligent eyes and listening with too intelligent ears. They never would.

**Abandoned District, 11:46 PM**

In the light of the moon a single clone flitted, leaping and flinging her body into a dizzying kata of acrobatics. One move flowed into the next: leap, spin, tumble, kick, flip, crouch, roll, push, aerial turn, thrust, feint.

The clone repeated over and over, working up a sweat that gleamed slick in the moonlight. But of course, in this dark she was hardly alone.

The clone smirked and the kata's dance instantly gave way to attack. Her pursuer was male, muscled and sinuous, hard and brutal. He hit her with the force of a meteor and flung her twenty feet airborne before she regained her balance to land without a scratch.

When the clone looked up her eyes were scarlet, but she didn't have time to blink before her attacker was on her. The fight that followed was fierce but where her moves were a well honed show of skill, he was all instinct and brutality and the bruising of a punishing blow.

But the clone had more experience and in the end, that was all the fight boiled down to. When the attacker hesitated for one brief second unguarded, she pounced. She hit her assailant's side and plowed them into the ground, pinning his arms behind his back in the process. Their wild tumble ended in a bright swathe of moonlight and she gleamed like midnight while he showed like blood.

"I win again." Sakura's clone cheered.

The man under snarled. "Get off me you pretentious bitch."

"Oh no." The clone lifted the back of her hand to her face as if she'd swoon. "Kyuubi-sama has insulted me, whatever shall I do?"

The audience of clones watching from the walkways laughed, and the Kyuubi jerked sideways. The clone rolled off, letting the momentum of his throw carry her back to her feet. He rose less elegantly, muscles moving with an odd and graceless coordination.

There was a long and resentful pause. "What was wrong this time?"

The clone would have liked to gloat, but even with her glee was running high she knew better than to bruise his ego. "You're depending on her memories for your fighting style. Your body is taller, heavier, and wider than ours, so all those years of training to balance Sakura's body means her memories of taijutsu are next to useless for yours."

His hands flexed and the clone, secretly amused, was certain he wanted to strangle her. "There's also the matter of you leaving yourself open to attack while flying at me straight like you're in a goddamn berserker rage. You've got years of our tactics and battle knowledge in your head, _use it_."

"Please." He rolled his eyes. "Puny human attacks won't kill me even if they do hit."

"But they can debilitate, pin, or destabilize you." She countered. "And being insanely strong with an even insane-er regenerative trait is no excuse to get lazy."

He growled. Oh yes, he definitely wanted to strangle her. She should probably wrap this up before she started enjoying it too much.

"Lastly," She walked up beside him and slapped his backside. "This is your ass: it has no tails. It will never have tails again. Quit trying to use your nonexistent tails, you look like an idiot."

A lash of crimson chakra exploded out, smashing her across the face. She just redirected and the scarlet flow past like water. "Still not a flesh and blood tail: give it up, you're not in your foxy body anymore. You're gonna have to get down in the blood and mud with the rest of us."

If he was anyone else, the expression that crossed his face could almost be described as pouting. But his facial expressions weren't matching up quite right with his emotions. And while rage looked like rage; amusement resembled hunger, annoyance looked like pain, and humor seemed more bemused than anything. All of the clones had been playing match-the-emotion-with-the-facial-expression since they had realized. He hated it, of course, but that had hardly stopped them before.

Suddenly, the clone saw one of her sisters striding from the compound. This one was in a black body suit with a balaclava resting on her head. The most distinctive thing however was the vest that she wore.

The original felt a surge of exhilaration. "Is it ready?"

The second clone spun once, for her sister clones as much as the Kyuubi, to display the heavily packed vest. The second crooned. "This baby is locked and loaded. Best damn C4 in the village, enough to make the Hyuga compound go boom. Suicide-vest alpha is a go."

The original clone was quite peeved when the second flounced to the Kyuubi, wrapped her arms around his neck and purred: "You like?"

The Kyuubi was eyeing much more than just the vest. "Very. For a shadow you're almost half competent."

The original smirked as the second sighed. At least the Kyuubi had disdain for all their kind equally. He liked the true Sakura best, and regarded the rest of them as barley suitable substitutes. But that didn't stop the clones from trying to be _the favorite_. The original had found it rather amusing that the Kyuubi had been caught off guard having to play referee between the clones he'd been left with. Even living in Sakura's head, he had never quite grasped how neurotic they could get when left alive for extended periods.

"All right you hussy." The original shooed the second away, "If we're going to start a civil war tomorrow, the boss here is going to need as much fighting practice as he can get."

The second left begrudgingly, kissing a not-really-protesting Kyuubi before joining her sisters to watch.

The original liked being the one in charge, and she spoke with authority. "Watch my kata again and pick up what you can, when you're ready start the attack."

"Just move." He grunted.

She smiled benignly. "Of course. Just remember: your ass no longer has tails."

He exploded into motion, attacking before the kata could even begin. She laughed in delight, battle lust blooming fully as she flowed around his first punch. Her existence would be short as a clone, but the few days she'd lived had been wonderful. She hoped she would get to see the village burn before she returned to the ether of Sakura's chakra.

She deserved that much, right?

**Aburame Compound, 6:05 AM **

Like all things, both good and bad, the Peace Negotiations came too quickly for all those involved.

The sun had not even risen when Sakura found herself fully dressed, fed, and having her makeup done by one of Hinata's attendants. She sat through it patiently, watching out of the corner of her eye as Hinata was fitted with a full-on formal kimono.

The swathes of blue and silver were striking on her figure, and Hinata looked inch for inch the closest thing to a princess Konoha would ever have. Sakura briefly entertained the idea of conquering a small country just so she could give Hinata a kingdom to make that title true.

The thought was her one bright spot before reality set in. If all went according to plan, by this time tomorrow the village would be embroiled in war.

Sakura got to her feet as the last of her eye shadow was applied. Her battle kimono swirled around her, the dark blue hem settling on her pale thighs. An Aburame girl, barely a teen, helped Sakura slide a katana through a sling at the small of her back.

The katana was a special one with a ceremonial locked sheath and a decorative guard in the shape of a lotus. A locked sheath was an ornament that had once belonged in noble circles, as the shape of the sheath and the guard made it impossible for the sword to be drawn. It was only for show: a sign of strength with no actual danger.

Sakura carried the sign of a noble on her back with nothing but bastard blood running in her veins. She liked the message of it. However like most things in this world, ninja had bastardized the lock sheath for their own use. As she was a ninja…the show was all just a show.

There was a fatal flaw in the lock sheath that would allow a very real, very deadly sword to be drawn, and that flaw was deliberate.

Sakura had always loved irony.

"Are you ready…" Sakura bowed her head low to the Lady Aburame. "Hinata-sama?"

The other girl swatted her backside as she stepped off the dressing stool. "None of that Sakura, it's too early in the morning for your insults."

"It wasn't an insult, just a sign of my undying affection." She replied slyly, offering her arm in escort. Hinata took it, setting her palm inside Sakura's elbow delicately. For a second she felt like the knight protecting the princess; the kind of fairy tale she had never been read as a child but had to steal from a bookstore for herself. It was odd that, before she would set off the bloodiest moment in Konoha's history, she would feel so nostalgic.

"Your undying affection will be the death of me." Hinata sighed.

Sakura's mood darkened further and her guts felt like acid had been poured in. She hoped, with every fiber of her being, that those words would not be an omen of things to come.

Shino was waiting for them on the walkway, a full guard of Aburame at his back. He raised an eyebrow and asked. "Stealing my wife Sakura?"

"Yes." Was her blunt reply.

His lips, almost imperceptibly, twitched. "I should have known."

Shino moved to Hinata's opposite side and took her other arm. The twosome-now-threesome moved to the gateway leading to Konoha proper.

As they neared the Hokage's delegation waiting at the gate, Shino spoke again. "I have something for you Hinata." And from his sleeve drew a gorgeous jet black bodied, sapphire jeweled hairclip in the shape of a beetle. The entire thing was the size of Sakura's fist.

Then to Sakura's horror, the thing twitched and she realized it was an _actual_ bug with gems glued to its _actually living _shell. The former demon vessel could only watch in mute horror as Hinata cooed over it.

"It's…alive." She stated lamely.

Shino nodded and judging by his bright tone, hadn't noticed her distaste. "It's one of our new breeds, an acid-spitter King Beetle. It was specially fed on your chakra Hinata so you're immune. It dearly adores you and will do everything in its power to protect you. If anyone gets too close they'll be in for a nasty surprise."

Hinata kissed her husband's cheek and took up the beetle, practically gushing. "I love it; it's the most adorable thing."

Sakura left unsaid that it was an abomination against nature and that was coming from her, the _Queen_ of abominations.

Hinata lifted it to her head and the beetle clicked and crawled onto the crown of her head. It gathered her hair underneath itself in a rather fetching arrangement. Sakura was appalled to realize the bug had a better fashion sense than she did_._

It went still and its glittering eyes and bedazzled body once again looked like an exotic, not-alive hair clip.

Sakura shuddered.

God have mercy on them all.

She looked ahead to Tsunade and immediately inclined her head in deference. "Tsunade-Hime."

The Hokage nodded back. "Good morning to you too. Any problems?"

Sakura sent a few more glances at the bug-hair-clip and was unable to articulate anything beyond a strangled moan. Tsunade stared at her oddly, but then shrugged and clapped. "All right then, let's get this show on the road. Make your Hokage proud."

The ninja sent up cheers. When the morale boost was over Sakura felt someone touch her elbow and she turned to see Shino.

"Protect her." He murmured.

She nodded stiffly. As the last not traitor clan head, they couldn't risk bringing Shino along to the negotiations. Too many eggs were already in one basket as it was.

"I will." Sakura assured. But in her head, she thought only to herself: _I hope._

He squeezed her elbow and then kissed Hinata goodbye before stepping back among the Aburame. Sakura looked back until they rounded a corner and the compound vanished from sight.

To keep her mind from lingering, Sakura took stock of the rest of the party.

There was Tsunade of course, the Lady Hokage in the most devastatingly gorgeous cut of the Hokage robes that Sakura had ever seen. Jiraiya, toad sage and pervert extraordinaire was walking at her side in a simple haori looking almost…respectable. And she had never thought the words Jiraiya and respectable could be used in a sentence without the word _not_ between them.

She gravitated in the direction of Shikamaru and Chouji. Both like her, were in outfits that could double as battle gear. Chouji was wearing his dark red armor, shined to a polish that she could see her own reflection in. Shikamaru was smoking up a storm as if trying to get a week's worth of cigarettes out of the way in ten minutes. Guiltily, she realized he looked as if he hadn't slept in a small age.

The other delegates were of little note to her: two diplomats who'd be playing second fiddle to Hinata, three jonin she only recognized from _around_, a chunin she'd done a mission with a year ago, and oddly enough, Tenten.

Of all the people she'd expected to see today, Tenten hadn't even made the list. For a moment Sakura tried to fathom the reason of her presence. The girl _could_ whip out a literal arsenal in the blink of an eye, so in strategic logic she was a good force multiplier. Except for the fact they weren't _supposed_ to bring weapons, which put a terrible dent in that theory

She let it slide.

Finally, and not actually part of the official entourage, were the five squads of ANBU body guards shadowing them from the roofs. She even recognized one of the white cloaked Captain's as the notorious close quarters killer Blade. All and all it was a diplomatic party with some _very_ excellent fire power.

Tsunade and Shikamaru knew what they were doing, not that she had doubted them.

"Look alive people." The smile had gone from Tsunade's face, replaced with a look of distaste. "We've got the civilians coming up and they're not happy. Don't respond, keep your distance, and hold your tempers. We don't need a slaughter out here, not like this."

Sakura would beg to disagree, but then again, she was a monster who shouldn't be listened to in situations like this.

She heard the villagers before she saw them. There was shouting, signing, and a general sound of revelry. When the first jonin was within eyesight of the crowds, things changed. The shouts turned angry, the crowd of hundreds surging up but not coming any closer than twenty feet. As more of the party got within eye line the shouting turned louder and more vulgar, and it was as if they walking into a solid wall of sound.

Then Sakura who'd been lagging behind rounded the corner.

There was one long moment of silence; almost surreal in how the crowd hushed at the sight of her. Sakura could taste the tension in the air, bitter and hot and hanging so thick. Then the tension cracked and hysteria boiled over.

They went _wild._

"Demon whore!"

"Your mother should have strangled you!"

" –why won't you go fucking die like we asked?"

"Go to hell you fucki—"

Then the first bottle was thrown. Sakura watched its lazy arc as headed straight for her. She didn't even try to move out of the way. There was a stir of air and the bottle vanished.

The ANBU no doubt. She wondered it if had been a replacement technique or if it'd been caught in transit with a shunshin, but the how of it hardly mattered.

Being foiled in their cowardly attack only seemed to infuriate and the mob screamed more abuse. Her comrades hovered about awkwardly, not knowing how to proceed. Everyone: Tsunade, Jiraiya, Shikamaru, and even those Sakura didn't know were uncomfortable. They had never, ever in their lives been met with such obvious and violent loathing towards their persons.

Sakura was suddenly nostalgic for her childhood. This was just like old times and the days of running from mobs out for her blood. While the rest of the diplomatic party hung back, Sakura took a step forward with the confidence only experience could bring.

She rested her hand on the katana. She imagined the quick motion of her wrist moving forward and then down, knowing the exact amount of force per square inch that would exploit the flaw of the sheath and draw the blade. It would shine so bright with the sing of drawn steel. In her mind's eye she rushed the crowd leading with the blade.

She imagined slashing and cutting and hot blood being spilled. In her mind's eye it would all culminate in the horrified stampede that would crush dozens of people to death as the rest tried to escape.

Sakura knew she was supremely fucked in the head, and all that stirred in her was a warm and fuzzy feeling. She wished the Kyuubi was here so she could share this fantasy; he would be the only one who would appreciate the artistry of it.

"My Lady." She called out. "Permission to clear the way?"

The sound of Sakura's cool disinterest forced Tsunade to gather herself. Composure regained, the Hokage shook her head. "I said there wasn't going to be a slaughter today."

She smiled reflexively. The Hokage knew her, that was for sure. "There won't be one drop of blood, broken bone, or bruise to show our passing. Permission to move them Hokage-sama?"

They shared a glance and the unease gave way to unconditional trust. The Hokage nodded. "Clear the way jonin Sakura."

"With pleasure my Lady." She bowed her head, letting her hand fall from the hilt of the katana. Another time, perhaps.

She loosened the seals on her killing intent. The effect was immediate, the screams choked off into whispers, a murmur of unease spreading through the crowd. The mob began to lose its cohesion in blocking the street as fear crept in their ranks. They did not know the source of the noxious fog, and not knowing only heightened their agitation.

Sakura smirked and kicked it up a notch. The weakest went down to their knees with the sheer force of her desire to kill, rip, maim, bludgeon, and _burn_ that raged through. Sakura kicked it up one more notch and held it there, grinning viciously as she did.

Any higher and the crowd would be pissing themselves, and she would rather not have to walk over the mess of it when it was over. The first of the villagers broke rank and ran screaming, and that avalanched into the entirety of them fleeing like cowards.

The road to the Hyuga compound was clear.

Sakura turned to the people behind her, bowed, and made a sweeping gesture to the open road. "After you."

**Hyuga Compound, Inner Housing **

"Hatake-san?"

At the sound of Yamanka Sojiro's voice, Kakashi's eyes shot open. He rubbed his neck wondering how he'd managed to drift asleep while reading.

Sojiro spoke again. "Hatake-san, it's time."

That woke him fully up. He looked around the room to see the short, blonde haired, wiry Sojiro standing by an empty birdcage. Nearby his sister Yuki sat silently, eyes closed as if in a trance.

Which come to think of it, she was: her soul was currently in the body of a small singing bird far from here.

Kakashi had been given two Yamanaka and some birds the Branch House kept in cages. The symbolism of those pets had been clear, but Kakashi had just been thankful they'd been there for the task at hand. With soul-possession and some very maneuverable and easily missed vessels for it, Kakashi had some semblance of an Intel operation going.

It was not as large as he hoped though; Peace Negotiations were coming down and finding out why Sakura was breaking up with the Uzumaki or what the secretive horrible thing she'd done to the Uchiha was rapidly becoming moot.

Still, from what he had gathered having the members of the Death Squad shadowed, something had gone horribly wrong between them and it wasn't any run of the mill spat. What'd he heard had given him a taste of something ugly and shattering: lies, secrets, an obliquely referenced event in their past strewn with violence…

Kakashi had a feeling that if he figured out the why Naruto and Sasuke had nearly killed each other, why Naruto and Sakura were fighting, and where Sakura had disappeared too during that mess, he might have the edge he needed if things went south.

"What is it?" He asked.

Sojiro's eyes were fearful. "They're coming,

Kakashi swore: today was the morning of the Negotiations and he'd completely forgotten.

How worse could today get?

The Yamanaka twitched. "_She_ is with them."

Kakashi blinked. Sakura, the vessel of the Kyuubi no Kitsune that had been nearly assassinated by the people living in this very compound, was coming _here_.

This would not go over well.

Okay, he'd been wrong, today _could _get worse.

He rubbed at his tired eyes furiously, trying to calculate how much time was left. "Okay. I'll go tell Hiashi before they get here and things get out of hand. If Sakura's coming here…then keep close watch on the Uzumaki and Uchiha. If anything slips out about whatever the hell is going on, I want to hear it ASAP."

Sojiro nodded and Kakashi clapped the chunin on the shoulder, trying to assure him. Somehow he didn't feel that successful, but knew he didn't have more time. The Peace Negotiations were upon them and what that meant for him and everyone else here…he honestly didn't know.

And that uncertainty worried him.

**One Block from Hyuga Compound **

The second clone sucked in a deep breath of the morning air, reveling in the moment. It was crisp and clean and tasted like champagne. But no matter how deeply she breathed she couldn't get enough; the weight of the suicide vest constricted her chest too tightly for that.

Toady was the last day she would be alive and she wanted to savor it. She had bid her sister clones goodbye, kissed the Kyuubi one last time (even if he objected), pulled the balaclava on, checked her suicide vest, and left the only home she'd known in her less than a week-long life.

Now she was only a shadow in shadows contentedly hanging in the trees twenty feet from the Hyuga compound walls. This is what she'd been _made _for and there was no regret.

On the opposite side of the sprawling grounds, the main gate was being opened and her sensitive ears caught the sound of it easily. Grudgingly, the Hyuga were allowing a diplomatic party that hated their guts to enter, and they were still pretended to be the ones wronged in this whole affair.

Typical.

The clone smelled the air, letting her enhanced senses do the work. Somewhere over there was the true Sakura. And that Sakura was depending on the second clone to do this job. The shadow wouldn't let her mistress down.

Luckily for her though, the true Sakura being around meant all guards would be concentrated around her. If she went wild, they would need every scrap of fire power they could get to bring her down. That, rather unfortunately for the rebellion, left their walls woefully under guarded.

She'd just have to take advantage of that, now wouldn't she?

The clone dropped a genjutsu on herself and one specially made to work against the byakugan. Long ago Sakura had made it to use in sparring and only put it to full use when sneaking into the Hyuga compound during that rescue fiasco after Hinata's engagement.

Now it was being used for another infiltration, except this time she wouldn't leave without a massacre. The clone cheerfully mused this would now put _two_ clan massacres under Sakura's belt.

The Hyuga patrol, Branch House judging by their foreheads, passed like clockwork on the other side of the wall.

She would have a minute window to get in, maybe less.

More than enough.

She made the leap over the road. The roof came up to meet her and she rolled and let momentum carry her off the side. She landed crouching and sprang under the porch of the nearest building.

She was in.

The smell of decaying grass, rot, and stagnation was nearly an assault. The clone almost whimpered before she managed to get a chakra block on her sense of smell. The fit was tight under the house with the vest on, but the way these building had been constructed left about a foot and a half of clearance between the foundation and the actual floor. She'd make due.

The clone began the slow crawl on her stomach using her elbows to pull herself forward. All the while she fought through muck and dead things she didn't want to identify. It was claustrophobic and the air was growing hot and thin the deeper she went under the houses. Whatever light she'd had was gone and had rendered her blind; only her sense of touch was left to guide her as she breathed in dust and choked on it.

Red chakra began to kick in, oxygenating her blood manually for what her lungs couldn't do.

The clone was suddenly glad for the bulky suicide vest. She wouldn't have to figure out how to turn around and crawl out from here. She would get to die and leave this ugly place behind and return…well, return to wherever it was dispersed clones went.

Her ears pricked at the sound of voices. Even through the floors, she could feel the footsteps of those moving above. Now, judging by the blue prints she'd seen, there should be a gathering hall somewhere around here…

When she heard the sound of children laughing she knew she was under the right spot. Though the clone could not see it, above her many Hyuga and the conspirator ninja and their families were sitting together having a communal breakfast.

The rations were short, but the families: wives, husbands, children, brothers, sisters, and parents, made due. Many knew the fate of the civilian conspirators that had already been captured and executed (and they had been so lucky to be the family of ninja that had some warning), and the story of what Yamanaka Ino had done to Gemma had spread far and wide.

It was said she'd kept him alive for a week without any of his limbs before allowing him the blessing of death. It was Gemma who'd spilled their treacherous secret and sent them all fleeing from ANBU squads and arrest warrants.

So they ate glad to have their families intact, gossiping and bonding with those trapped in the same situation as they. Talk of what was going on at the Negotiators was running rampant; there were even rumors of _Her_ being there.

The clone heard the gossip as she rested on the ground. She closed her eyes and rooted through the suicide vest. She found the dead man's switch and pressed it down. The vest was active, the second she released the switch the C4 in it would blow. The fire, concussive force, searing heat, and pouches of razor-shrapnel would have nowhere to go but up.

Even if someone found her and managed to disperse her…nothing would stop the explosion from taking out everyone within a hundred foot radius.

Now all she had to wait for was the signal like a good little shadow.

Above the clone people laughed and talked, oblivious to the danger right at their feet.

The clone just smiled and counted down the seconds to her death, her finger on the switch.

* * *

Another chapter. Hurray.

I know some people don't like the relationship situation between Sakura, the Kyuubi, and Naruto. This story is evolving into adult territory along with the characters, and true love and happily ever afters is never on a real world menu. Issues need to be worked out, insanity needs to be addressed, and the fact that Sakura was never a good person and Naruto still is...barely.

Of course, this story is closing up rapidly, so rest assured the issues are going to be settled out shortly. Oh and there will be _violence _ahead kiddies, rest assured. We're definitely moving to the climax of the story.

**Edit:** Fixed a lot of spelling errors, generally smoothed out conversation, and cut out a lot of extraneous wording. Besides that, the chapter is pretty much the same as the old.


	36. The Opening Act

An: Okay! Attention to all my lovely readers still with me, this next chapter is pretty intense on the disturbing lengths Sakura is willing to go. If you didn't realize it already (and honestly, I'm not sure _how_ you could miss it) it's become obvious that while Sakura can be kind and gentle from time to time, underneath that she is a complete psychotic bitch with about as much capability for morality as a rock.

In other words she is one fucked up individual, and frankly even as her writer I've become pretty indifferent towards her. I didn't even know it was possible to stop caring if you really like or dislike your character anymore after pouring so much time and energy into her, but lo and behold that's how things worked out. She is at her best an anti-hero, at her worst she is the villain of this story and make no mistake about that.

When Sakura is referred to as a monster that isn't just me as the author making hyperbole, I'm dead serious. I'd like to think Sakura has earned her monster status, because I don't think this could get more disturbing than it already has.

Though, I gotta be honest, one of the funniest reviews I've gotten for this story came from somebody who objected (quite rabidly) to the morality of it. But not just any morality I've put on display here, or the severe lack of it, but specifically the morality of _adultery_. I mean…really people? I've had lying, treason, cold blooded murder, genocide, torture, out and out cruelty for the _fun_ of it, and killing women and children because it's good business. And some people got this far and complained to me their poor moral sensibilities had been insulted by the _adultery_.

Honestly, if that is the _only_ thing you see wrong about this story's morality, please go get your head checked and come back when you've grown a thicker skin or a brain (or both).

For the rest of you, please continue reading because I know _you know_ what you're getting into it. Enjoy the insanity kiddies.

**Disclaimer: **I couldn't own Naruto because the manga's message is all sunshine and rainbows and friendship. I, on the other hand, illustrate the depths of _real _monsters.

* * *

**Hyuga Compound (Opening of Peace Negotiations)**

In a way, she supposed, the opening of the gate was meant to impress them. The great and heavy wooden doors were as old as the village. Legend said they had been carved from trees grown for the Hyuga by the Shodai Hokage himself.

Sakura didn't put much weight in legends and their tradition. Honestly, couldn't they have just jumped over the walls and been done with it? They _were_ ninja after all.

But she decided not to voice that question, Tsunade and Shikamaru seemed unsurprised by the pomp, so it must have been expected. Sakura wasn't feeling curious enough to ask.

And really, all those gates did was remind her of the failings of her village. _Why_ had a clan been allowed to build walls and gates and a fortress around themselves? Why let them be a power unto themselves? Why take that risk?

The questions sat ill at ease with her because intellectually she knew none of the answers were something Konoha could ever be proud of.

Even now, almost war with the other half of the village, the fact remained no one had ever attempted to breech these walls. Sakura didn't believe the Hyuga of a few generations ago had _this_ much insight to have seen this _exact_ day coming and prepared for it.

So that left the question: just what had the Hyuga hiding from for all these years?

And when the gates opened to reveal the Hyuga branch house members bowing down their branded foreheads, Sakura knew.

The Hyuga had been hiding from the scrutiny of their own village.

And that made the great gate, solidly built walls, and legends surrounding this place seem unbearably petty.

They stepped into the courtyard, wary of traps and ambushes in a way only ninja could. A ripple spread through the Diplomatic party and three of their number stepped forward as leaders. Tsunade, Jiraiya, and oddly enough, Hinata. The party fractured and formed up around the three. The two diplomats, a jonin, and the lone chunin flocked to the Lady Hokage. The three other jonin and Tenten went into Jiraiya's orbit.

And Sakura herself, Shikamaru, and Chouji moved without a second thought to stand protectively around Hinata. The girl didn't' seem to notice. The earlier tension and unease caused by the screaming civilians had slipped away from her. Sakura watched Hinata as if she was in metamorphosis; her head tilted back in pride, her limbs settled with the strength and fluidity of molten steel, her pale eyes took on a frosty sheen, and with a final carless brush she touched the jeweled bug resting in her hair. One last check time to make sure the poisonous little creature was in its proper place.

Very Aburame. Very Kunoichi. Very Hinata.

She was the closest thing to a Princess this village would ever have, and right then Sakura believed that fact whole heartedly as Hinata carried herself with every ounce of disdain, grace, and beauty she possessed. The Hyuga wouldn't know what hit them when _this_ Hinata took the stage, and Sakura tried not to smile giddily in anticipation.

A brown haired chunin stepped forward from the courtyard and her stomach jolted. It was Umino Iruka, her old Academy teacher. She hadn't even realized he'd been one of the traitors, in fact she hadn't thought of him in years.

"Honorable delegation." Iruka shot the three groupings of ninja a sharp glance. "You have been expected. Please follow me and keep your _entire_ party in check." That his eyes lingered on Sakura a second longer than the rest was missed by no one.

Neither was the flash of barely concealed hate.

When Sakura noticed this she smiled at him sweetly. When she wasn't watching others die in anguish from steel or fire, it was nice to see them squirm in agony under kindness. Those with power could always afford to be magnanimous with their enemies.

_You can kill them with kindness…_

Except, of course, when you killed them with a shadow clone loaded down with a C4 suicide vest. That was nice too.

That though brought a smile to her face as Iruka frowned. "You can't bring any weapons in here."

Sakura smirked slyly and drew the locked sheath katana from the sling and tossed it to him. "It's not. It may look it but the sword can't be drawn."

Irkua put his hands on it, trying to pull the sword free. It remained firmly stuck in place, and unless one knew the right leverage to open it the sword would remain that way. For a long moment she entertained the notion of unleashing the blade through his gut to surprise him, but he then handed it back without a word.

The thought flitted away. She consoled herself she would always have a chance to try it out later as she slipped the sheath back into the sling, resting her hand comfortably on the lotus shaped guard.

The pat down for weapons was nonexistent, the Hyuga were useful for noninvasive things like that.

When he was sure they were pointy-objects free, Iruka lead them into the maze of households and walkways.

The halls were empty as Iruka pressed on, only the eerie echo of their footsteps to keep them company. No one in their party spoke but Sakura kept close to Hinata, one of her hands resting on the other girl's hip. And though Sakura neither saw nor heard anything to indicate a presence…she could feel people watching.

Hyuga's from behind closed doors with their all seeing eyes, rebellious ninja from the roofs, and lastly the gaze of their own ANBU trying best to keep track of them. Soon, she knew, they would be out of their ANBU escorts reach as they ventured deeper behind these walls.

That didn't bother Sakura in some fear for her own life, but for her friends…she was about to cause chaos and she wouldn't be in a position to protect them. She hoped the ANBU would be ready enough, fast enough, and smart enough to realize when things went wrong to come rushing in to extract them. That uncertainty, unfortunately, was one of the flaws of this plan.

Finally they came to a halt before a door with two guards. Iruka nodded at them once and they threw open the doors they were protecting.

The room beyond, Sakura knew, would be forever marked in history as flashpoint for the deadliest civil war in recorded memory.

Such a room (in Sakura's mind) deserved grandeur too commemorate such a momentous event. And Hyuga pride, as always, never failed to disappoint. The space before her was wide and high ceilinged, lofty and arching and graceful. Every wall was adorned in rich corded tapestries and vibrant silk hangings, and Sakura could tell each one was worth a small fortune.

The wood floors shone with a polish she could see her own reflection in. Her perceptive eyes noted that under a thin layer of resin were a host of elaborate and stunning designs carved into the wood. While most else of the Hyuga compound was spartan in decoration, here was a truly astonishing level of artistry.

Sakura appreciated the Hyuga for it, even if they had prepared it for her unknowingly. This was a worthy place to witness to the death of tradition, the event that would spill the blood of thousands, and complete her monstrous dream right alongside the fall of her enemies.

She took her eyes from the aesthetics and settled her sights on the people waiting in the room behind a table, exhilaration, anticipation, and hatred seething in her guts.

Hyuga Hiashi, Sarutobi Asuma, Hatake Kakashi, Inuzuka Tsume (allowed for the sake of this peace talks to move from her compound to this one unimpeded), Nara Shikaku, Akimichi Chouza, and finally three jonin she only knew in the context of their hatred for her, sat on the other side.

The other five, filling the allowed fourteen slots for each party, were all Main house Hyuga who stood guard at the walls.

Everyone in the room seemed to take a sharp breath when Sakura stepped in at Hinata's side. She smiled at them and knew a sticky political situation was about to unfold.

Negotiations for peace had become as common as white on rice in the ninja world. From the dim beginning of their history at the feet of Daimyo, ninja had watched various domestic discussions, political dialogues, and peace negotiations take place as they stood guard.

When shinobi had begun building their own villages and started their own wars, they had taken what they had learned from nobles and twisted it to their own use. Each position at the diplomatic table slowly began to mean something new and different, and over time by some unknown and bizarre twist nine chairs for each side became the norm.

The chairs connation's coalesced roughly into this: the leader, the negotiator, the one who knew Shinobi law, the one who knew Royal law, the Intel gatherer, the advisor, the body guard, the _other_ bodyguard, and lastly…

Well, the seat Sakura held was known in polite circles as "The Stick".

In less polite circles it was "The Butcher" or "The Hitter".

And in the least polite circles… "The Fucker".

She was, quite simply, the biggest stick the Hokage could bring. A polite but forceful threat of the sheer hell Tsunade might bring down on her enemies heads.

Once upon a time genin would sit at the Daimyo's negotiations tables surrounded only by royalty, even being a genin making them the biggest threat there. In fact, to this day, Konoha still filled dozens of mission requests from Royalty that wanted a ninja at their table as a warning(of course that the _other_ noble would also have a ninja, sometimes even from the same village, remained largely unacknowledged).

But in ninja negotiation where _everyone _was a ninja, the "Stick" really needed to be someone terrifying to have an impact. And Sakura was quite happy to fit that bill.

Shikamaru touched her arm, jerking his head to direct her to the correct seat. Sakura soon found herself sitting across from Hatake Kakashi. It seemed her old sensei was the other side's 'Stick' for this occasion. Considering he'd been on S-class mission non-stop for the past three years, she had no doubt he was the deadliest of her enemies.

They shared a glance, some old bond not quite dead reconnecting them and for a split second she was the little lying genin again and him the unwilling jonin sensei. It was odd, she mused, to feel nostalgia for someone she'd hated. When the moment passed the usual disgust she'd have expected from him wasn't there. Something was sharp in his gaze, probing and curious and searching for any flaw. It was as if he was trying to read her soul through her eyes.

What was that about?

She wondered if she'd get the chance to take him on in one on one combat and test his mettle and see just what he was so curious about. Then she'd brutally murder him of course, that was just policy.

The fantasy, unfortunately, had to be filed away as the rest of her party sat. On either side of her were Chouji and Tenten, both filling the bodyguard slots. Shikamaru sat at Tsunade's right side as the advisor to her leader. To Shikamaru's right was Jiraiya as their Intel man. To Tsunade's left sat Hinata as their negotiator, while the two other diplomats were on Hinata's left in the Shinobi and Royal law slots.

The rest of the Hokage's jonin and the one chunin took up guard positions at the walls, mirroring the Hyuga protectors already there. All parties regarded one another warily, no one willing to say anything first as if speaking would immediately admit defeat or fault.

Then, like the crack of a whip, Hinata's imperious voice cut the silence. "State your case to stay your execution, Hyuga Hiashi."

The man stared at his daughter as if he was seeing her for the first time. And by the look of disgust, he didn't like what he saw. "Has your time outside these walls made you forget your manners so easily Hyuga Hinata? Then again…" His pale eyes flicked disdainfully to Sakura. "Considering the company you keep, I'm not surprised."

Hinata smiled coldly. "That is Aburame Hinata to you, traitor." Those words alone worked better than if she had slapped her father.

_Go Hinata._ Sakura mentally cheered. Her friend had her own ghosts to confront, and if this was how she wanted to draw the poison from her heart, Sakura would stay her murderous hand for a time from interrupting.

Hinata deserved that much.

"The Lady Aburame is right." Tsunade cut in, getting another purposeful dig at Hiashi referencing Hinata's new status. "Before we can hope to reach some accord you must justify your actions. To attack and try to kill a fellow shinobi under your Hokage's command is and will always be treason."

Hiashi scowled and almost fell into another diatribe when Shikaku coughed into his fist to interrupt him. Hiashi went grudgingly silent. The Nara spoke up. "If I may, Hokage-sama."

"You may." Tsunade responded, her tone making it clear she had deigned to _let_ him speak.

At the Hokage's side, Sakura noticed Shikamaru stiffening. In the lines of her oldest friend's face she could see bitterness and loathing as clear as day. Shikamaru truly hated his father.

Sakura could only dwell on the number of rifts she'd cleaved into the clans. And that musing brought her no feeling as she came to realize she honestly didn't care. Really, all this did was remind her she was a horrible person and that would likely never change.

Even if she wanted it to.

Shikaku spoke. "When the charter was signed to create Konoha the clans _were_ the village. There were no civilians, no non-clan affiliates, no other shinobi present. Our ancestor bled and sweat and died, carving out a place for their children so they might live in peace. Konoha was built on the backs of the clans, and for that the Shodai gave us our rights in the charter. It is clearly stated in village law when it comes to internal family matters, the Hokage cannot interfere."

Hinata responded dryly. "And the attempted assassination of Konoha's jinchuuriki was an internal clan matter _how_ exactly?"

Shikaku's eyes moved down the table to Sakura and the former demon vessel met his gaze unflinchingly. The Nara's voice came out harshly. "She is _poison._ This so called 'loyal weapon of the village' if anything but. She has wormed her way into the lives of every clan heir, whispering her lies in their ears and molding their beliefs into her own. Not only that, she has forcefully _kidnapped_ both Hyuga heirs out of their own home. She has committed acts of violence and sedition and against the clans, and as the Hokage refused to heel her pet demon at the legitimate request of Hyuga Hiashi, the clans as one decided action must be taken in accordance with the charter."

Sakura wondered if it counted as irony that it was her enemies who saw her clearest for what she was. Probably.

Hinata let out a sharp laugh. It was not the soft comforting thing Sakura knew but the harsh scorn of the Lady Aburame. Hinata looked up, her eyes flashing with cruel mirth. "Really? Lies and poison? Kidnapping? Sedition? Where do I even begin?"

Hinata waved at the diplomat next to her. "He will confirm all laws of this village that I state are accurate. Let me make this clear, Sakura was our childhood friend and not our controller. We are not silly little puppets to be pulled along by strings as you desire us to be, Shikaku. As for the kidnapping I, as a chunin of Konoha and fiancée of the Aburame heir, had every right to leave the clan after being held against my will. That my cousin and sister were injured in my defense, them also being members of Konoah's military, put them in the purview of the Hokage as one Konoha ninja clearly assaulted another. That was a criminal matter and therefore out of the clan's hands. Lastly Sakura can no more be seditious towards you as she could be to Kumo. Sakura, bastard child as she is, is not of the clans and only answers to the Hokage alone. You have no grounds, your reasons are flawed, and your logic pathetic. Please, do try again."

Sakura pinched herself to make sure she wasn't in a dream. It took all of her considerable will power not to start cheering or laughing at the horrified expressions on the clan head's faces. Hinata had a wellspring for cruelty Sakura hadn't even realized existed, and she wanted to hug her friend for it. This had to be one of the greatest moments of Sakura's life.

Beside her both Chouji and Tenten stifled their own smirks. Even Shikamaru, usually the most collected of them, had a hand over his face to hide his broad smile.

The diplomat, who Sakura now supposed was an expert of Konoha law and not royal law as she'd initially thought(because, honestly, one usually didn't need an expert on your own law unless you were negotiating with _yourself)_, declared. "All laws referenced by Lady Aburame are on the books and as applying to the situation completely accurate. While the charter does give the Clans special privileges, all incidents referenced that were _actual_ incidents fell under the Hokage's jurisdiction. "

Hinata just buffed her nails against her kimono, looking entirely unconcerned with the whole affair. Sakura wished she had brought popcorn.

Hiashi's anger was thunderous. "We had _every_ right to choose who you married Hinata. You defied that law and you were punished accordingly, the Hokage had no say in that matter."

Hinata stopped pretending to admire her nails, and the haughty elegance returned and her voice dropped to a chilling octave. "I am a soldier of the Hokage first and foremost. The Hokgae's word is law and her soldiers ultimately answer to her alone. In terms of law, the Aburame had equal right to me once the engagement was official. Possession is nine-tenths of ownership and once I was with them that point became moot. The truth is that your days of skirting the law and abusing your family have come to an end. Your despicable curse seal was only allowed because the past Hokage's turned a blind eye. No more. No more having your own leash on Konoha's soldiers, no more interfering with the Hokage's authority. There is no law and no right you have to abuse us, only your unending arrogance and the cowardice of old men not to stand against you."

It was a crime Sakura didn't have a camera to record this. Truly and utterly a crime.

Shikamaru remarked blandly. "I think the Lady Aburame has been allowed her fun, can we put an end to this farce Hokage-sama?"

Tsunade lounged back in her chair, crossing her legs and relaxing as if this was all a grand show for her amusement. She looked to her advisor and gave a command. "Yes. I believe our point has been made. Inform them of their folly jonin Shikamaru."

Both Shikaku and Akimichi Choza looked ready to interrupt, but the youngest Nara beat them to the punch.

The look on Shikamaru's face was downright predatory. "You have no justification. We all know what this was really about. Once upon a time the clans were _all_ of Konoha, and clan members held every position of power except Hokage. All the control you could possibly posses was _yours._ But the village began to change and now over two-thirds of our forces are non-clan. The fact is with every generation the clans lose positions in the government to non-clan ninja simply because there are _more_ of them. That you're losing power was inevitable, when your precious ancestors formed this village they pooled into a _collective_. No clan will be greater than the whole, none more important, and your identity is nothing compared to Konoha's."

Inuzuka Tsume snarled. "You little whelp, how dare you—"

Killing intent and sheer rage flooded the room, mixing into a visceral combination that sent everyone back into their chairs. Inuzuka Tsume fell silent, staring at the furious Hokage in both awe and terror.

Despite the undeniable _fury_ coursing through the air, Tsunade's tone was calm and even. "Thank you Shikamaru for that fine point." Then her voice turned outright venomous. "I'm going to make this very clear for you traitors, the only reason we're here is you decided your poor little egos were worth more than the village itself. Because of you bastards the Fourth Great shinobi war we thought we'd won is ready to rip back open at the slightest hint of weakness. You hold the threat of annihilation over us all like children throwing a tantrum because you didn't get to kill the mean little jinchuuriki that insulted you. I do these peace talks not for the clans or you pompous jackasses. Only for the good people who fight and die for Konoha everyday and follow the law and will be harmed if this little rebellion goes any further. Hinata."

The younger girl inclined her head respectfully, becoming demure and courteous for the Hokage alone. "Of course my Lady. We will now begin Negotiation's, so I expect the tea service should be set out now, yes?"

The old tradition of serving tea once negotiations began was a practice so old even the progressive leaning party of the Hokage was willing to bow to it.

Hiashi appeared as if he'd just been forced to swallow and entire lemon. Having his daughter dictate to him was both unwelcome and unsettling for the man. But if he had any objections they withered under the glare of Tsunade. He replied stiffly. "Yes. The tea will be served now."

Seeing Hiashi cowed seemed to loosen something in Hinata's posture, and the girl took a deep breath and released it softly. Sakura was certain she'd witnessed the last painful dregs of Hinata's fear of her father being excised. Hinata would cower no more. The little crying girl bullied by her family was gone and Aburame Hinata was free to live her life without the shadow of her past.

Sakura wished her own past could be as easily cleansed away. But she knew only fire and blood would suffice, and even after that…she didn't know if she could ever let go of what had happened to her. Her pain, her anger, her cruelty, and her murderous intention were as a part of her now as her own flesh and bone.

If those were gone…she wasn't sure if she'd amount to anything at all.

The Hyuga guards, oblivious to her thoughts, set out saucers and served the tea like clockwork. When the cups were full the old custom was followed dutifully, and everyone took a small sip at the same time. Even Kakashi took part, though it was through his mask. She wondered how he could stand his mask tasting and smelling like tea the rest of the day, but the thought was too insignificant to reflect on.

The tea service was exactly what she'd been waiting for.

Hinata picked up where she'd left off, sounding confident and sure. "These are the terms of surrender as set out by the Hokage's office…"

A sharp, nearly sullen silence fell over the rebellious clan head's as Hinata stated terms and concessions. Sakura tuned out of the conversation as she already knew what would be asked for and was fully aware it would never come to pass.

The table was set, the pieces in place, and the game for this village's future was in motion.

At this moment in her blood was a self contained chakra capsule. That capsule restrained a poison so potent even Sakura would be pushed to the brink of death. And when she broke it and fell into the throes of poison, elsewhere a shadow clone and a suicide vest would blow a chunk of the Hyuga compound sky high.

The Hokage's faction would be furious at such a breach of parlay just to attack one person. Meanwhile, the rebellious faction would have their very own family's bombed and burned and would jump to the idea that their enemies had set it up beforehand. These were inevitable conclusion for both sides, and Sakura would know as she had crafted the whole damn thing herself.

The curtain on this tragedy was about to come up, and for ten long years had set the stage to make it perfect.

And the opening act would all be thanks to the old custom of tea service. Imagine, putting poison in the Jinchuuriki's cup in one last ditch attempt. One last act of spite. That was how history would see it anyways.

Sakura looked inward, finding the capsule of poison hovering right around her heart. She gave no outward sign of it, her eyes were half lidded and her posture wholly calm. She took another sip of tea and with one quick snap of chakra it was over.

The poison hit her blood stream. She prepared for the worst, knowing it would be beyond agony. Poison, in her experience, usually struck in two different ways. Either it was gradual with the victim slowly getting sicker and sicker until they died a few hours later, or it was of a more brutal kind.

The other type was a sledgehammer. Poison hit, blood pumped, and a minute later the victim died in anguish.

This poison was a sledgehammer.

She held back her chakra from reacting (and dispersing the poison clear of her bloodstream too quickly) and noticed something was wrong when the room became unbearably bright. She blinked furiously, trying to clear the blazing glow away. As she blinked her surroundings began to lose shape as if everything was wax and the heat had been turned up.

Then her heart wrenched, hitting her ribs adn slamming a heave of raw pain through her chest. Her right hand hit the table and that was all that kept Sakura from falling. She started sweating, her limbs were feeling oddly cold but her chest…her chest felt hot. Scorching hot.

Her body trembled noticeably, sweating, shaking ,freezing, _burning._

She grabbed Chouji's knee under the table. He squeezed her hand back thinking this was her being affectionate or amused at something.

Sakura realized that everyone's voices sounded like static. She blinked again and the colors blurred together.

She had to move fast. The poison wasn't in her lungs yet, and as her mind seemed to spin out of her control she breathed. "Chouji…I need you to do something."

When he saw her pale face and dilated eyes, the smile on his face dropped. "What is it?" He seemed so very far away from her, as if his voice has just traveled miles to reach her.

"Protect Hinata. Whatever happens, protect her with your fucking life or Shino will never forgive me." Sakura looked over her shoulder, but her vision was gone and a throbbing pain was building in her veins. "Tenten."

She felt the girl touch her back. "What is it?"

With fumbling hand Sakura took the locked sheath katana from her back and blindly pushed it to the older girl. Her tongue felt thick in her mouth and her words slurred. "Take that, try not ta' die, kay?"

Chouji's voice rose from panic. "What's wrong Sakura?"

"I think," She began, and somehow right then all other conversation dropped. In that empty space her voice was unnaturally loud. "That there was poison in the tea."

Then it hit her lungs like she was breathing in hot ash and she turned and began hacking blood up on the table. The hot bitter tang of it was in her throat, and she felt herself slipping as her chair collapsed out from under her.

No, that wasn't right. _She_ was the one falling.

The crack of her hitting the ground felt like every bone in her body shattered. Her mind, reeling and grasping and dying under the poison, neatly short circuited.

That gave her back her hearing just long enough for the screams to start and pierce her skull like blades. She thrashed, her blood was boiling, her brain was turning to mush, her body was eating itself and—

The sledgehammer came down.

The first act had begun.

**Hyuga Compound, Beneath the Gathering Hall**

It was not screaming that made the clone open her eyes. It was, in fact, a small earthquake.

Her lids snapped up, she couldn't _actually_ see anything but she did it anyway. What the hell had that been?

Less than a minute passed when a second larger quake rattled the earth, shaking dust loose that coated her face and got in her eyes. She didn't have enough space to rub it away, and the clone silently cried to clear the offending things away.

There hadn't been a concrete signal for the clone to set off the vest. Sakura had only really gotten as far as: "Me getting poisoned will make _something _happen, what that actually is I have no idea. So go with the flow, kay?"

So the clone had waited, wondering what the signal would be. If it didn't become readily apparent…within one hour of crawling under here she was to detonate either way. That hour was only to give the real Sakura some leeway in case something unexpected occurred.

The clone felt chakra, huge sources of it, surge into the air. The chakra felt _furious._ That had to be the signal.

Even through the floor the panic of the voices above her was clear. Whatever it was, the people here had felt it as well. The clone briefly wondered what was going on over there with the real Sakura, but the though left as quickly as it came.

It was time; her thumb had been getting rather tired holding down the dead man's switch anyways.

She pulled the switch up to her chest, wondering one last time where dispelled clones went. Maybe she'd come back again someday?

She couldn't quite bring herself to believe that. She had all of Sakura's memories, and of the thousands of clones made over the original's lifetime, none had acted surprised to have been brought around for a second go.

That settled it then. This was it and this was all there would ever be. She'd had a good run, gotten some time with the Kyuubi, and now she had her last free choice. Dispel herself and let the switch do its work, or let the vest take her to oblivion?

The clone smiled harshly in the dark. She always had wanted to go out with a bang, hadn't she?

She never hesitated. Her thumb lifted.

The carefully packed C4 exploded in a roar, picking up shrapnel and force and thundering upward. Those who'd been in the hall never knew what hit them. Everyone within thirty feet was instantly vaporized, anyone within forty feet horribly burned, everyone past that not touched by flame were sliced apart by jagged shards of metal.

It would not be realized for hours, and the clone who'd done the deed would never know, but in the explosion twenty-eight people died, thirty-four were wounded, and six would be traumatized for the rest of their lives.

Five of those who died were children under eleven.

The hall off the roof collapsed as the walls blasted outwards, crushing any survivors in the detonation radius.

War had come to the Hyuga, and it took the first of what would become a terrible toll.

**Hyuga Compound, Negotiation Hall, Five Minutes Prior**

"I think…that there's poison in the tea."

Tsunade felt her hand go slack.

Her tea cup hit the table, spilling the searing contents over her hands and down into her lap. She didn't even notice.

_This has to be a joke._

The Hokage turned her head just in time to see Sakura lean over the table and start vomiting up blood. Seconds later the jinchuuriki seized and pitched sideways out of her chair, hitting the floor with a dull crack.

The seizure continued unabated and Tsunade watched in mute horror as Sakura's eyes rolled back into her head.

Hinata, who a second ago had been composed and arguing viciously with Shikaku over the terms of surrender, let out a piercing scream. It was half rage and half terror, and the pale girl leapt from her chair with all decorum forgotten for her friend on the floor.

Chouji and Tenten flew from their chairs, grabbing at Sakura and trying to stop her from seizing and smashing her skull apart on the ground.

Tsunade knew she should have done the same, knew she should have leapt for the girl who was in all but blood her daughter. But her brain had literally frozen, flabbergasted into inaction.

Their enemy had never intended to surrender. They'd been lured here and ambushed.

They'd been fools.

Jiraiya's hand hit her shoulder. "Tsunade! Grab her and go!" That broke her trance. She was the Hokgae damnnit, why the hell was she sitting around with her jaw hanging open like a genin?

She moved like lighting, already running a diagnostic on her own blood before shifting the jutsu to Sakura. Tsunade found her own blood clear of poison, but Sakura…

She had never seen a poison like this. Corrosive, invasive, eating the chakra trying to heal Sakura while simultaneously attacking everything it could reach. It was everywhere in her blood, her heart had long since dispersed it which meant…

The poison hadn't activated upon consumption, but waited to be dispersed before activating. Among their enemies was a truly deadly poison specialist. But Tsunade wasn't the queen of medic ninja for nothing. Some fucker wanted to take out her daughter? They'd have to get through Tsunade first.

She charged her hands with chakra and went for the capillaries in Sakura's lungs. If the jinchuuriki stopped breathing, things would go bad very _very_ fast.

Tsunade was too occupied in healing to notice everyone else beginning to move, chairs scraping back as they shot to their feet.

Jiraiya thundered. "Nobody MOVE."

The killing intent of the Toad Sage gave the air a tangible charge, driving everyone back a step and crushing the air from their lungs.

Asuma sounded bewildered. "What the hell is going on—?"

Tsunade was brought to a brief pause in fighting the nearly virulent poison crashing through Sakura's blood. Was Asuma pretending…or was there a faction inside the rebellion that had done this without their leaders realizing?

Kakashi took a step forward. "We didn't do this."

Jiraiya's hand smashed the table and he bellowed. "Are you deaf? Next person to move _will _die!"

Jiraiya's killing intent was pushed back by the clan heads, the tension in the room rising as Sakura screamed and wretched. They were in a pressure cooker and one more thing would set it off.

It would take Ino and three other Yamanaka two weeks, a dozen witness reports, and five brain dives later to piece together what happened next. The Hyuga servant who'd been helping serve tea reacted poorly to the two sides of waging murderous intent, and only by mistake dropped the teapot she was holding.

Then a Hyuga guard mistook that for an attack and tried to drive a palm strike into the chest of one of the Hokage's guard standing a few feet away. That jonin had been holding in a fire jutsu, prepared if the worst, and startled by the charge he opened his mouth and released a torrent of flame.

The Hyuga guard had his skin charred off and crumpled down as his muscles fried and lost cohesion. The jutsu wasn't finished. The fire, with nothing to hit, spread out and hit Inuzuka Tsume's canine partner on the black of the legs.

The wolf sized dog yelped and snarled, pain triggering his flight and fight reaction. The usually intelligent dog reacted blindly. Half-crazed it lunged for the nearest person it could reach. That person, as it happened, was Tenten. The jonin by reflex alone raised the locked sheath katana Sakura had handed off and drove it forward.

By pure luck Tenten shoved it down the dogs gaping mouth, hitting the back of its throat and sending the beast to the floor. By an odd coincidence and abnormal angle, weight of the dog, and the slant in which Tenten had driven the blade into the dogs mouth exploited the flaw in the sheath.

It unlocked neatly and the katana was drawn. For one dumb moment everyone stared, then Choza shouted. "That demon bitch brought a live weapon HERE?"

Tenten blinked but then sighed. "I'm not surprised." In one fluid motion she drew the katana, kept the sheath jammed down the dog's throat with her off hand, and sliced the blade into the canine's skull. Blood, fur, and brain matter spilled everywhere. Splattering Tenten, Chouji, and Hinata in the backlash as they shielded Sakura's body with their own. The animal let out a long, pitiful wail before its thrashing ceased.

The death of her long time partner drove Tsume over the edge, and she howled in inconsolable grief and flung herself into a Tsuuga strike. Just as the spin was on its way to tear Tenten apart Tsume made the unfortunate mistake of leaping straight in front of Hinata. And in that respect, towards Sakura as well.

The Hyuga, near a panic attack, reacted on instinct and knocked the clan matriarch off course with a few juken strikes. It did not kill Tsume, but it would have been more merciful if Hinata had. Tsume's momentum carried her into the wall, and the acid-spitter King beetle nested in Hinata's hair considered that an attack upon his mistresses' person and leapt in a way no beetle should be able to leap.

It landed on Tsume's chest and let out a terrifying hiss before living up to its name. It expelled a noxious acid all across her face, and the woman roared in agony and swatted the bug away. Tsume didn't even notice this as she was too busy trying to remove the acid before it seared her eyes and nose closed and sloughed the skin off her bones.

Hinata caught the beetle, already sliding it into her kimono protectively. At any other time if one of her best friends wasn't dying on the floor, she would have cooed over it for a job well done.

Tsunade, through all of this, remained fully calm and clinically reached the conclusion there would be no healing Sakura here. She picked up the seizing jonin, paralyzed her in place, and in one smooth move kicked the floor with her heel. The floor shattered and a small earthquake rocked them, breaking a long split between one side and the other. "PULL BACK!"

And then all hell broke loose.

Nara Shikaku made the movements for a jutsu, no doubt a shadow binding to keep them in place. Shikamaru was ready for this move as he had seen how this battle was spinning out of control. He broke the cup in his hand and used it like a knife, going for the jugular.

His father broke the jutsu and dodged out of the way of his son. Shikamaru missed, only to get his sensei Asuma's fist in his gut, blowing him off his feet. Wind chakra had been packed into the punch, gashing into his stomach and spilling blood everywhere. Shikamaru didn't' have time to gasp for air before he hit the floor.

"Shikamaru!" Chouji shouted, torn between running for his friend and protecting Hinata as Sakura had asked. He was saved from the agonizing decision as one of the jonin guards, a man in sunglass, scooped up Shikamaru and leapt back.

Right then Tsunade fist hit the wall and blew the hall wide open with a shuddering roar. The dust blinded everyone for one chaotic moment and the Hyuga all activated their byakugans. Not wanting to get caught up in a blind fight with Hyuga, Chouji slung both Tenten and Hinata into each arm and fled.

The chunin and jonin followed him, Shikamaru still gasping for breath and bleeding everywhere. The two diplomats were being carried. Tsunade came next with Sakura, her front covered with blood, all of it Sakura's.

Jiraiya was last, flying out of the dust like a bat from hell as he was followed by Hyuga angling for a kill. The Sage ran through hand seals and slammed his hands to the ground, a second and even greater earthquake shaking everyone as a towering wall of earth jutted into the sky. For a moment the two sides were cut off from each other.

Jiraiya, still perceiving a nonexistent ambush, saw confused and frightened people pouring out from the surrounding houses. He commanded. "Cover the rear, all jutsu release in five seconds!"

Every ninja with free hands and not carrying someone picked a jutsu and let loose. The people below, some ninja, some not, coming out had no idea what they were walking into.

Four died of electrocution, five were crushed, three burned to death, two died from trauma caused by a wind jutsu, and another seven from a hail of weapons as Tenten began flinging shuriken in every direction as she was carried away by Chouji.

Tsunade skidded to a stop, she had no idea where they were and she didn't need them running into another trap. She shouted over her shoulder. "Which way?"

Hinata, byakugan blazing, answered. "East for about three hundred feet. The ANBU are already coming for us from the road!"

Tsunade shouted encouragement back to those behind her. "Keep moving ,we're almost out of this hell hole!"

In her arms, Sakura let out one last shuddering gasp and stopped breathing.

_Oh shit._

Before she could blink, restart Sakura lungs, or even keep running a shock wave knocked Tsunade off her feet. A hot wind seared the scattered ninja, followed by a roar of sound and a wave of finely ground dust. Tsunade hacked, trying to clear her lungs as she stumbled back up to her feet. She cradled Sakura tight.

A few block away a pillar of fire flared into the sky, eclipsing the sun in its white hot brilliance. The blast was so great that for the third time that day a man made earthquake rattled the Hyuga compound. It was the largest one yet.

Her ears rang as the sound of the blast diminished, but it was soon replaced by the distant clamor of frantic screams.

"Did anybody do that?" Tsunade shouted to her squads.

She made a head count, and as they shared horrified glances she realized none of her people had been responsible. What the fuck was going on?

Jiraiya landed at her side. "We can't stay here Hime, come on!"

Tsunade nodded bitterly. "You got that right."

And as they fled the Hokgae knew, deep in heart, Konoha had shattered today. There'd be war and all she could do was try and salvage what she could.

Tsunade feared she'd be the Hokage known to let the village die, and in her very bones she refused that title. They'd survive, Sakura would live, and the traitors would pay.

**Hyuga Compound, Blast Site**

"Those bastards." Umino Iruka gasped, choking on smoke and ash as he dug through the rubble. Some of it was still red hot and seared the skin off his hands. He didn't care and just sent chakra to protect his hands best as he could manage and kept digging.

The first person he found wasn't even a person, it was a leg. He pulled at the leg and it came away, only a stump. He nearly vomited.

He stumbled from the rubble, settling the leg carefully on an untouched piece of lawn even though he wanted to throw it. They would need it later to ascertain the dead. He scrambled back into the chaos, rage and horror making him nauseous.

People were laying around, shocked and bleeding, shell shocked into silence. Others were crying, rocking back and forth and useless. But they were alive for the moment and relatively free, and Iruka would let someone else deal with them.

He dug again and suddenly another chunin and a Hyuga were at his side. The Hyuga pointed down, Byakugan active. "Someone's alive down there, five feet down and to the right."

Iruka nodded gratefully and dug, the other chunin and Hyuga helping him determinedly. Less than a minute later they were pulling a woman with a broken arm and burned legs from the rubble.

"Are you alright?" Iruka asked.

She coughed, her face screwed up in agony. "My husband was right next to me! He…"

Iruka looked to the Hyuga helplessly, and the other man glanced down with his Byakugan and then shook his head bitterly. There would be no saving her husband.

The chunin Iruka couldn't name, as his face was unrecognizable coated with soot, took the woman and carried her to a safer location. Iruka and the Hyuga kept working.

Twenty minutes later Iruka was out of the smog again, this time carrying the body of a child. It was a little girl, no older than seven, one of the Akimichi's children. There wasn't much left of her corpse.

A crowd had formed, helping the injured and covering the dead, providing food and water for the rescuers. When Iruka stepped out with the body a loud wail went through them.

Someone shouted. "We should make them pay, why aren't we attacking! "

The shout roused the crowd and an angry din began to build. The scope of suffering hadn't even yet been realized and people wanted to lash out. Such was the way of the ninja world, a never ending cycle of hatred.

The ninja in the crowd were gathering, moving to act when a commanding voice shouted. "Hold it!"

The angry swarm stilled and Hatake Kakashi walked into the midst of them. "Calm down, we run into this and we'll just be throwing our lives away. This needs to be organized, planned, _efficient_. And we need Intel to do that."

Iruka felt his anger surge, he respected Kakashi, yet the little body in his arms drove him past any reasoning. "What more Intel do we need? Children are dead! The Death Squad is all hospitalized and the Hokage fled from us. We should attack before they recover get another chance to bomb us!"

People began to murmur heatedly, agreeing with Iruka.

Kakashi's one visible eyes was a hard as flint. "There's always somebody dead, always somebody to be avenged. That's no reason to get stupid. If we do this and go to war, we're not just fighting the other half of the village. We're fighting Kumo and Iwa too as soon as the civil war is done. If we don't do this right we might as well kill ourselves now and save our enemies the trouble later."

"He's right." Nara Shikaku murmured, joining the swarming crowd. "We'll send messages to the other compounds and organize. We need every single one of us if we want to win this. We'll strike tonight at sundown, Demoness is incapacitated right now and that's the best chance we're going to be given to win."

That soothed the crowd and Iruka thought Kakashi looked ready to argue. But Shikaku jerked his head in another direction and Kakashi followed him without objection. Iruka trailed from farther back, stopping only to set the dead body in his arms down. He covered the little girl with a sheet.

He kneeled there over her and distantly he could hear both Shikaku and Kakashi speaking.

"Who was it?" Kakashi demanded.

The Nara sounded frustrated. "We don't know. No one's copping to it and we checked the cup that bitch was drinking from. Totally clean."

Iruka blinked, if his side hadn't poisoned Sakura…who had?

"Then we can worry about that later, how the hell do you expect us to be ready by sundown?" Kakashi asked incredulously.

There was a long pause before Shikaku answered. "If those civilians partying out there really want to be so helpful…we'll get them to riot. See how eager Tsunade's ninja are to murder civilians. Get enough commotion going and we can get our agents between the compounds. Maybe even use the civilians to shield our initial attack…"

Iruka fists clenched. He couldn't believe what he was hearing, his rage at the Hogake was soaring to new heights…but revenge by this means horrified him. Had they really fallen to their enemies' level of murdering innocents?

"You're putting a lot of faith into their pity." Kakashi scoffed.

Shikaku replied cynically. "Sometimes the only hope you have is that your enemy is a better person than you."

Kakashi gestured at the gaping, burning hole in the compound. "You call that better?"

"It's all we've got." Was the strained response.

Kakashi's voice dropped. "Not quite. Get me every Yamanaka you can. It may be too late…but I'm on to something"

Iruka felt his hopes rise. Kakashi was the best of them, and if he had something they could use...

"What is it?" Shikaku asked softly, as if raising his voice would make their hope vanish into smoke curling around them.

"It's not going to stop the war but…if the Death Squad comes into play I may be able to neutralize them." He said grimly.

"How?" The Nara asked, his voice tense enough to break.

"They have a secret, something to do with the Uchiha and all three have nearly killed each other over it. If I can figure out that secret…I may be able to set them against each other."

Iruka was floored, and his head spun to the point of making him nauseous. Those kinds of claims were almost the same as saying the sun rose in the west. The Death Squad had been as thick as thieves for years, but if Kakashi could break them the greatest weapon of the Hokage would be gone. All three alone were a nightmare, but together they were an unstoppable annihilation.

Shikaku murmured harshly. "You're playing a dangerous game here."

"I know that too well." Kakahsi replied dryly. "Just get me the Yamanaka."

The two men nodded at each other, allies in a dangerous fight acknowledging the risks. They parted ways, leaving Iruka still kneeling over a child's corpse.

Sundown. That's how long he had.

And Iruka had no idea what to do next.

**Konoha Hospital, Room 424, 3:23 PM**

Her head was throbbing in perfect tempo with her heart, and with each beat the pain got steadily worse. With one last heavy, blood pumping thud against her brain, Sakura woke.

She then quite immediately rolled over and wretched out the bile and blood covering the back of her throat. A soft, cold pair of hands held back her hair for her. Which was nice, because her hair was a mess enough all ready.

When the gut wrenching nausea passed the hands positioned her on her back again. Sakura blinked at the face above her drowsily. "Tenten?"

The girl, her hair hanging tangled around her face for once, nodded. "Glad to see you up. Wait here a sec, Tsunade-sama ordered me to get her when you woke." And with that Tenten slipped out of the curtains around her bed.

Sakura felt very alone until, seconds later, Team eight looked in on her.

The loneliness vanished and Sakura waved. "Hey guys."

Kiba waved back cheerfully. "Hey there foxy lady, how's it going?"

Sakura took a mock inspection of herself. "My internal organs aren't dying anymore, and I feel pretty nice. You?"

"Decent enough." Kiba grinned impishly. "Sort of sad I missed the fireworks. How do you do it?"

Sakura smirked. "Piss a lot of people off and it tends to come back and bite you in the ass."

"Huh." Kiba snorted. "_Kinky."_

Shino glared at them both. "You nearly die and your first response is_ this?"_

She waved it off. "Oh please, I nearly die at least once a month. It's just…what the fuck happened this time?"

Hinata sat down on the edge of her bed, smoothing the folds of her skirt. Sakura then realized the bottom half of Hinata's kimono was gone and she was wearing only the very dusty juban that usually resided underneath.

Whatever she'd missed must have been good to put the impeccable Hinata in such a state.

"You were poisoned." Hinata declared bluntly. "We took some injuries, and you died once on the way to the hospital and twice more on the table, but your red chakra pulled you through."

"That's good." Sakura agreed, and then she processed the rest of the sentence. "Who was injured?"

"One of the diplomats got a nasty broken arm during an explosion nobody knows the cause of. And besides that…" The pale eyed girl trailed off and Sakura felt her stomach drop.

"What is it?" Sakura whispered.

"Shikamaru. He took a bad hit with wind chakra mixed in." Hinata replied softly, taking Sakura's hand in hers.

Sakura felt herself beginning to hyperventilate. "He's not—he's not dead. He can't be dead—"

Shino put a hand on her shoulder, then very calmly grabbed her face and looked her in the eye. "Deep breath."

She followed his command. Her chest ached as she did it.

"Now out." He continued.

She did that too.

"Shikamaru's fine." Hinata assured her, rubbing her thumb along Sakura's knuckles gently. "He's already complaining about not being able to smoke in the hospital. He should be out of here by tomorrow."

The guilt was inescapable, but Sakura was just so happy none of her friends had died for her selfishness.

Kiba tried to cheer her up. "Hey, you should be proud of the guy. Bitched out the medics as they stitching him up for not going fast enough. Then he tried to leave right off the operating table. Hell, guy's probably going to have some awesome wicked scars to show his girlfriend later."

And well, surprisingly enough, that did make her feel better.

"Thanks Kiba." She smiled at the Inuzuka softly.

He returned the grin. "Happy to help."

She had never been particularly close with Kiba, only knowing him as Hinata and Shino's teammate, but the village falling apart had forced them all to spend time together under less than ideal circumstances. And even after her killing his sister, they had made amends under Shino watchful eye and Kiba had just called her 'part of the pack'.

Sakura realized that during this mess she'd somehow made a new friend. It was funny how these things worked out.

It was more than she deserved.

Something cold and hard brushed her leg, and Sakura looked down. She was then faced with the realization that Hinata had let her pet hair-clip-bug out to crawl on the bed. A few of the sapphires glued on its shell, however, were entirely gone. "What happened to the bug?"

"Oh." Hinata glanced down in surprise and scooped it up. "Poor thing got hit around."

Sakura didn't remember this, but she had passed out rather early in the excitement. "How'd that go?"

"Kiba's…" She looked to her teammate and the boy just gave her a quick pat on the back. "Kiba's mom tried to use Tsuuga on Tenten after she killed her dog. I…may have jukened her. Then my little friend here took insult to the attempt and jumped on Tsume."

"It did very well for the first time out." Shino looked inordinately proud; he'd bred the little critter after all. Then Sakura realized what else the bug was capable of.

"And it spit acid?" Sakura asked hopefully.

"Yes." Hinata sighed.

Kiba growled. "It was nothing more than that bitch deserved."

Sakura immediately took back all those mean and nasty things she'd thought about that bug earlier today. It was now her new favorite thing in the whole world. Sakura patted its shell fondly. "You did good little guy." What could she say, the thing had a habit of growing on people.

The beetle made a hissing noise back that Sakura vaguely guessed meant it was pleased with itself. It was an adorably murderous little thing.

Right then Sakura heard the clicking of high heels on tile and Tsunade strode in. Dutifully following her was Tenten. The Hokage smiled briefly seeing the former demon-vessel awake before making a shooing motion with her hands. "Everybody out, I need to do a medical check on Sakura."

Sakura held on to Hinata. "Can she stay?" She was feeling a bit clingy today.

A long staring match followed before Tsunade sighed irritably. "Fine. Girls stay, boys go."

Kiba made a whining sound. "Come on. We promise to be quiet."

Tsunade raised an eyebrow. "You do know the checks involve her getting naked, right?"

He responded innocently. "...I promise to only wolf-whistle twice?"

Shino grabbed his friend by the collar and dragged him out. "We'll guard the door Hokage-sama." And the door shut behind them, Kiba glowering the whole way.

The check, once Sakura got the hospital gown off, involved her sitting on the edge of the bed while Tsunade scanned her back. Hinata held her hand through it, though Sakura didn't need the support as much as the affection after the day she'd had(caused, really).

While Sakura waited for it to be over Tenten handed her back the katana. "I think this belongs to you."

Sakura noted the dried blood on the handle. "Figured it out, huh?"

Tenten looked blissful. "I've never seen a design like that. Changing a supposed unusable weapon into a secret catch so you could—"

Sakura pressed the sheath back into the other girl's hands, and Tenten regarded her quizzically. Sakura nodded at it. "I made that myself you know, but I think you'll find more use for it Miss weapons mistress. Consider it a gift for you watching my back."

Tenten gathered the blade to her chest. "I can't thank you enough."

She tried to respond, only for Tsunade to prod her back, _hard_. On a nerve cluster. Sakura shuddered and squirmed. "That hurt!"

Tsunade scolded her. "That's what you get for sneaking weapons in. I'd do more but since you nearly got assassinated and not because of the katana, I'm letting it slide."

Sakura faux gushed. "You're the best mom _ever_."

Tsunade snorted. "Flattery will get you nowhere _sweetie._"

Sakura flinched. Tsunade using endearments was never a good sign. Tsunade was undoubtedly pissed off right now and Sakura would prefer not to be the focus of the woman's ire. She'd live a healthier life that way, she may have been immortal, but Sakura was sure Tsunade could figure out a way to kill her if pressed to.

And she would prefer that the only ones planning her death was her enemies and not her friends.

Sakura jerked her head to the window. "What's going on out there My Lady?" The formality was easy to fall into now that they were talking business.

"Nothing good, Jonin Sakura." Tsunade murmured. "Less than an hour ago the villagers started rioting. We've got fires going up all over the city. I've got chunin and genin working crowd control, but…"

Sakura already knew where this was going. "It was a distraction; you've lost the isolation net around the compounds."

Tsunade pressed her hands to Sakura's back, no longer healing. Sakura could feel the tension in the twisting of her muscle, the winding of the cartilage, the cording of tendons under her skin. It would be too awkward to reach around to try and offer comfort, and with them both of them fully in formalities even if one of them was naked Sakura would abide by regulation.

"We've still got the cordon up, our ninja on full alert, but the rebellion is moving freely through the entire district. They can organize and communicate, and while we've kept the ninja from leaving under the cover of the roving mobs so far…"

"It's only a matter of time." Sakura finished. "We need a better way to pen them in. Or…"

Sakura glanced over her shoulder and shared a dark look with the Hokage. In the background, both Hinata and Tenten were equally grim.

"Or we counterattack before they do whatever they're planning." Tsunade agreed.

Sakura supposed the scan was over, and the red chakra could handle the rest. She got up off the bed and bowed. Wholly naked, skin unscarred, she stood proud with the graceful and deadly sealing scheme tattooed around her hips. The reminder of what she was. Jinchuuriki, the other half to the Kyuubi no Kitsune, weapon of Konoha.

There was both a poise and a sense of savageness lurking in her every move, and it was echoed in her voice. "What do need of me, my Lady?"

"Would you fight for your Hokage?" Tsunade asked.

The formality was so easy to fall into. "I would die for her."

Tsunade smirked. "We don't need that _quite _yet. There'll be a planning session in a half-hour, are you ready?"

Sakura looked at her Hokage, looked at her almost mother, and knew she would never have to betray this woman again. The part of the Kyuubi's plan requiring subterfuge was over, the ball was in motion and there would be no more lies. She could now serve the Hokage whole heartedly. Tsunade would be the only person she would be willing to kneel before and feel proud in doing so.

Sakura would no longer even bow to the Kyuubi, that honor and respect was now reserved for Tsunade alone.

The promise was easy to make. "Ready and willing to serve, Hokage-sama." And the complete truth of that made her feel so light and free.

Toady really was the greatest day of her life.

And though she didn't' realize it, right then, Sakura had changed herself a tiny amount. And even if that one thing was inconsequential in itself, becoming a different person wasn't as far out of her reach as she'd thought.

**Konoha Hospital, Hallway Outside Room 424**

"Do you have to smoke here?" Kiba asked, his nose wrinkling in distaste.

Shikamaru deadpanned. "Yes." And took a long drag on his cigarette, reclining in his wheelchair smugly. His chest and stomach were heavily bandaged but he was otherwise okay. He didn't even really need the wheelchair, but Shikamaru wasn't one to object to being pushed around and while he could rest his legs instead.

He decided to celebrate that with a smoke (and try to keep his mind off his old sensei being the one to injure him) and damn the consequences. "Sakura never complains when I smoke."

Kiba covered his sensitive nose. "Well Sakura actually likes you and I'm never going to understand it. Also…I kinda think she can turn her sense of smell off unlike me."

"Pity." Shikamaru replied, blowing out more smoke and letting it curl into the air. Kiba took a step sideways.

Shino chuckled. "Be nice to my teammate Shikamaru, he may have your back some day when you need it."

"Bah." The Nara snorted. "When it happens I'll worry about it then."

"Ino would skin you if she heard that." Chouji remarked.

Shikamaru pulled the cigarette from his mouth. "Yeah, well our darling psychotic princess isn't here right now. Where's the little ray of sunshine anyways?"

At the thought of his girlfriend the Akimichi smiled fondly. "Having a field day with the rioting civilians they keep dragging in. They're trying to figure out how the mobs started and Ibiki is over booked."

"Oh, I'm sure the civilians are _real_ happy over that." Shikamaru muttered.

Next to his friend's wheelchair, Chouji shifted against the wall. "I'm going to go see her on break soon so…why are we out here? I mean its Sakura's room and all and I want to see her, but…"

"Waiting." Shino finished. "To see her and somebody else."

Kiba blinked. "Who's the _else_?"

Shino crossed his arms. "Naruto got discharged before you guys ran in here with her like a bat out of hell. He should be showing up anytime to see her."

A raised eyebrow was Shikamaru's response. "And?"

"I believe it's time we had a little conversation with him." Shino replied coolly.

The Nara's face immediately darkened, and he ground the cigarette out. "I'm not seeing her cry again over that idiot."

Chouji's face also turned hard. "So, what's the story on them?"

Shino, from what'd he'd seen and heard through Hinata (which was frankly a lot) spelled out the situation for his friends. When he was finished he shot Kiba a long and considering look. "Sakura…was never a good person. She lies a lot, keeps a lot to herself, and to tell you the truth I think she may be clinically psychotic and in need of a few years of therapy."

Kiba eyed him back, trying to figure out the subtext to that abrupt statement. "…so? That's what makes her _fun._"

It was Chouji who answered. "We were friends with her early on and she seemed normal enough, but we figured out pretty fast she wasn't all there. Sakura has a lot of baggage and if you're gonna be her friend you can't be too picky about it."

"Hey, I'm totally cool with it." Kiba held up his hands in surrender. "Everybody knows foxy lady is one crazy bitch. I'm not going to be surprised by it."

"Naruto was." Shino murmured. "He was her teammate and I know he saw the worst of her, but I don't think he realized how deep it ran."

Shikamaru nodded. "She's a liar down to her bones, but I love her the way she is." He looked around at the other two friends from their original academy day's group. "We all do."

"So…" Kiba titled his head. "Do I get to beat Naruto up or something if I join the group?"

Shino rolled his eyes. "No. You get to guard the door like a newbie, _we_ on the other hand…"

Chouji flexed his hands, idly adjusting his gauntlets. "We'll talk with Naruto and spell a few things out. Whether he stays or leaves is _entirely_ up to him."

All four boys smirked and Shikamaru lit up another cigarette. They didn't care who was right or wrong, about the secrets Sakura was keeping or the lies, they just wanted to see their friend smiling again. If they had to break a few eggs or piss her off by meddling, so be it. And Naruto, unfortunately for the blond, was somebody they could reach to get that done.

Honestly, to be friends with someone like Sakura they all had to be a little crazy. And here and now with their village tearing itself apart and fighting friends and family, the crazy was welcome.

In a world like this, insanity was all that kept the horrors at bay.

Without the insanity they would have all gone mad_._ And the irony of that was clear to them all.

**Abandoned District, 3:45 PM**

"Beautiful, isn't it?" The original clone asked, looking at the towering cloud of slick ash in the sky. The Hyuga compound was still burning from the C4, and everyone for miles could see it.

Next to her on the grass was the Kyuubi, his hands behind his head and his legs crossed casually. He was a little more human with every passing hour, or at least, a little more of the new hybrid they'd become.

He smirked cruelly. "It's a good start. But the fun's just beginning."

Arrayed out around him were a dozen more clones sky gazing, and they laughed in agreement

Another clone, also admiring the stained sky, giggled. "The first act has just opened. I can't wait for the finale."

The Kyuubi chuckled. "Don't get ahead just yet. You'll run the delicious _suffering_ caused by the suspense."

The original clone rolled over, straddling him in the process. "No, we wouldn't want to deny the village that, would we?"

He brushed a finger up her face, admiring the contours of the replica to his favorite hybrid-human in the world. "No. We've waited ten years, no reason to rush things now."

The clone agreed. "No, no rush at all." And she arched herself back to look at the sky. They'd been waiting for this so long that it seemed surreal to sit on the sidelines watching it unfold.

But this was the original Sakura's game, and the Kyuubi wouldn't get to make his debut until the finale. She supposed it was nice to be in the audience for a change. She had the feeling, once she dispersed, the original Sakura would really appreciate these memories.

The Kyuubi stroked her back idly, with a warmth of familiarity only he would ever have with her. Each touch sent fire up her spine. "How about," He purred. "You send a few of your sisters out for some fun?"

She knew right away he was manipulating her, trying to get something that she wouldn't immediately give. She wouldn't fall for him that easily.

"Why," She leaned down and brushed her lips down his cheek. "Would I possibly want to do that?"

"If those pesky little civilian humans want to mob they should get to join in. Give them a little taste of suffering." He moved as if to kiss her but then stopped short.

Jade and crimson eyes warred and they saw each other's souls as clear as day. Or he saw Sakura's soul in her clone, at least. And that soul was a cruel and twisted thing that delighted in suffering.

Slowly, a truly frightening smile split her face. He mirrored it perfectly.

Elsewhere, unknown by those here, the original Sakura had begun to change. But these clones were already a week old and they were still an imprint of the her from before. Sakura would no longer bow to the Kyuubi, but these ones did not yet know that resolve, and acquiescing made them perfectly happy.

And a few more lies and subterfuge sounded like a delightfully good time to them, even if the original had just happily given those things up for good.

The clone asked coyly. "Instigate a few massacres, huh? Well we haven't had one of those in…six hours. We can't get lazy about that."

He hummed an agreement. She leaned down and they kissed swiftly.

But, like everything lately, there wasn't enough time and she rolled off him. "So," She looked around her sister clones. "Any volunteers?"

Every hand went up. They all wanted a chance for a little adlibbing in the script. After all the original shouldn't get all the fun, now should she?

* * *

AN: And another chapter done a top speed! Hooray.

A little shorter, but it was a good place to end 'cause either scene that comes next would be way too long conversation or fight wise to fit.

The good news is, two more chapters! The better news, even _more_ violence ahead.

Oh, one last thing. Just to clear up any confusion referencing Sakura's 'change' in this last chap, it was basically that she's no longer going to do things(i.e. kill things) that would make her have lie to her friends or the Hokage later. She'll still, you know, lie to enemy shinobi and kill them, Sakura will never be close to saint hood here. But she's finally at the point where the Kyuubi isn't hatching any more back schemes like bombings or poisoning herself or starting civil war. The war IS started and now she never has to do something like that again, and she's realized doesn't want to either.

Expect, of course, just as the original decides this the Kyuubi convinces a few clones to go off and do some more things Sakura will have to lie about. One step forward, two steps back.

Also, in reference to the 'no bowing to the Kyuubi' is just that she sees them as equals. She's willing to defer and be subordinate to Tsunade out of respect and love. The Kyuubi, however, she's going to fight with tooth and nail never to be less than or submissive to again. Another new angle on their 'we've become equals' thing.

Okay, enough. More chapters in whenever. (likely before august ends)


	37. Escalation

AN: Another chapter that details why having an insane jinchuuriki being the driving force behind your military and your friendships is _probably_ not a good idea. And also: why this story laughs in the face of any rational system of morality.

**Disclaimer**: It is quite literally impossible for me to own Naruto, because if I owned Naruto it wouldn't _be _Naruto anymore because Naruto isn't the main character in my version. Which…is a bit of a problem, isn't it?

* * *

**Konoha, 3:50 PM**

The Village hidden in the leaves had had its fair share of tension over the years. When a quarter of one's population could cause small scale natural disasters on a whim things getting out of hand was never out of the question. Over the years shinobi had committed crimes, drunk shinobi had committed even _more_ crimes, civilians had gotten rowdy, and the occasional enemy spy had snuck in and caused a ruckus. Even Sakura, from roughly her birth to the age of seven, had been a one person disturbance with the amount of violent attacks that had happened around her on a day to day basis.

But the closest Konoha had ever come to war inside its own walls had been from an outside force: the Kyuubi no Kitsune. It was in no small part thanks to the quick actions of Konoha's shinobi and the Yondaime Hokage that the Kyuubi had been pushed out the village after the initial attack. And really, one just didn't anticipate a Demon King and living embodiment of hatred attacking because of an Uchiha with a god-complex who happened to live in the village a few generations back. One also didn't prepare for that same demon to get sealed in the stomach of a baby and then left alive to be abused, become embittered, and then plot for revenge.

So it was understandable that there were no plans on the books to deal with a large scale civilian riot backed by a portion of the ninja population turned traitor. All caused by said jinchuuriki indirectly of course. It was simply so bizarre new strategies had to be drawn up from scratch and the squads on-scene were literally making things up as they went.

And that was a disaster just waiting to happen. Uchiha Sasuke knew that too well, Sakura had taught him the finer mechanics of cause and effect _quite_ thoroughly.

Sasuke listened to the crowds below him in disinterest as another shop had its windows broken open and was vigorously looted. It wasn't a shinobi shop so the ninja squads patrolling from the roofs really didn't care enough to interfere. The writhing, screaming mass numbering in the hundreds roared its approval for the mayhem.

There were no longer people down there, he mused, just a living breathing _thing_ that attacked what it wanted on a whim with no concept of the consequences. But those consequences would come, they always did.

"And that's…thirteen shops gutted, twenty-three looted, and thirty-six damaged." Hanabi declared cheerfully, fussing with her clipboard as she check marked another shop into non-existence.

He relaxed back against the roof, letting Hanabi move in his lap as she wished while her byakugan scanned the area in a systematic sweep. The mob continued their violence and the noise was beginning to irritate him. There was no chakra for him to see, only the sea of sound and the hot smell of human sweat to inform him what was going on below. He would rather just not know.

He buried his face against the back of her neck and hair and inhaled. The sweet and lingering scent of her invaded his senses and drowned out everything else.

She leaned against his chest knowing exactly what he was doing. "Is it that excruciating for you being out here?"

His reply had a decidedly sardonic lilt. "Extremely."

She made a sympathetic noise in the back of her throat and turned to nuzzle her face against his neck. Just as Sasuke was beginning to wonder if her attention to his neck was going to lead elsewhere his ears picked up the patter of footsteps.

He shifted Hanabi sideways on his lap but he couldn't move her far. They both had earpieces hooked up to the same radio on his belt and the wires were short. He tracked the sound of the person moving towards them and murmured in her ear. "Company."

She hid her mouth against his shoulder and murmured back. "ANBU."

The ANBU landed on the roof next to them and the voice was deep and definitely male. "Anything new to report on damages_?" _

Sasuke smirked. "Why the hell are you asking the blind guy for a visual report?"

The ANBU shifted uncomfortably and then sighed. "Fine. You…" But Hanabi was still curled against him and the ANBU couldn't catch a glimpse of her face. The ANBU hedged. "…whoever you are. What's the status of the district?"

She answered slyly. "The district is deteriorating. The mobs are currently trending westward and becoming more violent as they go. Of course, they were just trending east five minutes ago so there's no rhyme or reason to their movements. Vandalism and arsons are piling up but beyond that there's nothing pressing to report."

"No genjutsu influence?" The ANBU asked.

She made a quick sweep with her eyes and Sasuke felt the chakra. "Nope. This is genuine rioting, no sign of any ninja manipulating them or otherwise."

Sasuke didn't know if that made things better or worse. The good news was no traitor ninja had yet slipped the cordon that'd gone up, but the bad news…if there was no one influencing the riot there was no one to take out to settle this.

That was the problem with mobs. They were a hydra; cut off one head and another would just grow in its place. There was no leader to assassinate, no politician to take hostage, no one person to threaten into compliance. And if his side wasn't going to devolve into out and out genocide there was nothing they could really do but corral the mobs from spreading.

And even that, unsurprisingly, was beginning to fail as the rioters realized the ninja weren't allowed to use deadly force. The shinobi couldn't even use genjutsu effectively to try and stop them, affecting hundreds of people at once was a stretch for even the greatest of masters and the amount of chakra it took was staggering.

They could use genjutsu augmented by seals to calm a few rioters down and send them back but currently their best genjutsu masters were doing just that only guarding the most critical points of the Village. Between the armories, the Hokage's tower, ANBU headquarters, the Interrogation and Torture building, and the various ninja divisions scattered in every district, their supply of Genjutsu experts was stretched to the breaking point.

And throwing out killing intent only made the mobs run elsewhere and frankly Sasuke had gotten rather comfortable on this roof. He wasn't in _any _hurry to move.

All they could do was sit back, record the damage for insurance claims, and watch.

"So…" Hanabi said airily. "When do we kill them?"

The ANBU gawked at her. Sasuke made a quick check to make sure Sakura hadn't showed up unannounced as that sounded so much like something the jinchuuriki would ask it was eerie. Sakura had rubbed off on them all, Hanabi especially.

Deciding the ANBU wasn't going to gather his wits anytime soon Sasuke bumped his forehead against his girlfriend's, smiling at her as he did. "When the order comes down the line we'll act, and not a moment sooner."

She rolled her eyes and played with the zipper of his flak-jacket. She scoffed. "And what, we let the village burn while we wait?"

In the background the ANBU snorted. Hanabi had just voiced the mood of every ninja out there.

Sasuke smoothed her hair down, for once finding himself the voice of reason. "Pretty much." And being reasonable was something he was still getting used to. Then again considering the company he kept, the first person not to suggest _kill them_ as the answer was usually the sane one.

The ANBU threw them a salute. "Carry on then, it seems you have things…under control." Though judging by his tone, the phrase _under control_ was used very loosely.

With a flutter of a cloak and the gentle clack of steel they were once again alone. Hanabi immediately returned attention to his neck, pressing a kiss right over the pulse of his jugular.

"Is now really the time for that?" He asked blandly.

She continued to kiss down his neck only pausing to answer. "It's always the time. If the village is going to burn no matter what I do, I'll enjoy myself instead."

He couldn't help but laugh and agree with her. He slipped his hands to her hips. "Now that's something I can get behind."

She smiled against his neck and he reclined them back on the roof. Beneath them the mob continued to rage around like a beast on the warpath, ruled by some unknown collective that dictated their every action. Predicting their path was the about as effective as trying to catch the wind. The riot was a fickle thing that only answered to itself and nothing Sasuke could do would change that.

So he wouldn't try to. Right now he had a beautiful girl lying across his chest with every intention of having a good time and Sasuke was willing to oblige her.

He slid a hand under her chin and tugged her up. She followed his lead and slid her body along his and moved so they were face to face. She reached up gently and undid the headband over his eyes, allowing it to fall to the roof forgotten.

The mobs below screamed, unknowing and living in their own world driven by impulse and lust.

Sasuke thought they had the right idea and he let his impulse go wild. Their lips crashed together almost desperately. Hanabi had stopped being tentative a long time ago and it showed in how she kissed and how she moved. His hands traced her body as their mouths tangled, back, hips, thighs, legs. All soft, all warm, all within his reach.

Sasuke had never loved anything as much as he loved Hanabi. Not his family, not the memory of his brother before his decent into insanity, and not even the desire for revenge. And because of her he could live in the present without the past dragging him back down. For that alone he would adore her forever.

It was right as he was thinking that the radios in their ears let out an earsplitting screech of static. Sasuke shouted inpain and covered his ear and Hanabi whimpered and pulled at the wires. Both of their earpieces were ripped out and Hanabi climbed off him massaging the side of her head.

Sasuke picked the radio back up and in the high pitched whine of static he heard a few short bursts. "…compound teams…I repeat equipment is jamming lines…locate powered signal and remove…compound Bravo may—the source…all channels repeating…cascading failure immanent…"

With one last vicious crack the line went dead. Sasuke shook the radio but whatever had happened had rendered the tech useless.

Hanabi climbed back into his lap groaning. "What was that?"

Sasuke sensitive ears were still ringing and he'd barely heard her voice above the clamor from the riot. He mused on the words he'd heard and pieced things together. "I think one of the clans had some jamming equipment they never told anyone about. Looks like the radios are fucked until further notice."

She twitched. "Typical." She moved to kiss him but then paused uncertainly. The mood had been ruined and they both knew it.

Sasuke laid back down and Hanabi flipped over to rest her back on his chest. She stared at the sky and felt the strength of his heartbeat against her back. It wasn't making out exactly but it was comforting in its own way.

Above them a small, jewel bright bird flitted on the breeze seemingly unaware of the chaos below. A familiarity of it nagged at her but considering her family's neurosis with symbolism and birds, it was probably best she not think about it too deeply.

"Sasuke?" She murmured as she reached her hand down to search for one of his.

His hand immediately reached up to clasp hers. "What is it?"

Sasuke waited for her to speak but she shifted against him and said nothing. He knew her though and what was on her mind was clear.

"It's about Naruto and Sakura, right?" He asked calmly.

She pouted. "I didn't ask that."

"You were not asking pretty loudly." He deadpanned.

She sighed and held his hand tighter. He rested his chin against her head and let her bring up the sore subject at her own pace.

"You don't have to answer." She informed him. "You don't have to say anything but…I'm afraid. With what happened at the apartment and the fight with Naruto and all the blood…what if it happens again? This time with Sakura?"

He grasped her other hand and folded her arms and his across her stomach. It was an almost-hug and she felt incredibly small between his arms and chest. "It won't happen. I promise. You heard Naruto apologize and Sakura…well…we already hashed it out. She isn't looking to fight, not about this."

"But what is _this_?" She whispered.

Sasuke tensed. He'd known this question would come, Hanabi and been unbelievably patient with him to not bring it up. Not to ask why he and Sakura no longer talked, not to ask why they didn't go up for coffee in the mornings anymore, not to ask why he was on a hospital bed because Naruto had tried to rip his guts out.

"It's in the past." He allowed.

She jerked her head sideways so his chin could no longer rest there. She stared at the roof away from him and said nothing, but he didn't need words to know she was annoyed with him.

Sasuke held her tighter. "It was about the Uchiha massacre."

She breathed in sharply and wiggled in his arms. He let her go and she flipped again, straddling his stomach and grabbing the front of his jacket. "What…how?"

The old memories screamed back into his head, clawing at the jagged wounds there that were barley closed. His blood pumped with the fury of revenge not taken and he wrestled with the beast and drove it back down. The past was in the past and he wouldn't let it hurt either of them anymore. "It doesn't matter. It's finished. It's done. The bodies are buried and her hands are so soaked in blood no one noticed a few more drops."

She asked tentatively. "Did she…?"

"I can't tell you anymore." He reached up a hand to caress her face and his palm cupped her chin and his fingers reached far into her hair. "Sakura always knows. If I told you you'd look at her differently and she's rather attuned to that sort of thing."

The hands in his jacket tightened. "Is it dangerous if you tell me?"

His answer was brutally honest. "I don't know."

She chewed on that thought a long time. "I understand." Hanabi told him, and he could tell from her sincere tone she truly did. She pressed no further and laid on top of him, placing her head beneath his chin and wrapping herself around him.

He rested his arms on her back and stared into the sky unseeingly. But he could feel it even down to his bones how vast and blue it was above him. And somewhere he still remembered that breathless azure shade of blue even though his eyes would never see it again.

Everything was over and done. There was no forgiveness. No acceptance. But he'd found his peace and the skies for him were finally turning clear. He didn't care about this civil war or the Great shinobi war that would no doubt follow, he didn't care about Naruto's issues or whatever atrocity Sakura was plotting next. It was a nuisance at best and he just wanted to breathe in the blueness of the sky and the smell of Hanabi's hair and forget.

And his skies would stay clear as long as he could hold this resolve...

Above them a bird road the wind. Its vivid feathers flicked and guided it as it surveyed the couple that lay below. The bird had heard everything and the human soul inside of it wondered. The puzzle was getting deeper and the past was drenched in blood. And the only question was: where did that blood lead?

**Konoha Hospital, Hallway Outside Room 424, 4:37 PM**

When Naruto stumbled into the hallways he looked exhausted and that was probably because he _was_ exhausted. The blond had been at his apartment sleeping after being discharged from the hospital at dawn. Then around noon some ANBU had come to drag him out of bed because the whole village was rioting.

Then the radio lines had gone down and all hell had broken loose.

Being the only person on scene who could be many places at once, he'd sent his clones in every direction issuing hirashin kunai to the squads in each district. He'd spent all his time since being a one man communications network with his clones leaping from seal to seal in bursts of yellow relaying messages and coordinating the response.

Command was nowhere to be found and as he was running everyone anyways, Naruto had taken over authority and hadn't given it back. Since no orders we're coming from the Hokage's office telling him differently he hadn't felt too concerned over usurping the entire army. If he'd been inclined to lead a coup he could have done so easily. At the moment though he was too busy putting down the _other_ coup in the village to get too many delusions of grandeur.

Then between tightening the cordon around the compounds and herding the riots away from vital chokeholds, the original Naruto had landed in a burst of yellow in front of a jonin and a handful of chunin.

That's when the world decided since things weren't difficult enough already, to just make things as worse as possible.

He had wasted no time. "What's your status?"

A jonin answered. "We're holding Naruto-sama. Those bastards won't get in here even if we have to use force to keep it that way."

Naruto had nodded. "Right. Just don't get wild; the moratorium on deadly force was still in effect when the radios went down."

The jonin's jaw had tightened at the rebuke but he'd nodded in determination. "Of course sir." He then hesitated. "If you don't mind me asking, how is Sakura-sama doing?"

He'd blinked. While people usually enquired after her to Naruto considering they were teammates _and_ lovers, the way the question had been phrased struck him as odd. "Why wouldn't she be doing fine?"

The chunin, he later realized, moved to a safe distance away from him. The jonin who had a better survival rate if Naruto lost it kept talking. "Didn't you hear sir? These riots started _because_ Sakura-sama was poisoned at the Peace Talks this morning. There are rumors that the Hokage arrived at the hospital carrying her covered in blood…Sakura-sama's blood."

Naruto's veins ran cold and his vision seemed to narrow on one point high over the jonin's shoulder. His voice could have frozen lava in its tracks. "Tell me everything _now."_

The entire ghastly story spilled from the jonin's mouth. The ambush, the poisoning, the escape, the Hyuga compound blowing half to hell and no one knowing why, the riots starting, the rumors of Sakura having died on the operating table…

Naruto had cut the jonin off with a wave of his hand. In a fog of part fury and part terror he didn't even remember giving orders. "Hold your position until further notice, and stop spreading rumors before it comes back to _haunt_ you."

The next thing he knew Naruto found himself running down a hospital hallway with his senses locked on Sakura's chakra signature. It was there and burning steady but his terror only fell from mind-numbing to slightly manageable.

When he skidded to a stop in front of the door to her room four men were waiting for him.

Nara Shikamaru's smile was decidedly unfriendly. "It's about time you showed up. We need to talk."

He tried to step around them. "I don't have time, Sakura—"

"Sakura's fine." Chouji interrupted. "But you won't be if you don't stop and listen to us."

"Bullshit." He growled. He had always gotten along with Sakura's friends amiably enough but today was the first day he'd ever considered murdering them outright.

Kiba, crouched by the door, grinned up at him in a very nasty manner and didn't move. "You heard the man Naru-kun. Don't worry about a thing; I'll protect Sakura while she's naked in there with the girls _just_ fine."

The leer on Kiba's face made Naruto blood pressure spike. Only Chouji stepping between him and the Inuzuka stopped a bloodbath from occurring.

Shino snapped. "That's not helpful Kiba."

Kiba snorted. "Dude, what have I ever done that led you to believe I was _helpful_?"

Chouji's face was hard but not as unfriendly or outright challenging as Kiba's and Shikamaru's was. "Come on man, let's not do this in the hall."

Naruto reined his temper in and looked around. A lot of nurses were staring at him worriedly, the ANBU at the end of the hall weren't even pretending to do guard duty, and patients were sticking their heads out of their rooms curiously. Naruto looked back to the door and felt Sakura behind it as steady and alive as ever. He made up his mind grudgingly. "Ten minutes."

Shikamaru leveraged himself up from his wheelchair and his reply was callous. "That's plenty."

Chouji herded them into a supply room and Kiba stayed by Sakura's door and waved cheerfully as they left. The door to the room shut and a silence descended that could only be made by judicious application of security seals in the walls. This little get-together hadn't come out of the blue, it was a damned ambush.

"What is it?" Naruto snapped. He'd never claimed subtly to his name and he wasn't going to start now.

To his surprise the usually quiet Shino started things off. "It's come to our attention, one way or another, that you and Sakura are having a fight." That bland statement only barley hid the cool contempt in Shino's voice.

Shikamaru had no such compunctions and he growled. "You made her cry and frankly I don't give a fuck if you're her boyfriend or her teammate or even Hokage-elect. Sakura doesn't need shit from you not now or ever."

Shino placed a hand on Shikamaru's arm to quiet him but didn't disagree with what the Nara had said.

Naruto felt a curl of fury building in the depths of his guts. "It's none of your damned concern. None of you. That's between me and Sakura and maybe Sasuke, if that."

Shikamaru after weeks of stress watching his family betray the village, getting his stomach blown open by his old sensei, and watching helplessly as his oldest friend had fought for her life, had none of his usual patience or apathy. Shikamaru was _furious_. "We were here long before you were. You dated her what, three years? We've known her for ten and we've ridden out the worst with her, if we don't protect her no one will."

"She doesn't need protection from anybody! It's not like she even trusts you." Naruto chuckled bitterly. "She doesn't trust anyone. She lies and pretends everything is all right and—"

Chouji interrupted him. "Have you been living under a rock? Sakura lies to _everybody._ If she isn't lying to you something is very wrong or you're about to end up very dead. That's the way she is."

"And as for trust." Shikamaru continued. "If you'd even taken a look at the life she's lived, that she trusts no one shouldn't surprise you."

"I might know that." Naruto mocked. "If she actually told me a damned thing about herself."

Shikamaru rolled his eyes. "Oh poor you. The jinchuurikri who's been treated like shit since the day she was born doesn't like to talk about herself. Did you think dating her would be easy? She's a fucking mess and at the first sign of things not being all perfect and happy like the façade you constructed you throw a fit."

The curl of fury in his guts turned to an inferno. "Maybe all of you are hunky-dory with Sakura lying, but I'm _her_ lover and I'm not going to accept whatever crap she comes up with!"

"Making you her lover doesn't make you her most loved, Naruto." Chouji rumbled. "She doesn't have to answer to you."

"Then who does she have to answer to? It's not like you're stepping up to the plate." The blond snarled back.

"Whoever she damn well pleases or nobody." Shikamaru answered flatly. "Life isn't fair; there isn't a judge or jury sitting around to call us account for out actions. I want her to smile and you trying to dig through secrets she wants buried isn't going to help that."

Shino raised his hand and both Shikamaru and Chouji took steps back. The Aburame was as impeccably calm as ever. "This is getting us nowhere. Naruto, Sakura is an adult and even if you're her lover that gives you no particular prerogative to dive into her past if she doesn't want to share it. That's she lied about it, we've established, is part of her neurosis and is likely never to change. That you've taken offense to something she does to everyone is childish at best or delusional at worst. You seem to be operating under the fallacy that being her lover makes you different than the rest of us, you should know it could have been any of us."

Naruto felt like his head was being crushed in a vice. "What do you mean, any of us?"

Shino shared glances with Shikamaru and Chouji and both men nodded. Shino, now with permission kept speaking. "What I say next in no way means we love our wives or girlfriends less or Sakura more. Any of us could have been her lovers in the beginning."

Naruto's jaw unhinged. Then he felt the not so irrational need to smash Shino's face across the floor in a bloody smear.

Shino seemed to sense this but his voice didn't show a hint of fear. "I do not know why she chose you. It could have been convenience, it could have been love, it could have been because you're the only one with a reputation strong enough to take the hit of dating her. Regardless, she considered the rest of us for that before she chose you and it could have been any of us."

"Hell." Chouji murmured. "If we go for most loved it probably would have been Hinata."

That statement seemed to amuse Shino to no end. "Or, judging by how similar their…_interests_ in interrogation technique and clothes, I wouldn't be surprised if she had an affair with Ino."

Chouji looked oddly conflicted about that. "I don't know whether that annoys me…or turns me on."

Shikamaru and Shino shared a glance and agreed out loud. "The latter."

Naruto couldn't find enough oxygen to breathe or process his thoughts, let alone shout.

Shino seemed to take that as a signal to continue. "You are close with her but with no certainty could you claim to be the closest. There is no ownership in this, no right that allows us to control this or you. Life is messy and we will do what we can to protect Sakura from the worst of it. Even if that may be from herself and against her own wishes. We do not ask for her penance for her crimes Naruto, we do not ask her to answer every detail of her life to sake our curiosity, we only ask that she be happy."

Shino walked to the door and beckoned his friends out with him.

Naruto shouted after them. "What was the point of this? What the hell do you want me to do?"

Shino turned. "Either grow up or get out of her life, your call."

Naruto felt his lips press down until they became bloodless. "You have no idea the things she's done, no idea of the horrors she's lied about."

For the first time Shino smiled and it was so cold and so vicious Naruto felt a chill. The Aburame clan head answered venomously. "And you seem to be under the mistaken impression that we would _care_, Uzumaki Naruto. Now if you'd excuse us."

Sakura's oldest friends wandered out of the room and left Naruto behind. He stared at the wall one long moment and mumbled. "I loved her and I always will."

He considered those words.

"I dated a lying psycho." He crossed his arms and stared at the floor. "I'm a slightly more truthful psycho."

He closed his eyes and sighed heavily. "What a mess."

He turned and with a buzz of yellow light vanished from the hospital.

**Konoha, 4:45 PM**

The shriek of bending steel and roaring flames drowned out the chanting of the crowd and dusted their heads with ash. Within the riot two figures moved with the mass following it as it went from district to district carving a path of devastation. Like many in the crowd the two wore bandannas over their faces.

Unlike most they wore jackets with the hoods up hiding the rest of their features. From behind their masks and hoods the two figures shared the same deadly and vicious green eyes rimmed by crimson.

"I've got eyes on target. All chunin and they're looking terribly antsy up there." The first figure murmured.

"Enough to panic?" The second asked coyly.

The first threw an arm around her partner's waist. "Enough to lose their damn minds. You want the honors?"

The second practically purred. "Oh yes." She opened her hand and revealed sharp rocks with the weight of kunai. The second figure eyed the roof and picked her target, the chunin second from the right with hair that had an unnatural burnt orange hue. The chunin had a vest, arm guards, and a staff hanging on his back.

The second threw the rock so fast the chunin didn't even notice it before it had pierced his shoulder and passed all the way through. The pair saw him grasp his shoulder in shock and tumble back, swearing in panic as he did. Some of the mob had seen this and the blood and started pointing and shouting; soon the whole crowd had their eyes on the squad.

The pair grinned at each other.

The first asked. "Time for some _enemy_ shinobi to slip the cordon, don't you think?"

"Too right." The second answered. "Now let's get wild."

On the roof one ninja had gone to help his downed teammate while the other two stood on the lip of the roof scanning wildly with their hands on their weapons. They were itching for any excuse and the pair on the ground would give them that excuse. They weaved through the mass of bodies in the street and began their assault, throwing rocks with a speed and power only ninja could have.

The squad on the roof assumed correctly they were under assault from fellow shinobi and unfortunately another of their number went down with a rock through the arm. The squad leader, seeing his friends and teammates go down, let his panic turn to fury.

"We've got a breech! Contact Naruto-sama!" The chunin roared as he ran through hand seals and threw his arms wide.

The pair in the street only had a split second of warning before a bolt of lightning arced from between the chunin's hands and into the crowd. The smell of burnt flesh and ozone filled the air along with screams.

The mob began to stampede and the pair moved in retreat and nearly got trampled in the process. The squad of chunin spotted them and one began to give chase. The pair of instigators grinned at each other, their eyes now fully crimson, and ran.

When a clone of Naruto's arrived in a sizzle of bright yellow the two rogue clones of Sakura were gone. "What's going on?" The jonin shouted, looking down into the crowd that was shrieking in rage and fleeing in every direction.

In the street four bodies laid burnt and still, dead by jutsu. Another twenty laid moaning, dying from crush related injuries of being stampeded over by their cohorts. No one moved to help them and all would eventually die in the street.

"Naruto-sama!" The chunin with burnt orange hair shouted over the din. "We have a breech in the cordon! Enemy shinobi just assaulted our position under the guise of the crowd." The chunin winced and grabbed at his shoulder to stem the bloodflow as his teammate attempted a medical jutsu. "Akio gave chase sir."

Naruto's clone nodded. "I'll go assist him as soon as I can, the rest of the squads out here need to know the cordon's been breached." In another burst of yellow he was gone.

In the next ten minutes seven more attacks would happen across the city outside the cordon, injuring a dozen of the Hokgae's loyalist ninja but killing none. In retaliation over fifty civilians died and the rioters went wild in response, setting fire to all they touched and destroying what could not be burned. When some ninja gave chase the perpetrators of the attacks slipped back through the cordon and vanished. Each disappeared outside a different clan compound and within minutes rumor spread that hostilities for the civil war had officially begun.

**Communications and Radio Hub, 4:55 PM**

Clones that lived any longer than a few hours were always a pain to dismiss. For some reason when they survived longer than that they got _strange, _and the flow of memories and emotions she'd receive always gave Sakura a headache. Some clones got philosophical over life and death, some got depressed, some became flirty and entertained sexual fantasies the whole time. For whatever reason they were neurotic and unpredictable and she always braced herself before removing them one by one.

Within a two minute window over fourteen of her clones who had been living with the Kyuubi for a week, and then led guerilla attacks on his initiative, destroyed themselves to escape loyalist pursuit. The memories that flooded in almost had Sakura putting her hand through a table in a pain-induced-rage.

"Are you alright Sakura?" Tsunade asked, glancing up from a flowing pile of data papers and tangled wires that a few techs were trying to explain.

Somewhere in the background the infernal high-pitched whine of the jamming signal rung over the open radio lines. Sakura tried not to flinch as her skull wrenched in agony.

The former jinchuuriki grabbed her head and tried to force her face into a relaxed grin. It came out as more of a grimace. "Just a bit of a headache Hime, probably an after effect of the poison. It's nothing to worry about."

She was going to _murder_ the Kyuubi when she got her hands on him.

Tsunade interrupted her plan of finding the Demon King, maiming him, and leaving the pieces across a solid square mile by snapping at one of the techs next to her. "What's taking so long? We need the damn radio lines up and running!"

"I'm sorry my Lady." The woman hip deep in a gutted relay interface answered tightly. "But whatever equipment is pouring out the signal is keyed into our network. My guess is the Nara, but at this point we don't know. We're trying to clean up the signal and free up one line but it's slow going."

Sakura spoke up. She was furious as hell with her clones for going along with the Kyuubi's insane plan but it had given her a golden opportunity to kick the civil war forward. And she'd be damned if she didn't use the chance he'd given her. "I doubt we're going to get the radio's working until we destroy their equipment Hime. The bigger worry is what they've got planned with all the radio's down. My guess is they're going for chaos, small squads slipped into the civilians and attacking simultaneously. We have an edge of numbers on them, but those numbers will be useless if we can't communicate and organize…"

As if by some divine timing Naruto skidded into the room with his chest heaving and his eyes furious. "The cordon's been breached! We've got enemy ninja attacking in all sectors and we've traced them back to the compound's before losing the trail."

The room of anxious techs and engineers, who until then had been buzzing and panicking over the radio lines, went dead silent.

Sakura stood up to move towards him but Naruto angled away from her and went straight to the Hokage. His expression was grim. "I've got an ad-hoc network up but the lag is going to complicate things. We need the ban on deadly force against civilians lifted, if we don't kill or clear them out the rebels can attack us at will."

Sakura, even if Naruto didin't seem to want to look at her, wouldn't be left out of the conversation. "We need more time to set up our forces for a full on assault. We either pen the civilians in or kill them or…"

Tsunade slapped her hand on the table to silence them both. Her honey hued eyes flashed. "One at a time. Naruto!" She barked. "Are you sure that is the only way to eliminate the rebel's advantage?"

The blond nodded coldly. "Yes. I know it's distasteful but…" He trailed off and his eyes went wide. Sakura recognized that look; he'd just had inspiration hit him.

"I have an idea." He said hurriedly and turned and disappeared with his hirashin technique.

Tsunade stared at the empty spot that Naruto had once filled. "Do you have any idea…?"

Sakura shook her head. "Your guess is as good as mine."

Minutes later he reappeared with an armful of scrolls, a confused Jiraiya, and a map of a village as long as he was tall. Tsunade snapped her fingers and a few techs gathered the map and spread it across a table.

Naruto drew a hexagon around the compounds on the map with a pen and at the six distinct points he scrawled out seals. When he was done with whatever he was doing, Naruto jabbed his finger at the map. "We need to push all the riots back into this area. At this point we already have ninja loose in the crowds and if we start slaughtering wholesale they'll know the jig is up and go all out. If we herd them back without killing too many they'll let us. Once everyone is inside this area I'll take care of the rest. You'll even have time to plan the counterattack at your leisure."

Sakura cocked her head sideways, she was good at seals but only dealing with souls, living creatures, and all things jinchuuriki affiliated. Whatever Naruto had planned was far out of her scope of understanding. Even Jiraiya seemed vexed by the patterns Naruto had laid out. "This array…even if it was possible you couldn't power it in a million years. The sheer size of it…"

Naruto smirked. "You seem to forget our village _does_ have a resident well of never ending chakra."

Every eye in the room looked to her except Naruto's. Sakura knew all the enemy ninja were still inside the original cordon and it was her clones that had precipitated the attacks. And even with this inside knowledge she now had no idea what was going on. Naruto had an insane plan, the Kyuubi was running his own games behind her back, and Naruto wouldn't look at her. What had happened since she'd cried on Naruto at the hospital and left the Kyuubi to his own devices?

She began to wonder if this is how most people felt around her when she was running her own schemes and refused to explain. She wasn't sure if irony quite covered it.

"Well," Sakura licked her lips. "I guess I've just been volunteered. What's the game plan?"

**Konoha, 5:20 PM**

"Sasuke-san!" A chunin shouted, throwing himself onto the roof next to them and disturbing Hanabi from her rest. "The orders just came down from Naruto-sama! We're pressing the riots back west!"

No one called him Uchiha anymore, Sasuke vaguely wondered why that was as he sat up and Hanabi slid off his lap. The chunin flicked his eyes to Hanabi but said nothing. Sasuke calmly straightened her shirt to cover up the bite marks he'd left on her neck, he couldn't see them but he knew _exactly_ where he'd left each one. Hanabi did not touch his collar as she was happy to let the world see what she'd left on him. He didn't mind.

"Rules of engagement?" He asked calmly as he picked up his scythe from the roof and gave it a test swing. The air around him crackled with electricity and Hanabi giggled as she gathered some of it on herself and ran it across her skin.

In his blindness his chakra coursing down her made Hanabi stand out like a shinning beacon.

The chunin answered excitedly. "Civilians are now expendable. We're not supposed to slaughter them, but if we have any stragglers who don't get moving…"

"I get the picture." Sasuke replied dryly. "Hanabi?"

"There's a new technique I want to try out." She answered. "Let me lead?"

He nodded and the chunin spoke up one last time. "Watch yourselves, we've gotten word the cordon's gone down. Enemy ninja could be anywhere."

Sasuke grinned. "Sounds like a good time."

In a swirl of wind and leaves he sent himself and Hanabi to the street below. When they hit the concrete the road splintered under them and Sasuke let his killing intent loose. The rioters scattered giving them a circle of space in every direction. The two shinobi stood back to back.

Hanabi's hands crackled with chakra and it took on a charge and turned to white hot lightning. She told him casually. "You know the jyuken can be used for more than just blocking chakra points."

Sasuke swung his scythe letting a crack of lightning ring through the street, followed by a roar of thunder and air that knocked people from their feet. "Is that so?"

"Yep." She responded cheerfully, flexing her lighting ringed hands. "Use lightning natured chakra instead of regular old chakra and you've got instant paralysis. Of course, if I hit the muscles around the lungs…"

"A slow death." He finished.

"You got it." She dropped into a stance and prepared to charge into the crowd in front of her. They were currently staring at the people Sasuke had already flattened in horror.

Sasuke considered that. He was beginning to understand why Sakura and Naruto smiled when they were in battle together. There was nothing like fighting back to back with the person you adored above all others. There was a connection, an easy fluidity, a wordless communication. And of course for shinobi a bloody and violent battle…well, that was just their _foreplay._

"I love you Hanabi." He murmured over his shoulder.

She bumped their backs together. "I love you too. See you when this is over."

He nodded and his scythe turned from lightning to fire. The light of flames played shadows across their faces and they were bathed in the glow of hell. He said one last thing. "Don't go too far."

They smiled adoringly as they flung themselves into the crowd and that only heightened the horror of what followed.

The ninth district of Konoha where jonin Uchiha Sasuke and unsanctioned chunin Hyuga Hanabi were stationed would officially have the highest civilian casualty count when the night was over and the bodies numbered. Unofficially they would be venerated by their fellow shinobi for it.

Most of the bodies were too burned to identify, the others were remarkably untouched and had died of suffocation or heart attacks. The civilians herded back would never forget the sight of the beautiful young girl who could kill with just a touch of her hand and her body wreathed in lighting. They would not forget the last Uchiha who set a man on fire for accidentally bleeding on the girl and they would not forget she kissed him in thanks for it in the middle of battle.

Sasuke and Hanabi truly were products of their upbringing, and this memory would serve as a lesson in how cruelty bred cruelty.

**Hyuga Compound, 5:39 PM**

"What do you mean the attack already started?" Akimichi Choza shouted. "You said sundown was when we'd strike and if you didn't notice the sun is still in the sky!"

Nara Shikaku snapped back. "I know what I said!"

The once beautiful Inuzuka Tsume snarled and her heavily scarred face twisted. "Somebody jumped ahead. Do we know what spineless bastard is responsible for starting the attack early?"

Shikaku cut in. "We don't know. We haven't track down who did this and our forces are already in position. We have to keep going while we still have the element of surprise and the radio lines down."

Choza spoke up. "It was probably the same people who poisoned Demoness. We've got someone trying to sabotage us from the inside." There was a lon, silent moment following this when every leader in the room shared suspicious looks.

"We don't know that for sure." Shikaku interrupted.

Choza raised his eyebrows. "You were the one to teach me to see things logically, what else can you see looking at this? Gemma gets captured and the news of his detainment gets leaked to us early enough for us to avoid the arrests, that bitch gets poisoned at the Peace Talks, our families get bombed inside the compound minutes later, and an attack starts early that we didn't cause. Either someone has their own agenda in this or there are a hell of a lot of coincidences going on."

Shikaku raised a shaking hand to his face and sighed. His voice was worn. "I know. But that's all conjecture and we'll probably never know the truth. We have to worry about the battle here and now and not get caught up in whatever got us here. If we get distracted for one second we'll all be dead."

Everyone sat for a silent minute contemplating that.

Tsume snorted and turned to the man sitting next to her. "What about you Kakashi? How's your little Intel operation going?"

Kakashi who until then had remained silent, picked his words carefully. "The tension in the Death Squad has cooled but…there's some very wrong in their past they're all hiding."

"And what's that, huh? Why should we care about those little monsters and them bitching at each other?" Tsume responded derisively.

"Their secret is the Uchiha massacre." Kakashi replied coolly and watched in ruthless amusement as Tsume was struck silent. "Naruto seems to be peripheral to whatever happened relating to that, but Sasuke and Sakura fought about it and then Naruto found out after the fact. Apparently it was more for her lying about it than actually _doing_ it that set off their own argument."

The head of the Nara clan stared at him as if he was trying to see inside Kakashi's skull. Shikaku asked sharply. "What about the massacre? She was seven at the time, they all were."

"I don't know for sure." Kakashi admitted. "Sasuke was overheard saying something about the bodies already being buried. Whether these are literal bodies or bodies of the more metaphorical kind…"

"She couldn't have been part of the massacre she just…we _know_ Itachi did that." Tsume responded hotly.

"We know a lot of things." Shikaku murmured. "And we also don't know so much more. Whatever she did the specifics may not even matter."

He looked to Kakashi and the jonin got the drift of the Nara's inspiration quickly. Kakashi responded while smiling under his mask. "We may not know what she did, but if we imply we do… wars have been started with less information than what we have."

Just as he said that a chunin none of them knew by name burst into the room. "The Hokage's ninja are pushing the riots back towards us!"

Shikaku snarled. "Looks like they figured out our game plan, whoever staged the attacks early…it seems they really wanted to sabotage our assault before it began."

"So what do we do?" Choza asked.

Shikaku looked at them all and the grimness in his eyes was missed by none. "We press forward before the civilians are at our gates and our advantage is gone. Move out."

The senior shinobi and leaders of the rebellion left the Hyuga compound to push to the front lines. All the while Kakashi twisted the words and lies and truths he knew. Uchiha massacre, Naruto and Sasuke trying to kill each other, Sakura just going _missing_ that night, Naruto and Sakura crying and screaming at each other the next morning, Sasuke and Sakura standing silently while resentment boiled between them. He had to figure out the secret that was splintering them so he could finish the job.

By the time Kakashi arrived to the line it had already retreated another few blocks. He threw up his headband and looked for the nearest ninja he knew with his Sharingan. In the crowd henge and genjutsu were peeled away and he spotted a chunin he recognized.

He landed on the road beside him and nearly scared his friend out of his skin. "What's going on Iruka?"

The teacher turned insurgent clutched at his chest and swore. "Damn it Kakashi put a freaking bell around your neck! As for the situation…our cover is thinning out as we speak. The Hokage's ninja aren't taking any prisoners."

"Damn," Kakashi spat. "We need to push to the front and—"

A new chorus of screams filled the streets and thunder rumbled and shook the very ground. Lightning roared overhead and it was so bright the jonin had filmy spots dancing on the edges of his sight. Someone was throwing around massive lighting jutsu and not playing around about it.

Iruka's face went ashen. "Shit, shit, shit! I can't believe that fucker is already—"

"Who is it?" He snapped.

Iruka looked at him and in all the time Kakashi had known him he'd never seen the chunin honestly afraid. Right now there was terror in his eyes as the civilians surged around them and fled. "_The Reaper comes."_

"Well hey there Kakashi." A familiar voice called out. Kakashi looked up to see Uchiha Sasuke crouching on a roof with the little Hyuga at his side. "Long time no see, huh sensei?"

"Sasuke." Kakashi answered, drawing a kunai and holding it at his side. "What a pleasant surprise it is to see you again." Behind his back he motioned for Iruka to move away in the hope his henge hadn't yet been noticed.

The little Hyuga girl (Hanabi, Kakashi remembered) called out. "You can't fool my eyes you son of a bitch. Why don't you come out here with your real face?"

Iruka sighed and dropped the act entirely. Sasuke turned his head from the chunin dismissively. "Why don't you go play with him awhile Hanabi, I've got some unfinished business with Kakashi."

The little Hyuga giggled. "Of course. I'll leave you to it then." She turned to Iruka and raised her eyebrows. "Coming?"

A muscle worked in Iruka's jaw. "I taught you in the Academy Hanabi, don't think you can just order me arou—"

Kakashi hadn't even blinked before Hanabi had planted her foot in Iruka's gut. The no doubt chakra-enhanced blow slammed him off his feet and into a burning building. The little girl even stopped and smiled at Kakashi before skipping off into the inferno after her prey. The whole exchange had been so fast and baffling he hadn't even tried to stop her.

Then Sasuke was right next to him. "Getting slow in your old age sensei?"

The red-hot scythe came for his neck and the renegade jonin moved sideways to let it sear past him. It hit the ground with a loud crack and Kakashi took the opportunity to plant his foot into Sasuke's exposed sternum.

The dark haired jonin was blown off his feet but didn't let go of the scythe in the ground. Instead it became a fulcrum for him to swing back and kick both of his feet into Kakashi's chest. The older man barely got his arms up in defense before the strike rattled his bones and sent him flying.

Sasuke kept on coming and Kakashi felt the other jonin's chakra wash the street. He had heard of the infamy of Sasuke's blind fighting technique but he had never seen it firsthand. Suddenly and unsurprisingly Kakashi wished he hadn't ever had to witness it.

Fire turned to lightning and Kakashi's eyes went wide. His Sharingan was all that let him dodge the lightning swinging from Sasuke's scythe that would have ended his life. As it was the rush of it passing by left a painful sting on his skin and the deafening sound of thunder booming in his ears.

Kakashi hauled himself back to his feet. He'd come back to the village when the fourth war had started and it'd been a few months since he'd been in a fight for his life. Kakashi had missed it and despite himself he smiled. "I taught you lightning jutsu Sasuke. Did you really think you could kill me with just that?"

The Uchiha just smirked. "It was worth a shot."

With a pained, nostalgic jolt Kakashi was reminded of Sasuke as a genin. Back when the past had been almost simple and he'd thought the genin his protégé. "What happened Sasuke?"

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" The other jonin scoffed and started spinning his scythe slowly. The lighting crackled into a deadly ring Kakashi didn't want to know the purpose of.

Suddenly Kakashi knew exactly what he needed to do. "I was your sensei, you couldn't stand the sight of Naruto or Sakura and you wanted revenge more than anything. And now you answer her beck and call? What happened?"

The Uchiha snorted. "Really Hatake? You were the lazy son of a bitch who taught me out of spite and I barely knew Naruto and Sakura then. We both know what kind of power Sakura can throw around; that I became her pet instead of yours shouldn't be that big of a surprise. I was always an opportunist at heart and she gave me Itachi's head on a platter when the time came."

Kakashi needed to know the truth and sow the seeds of doubt and his Sharingan spun. "Even after the Uchiha massacre?"

The ever pale Uchiha went bone white. His knuckles tightened around his scythe and the spinning stopped, letting the crackling ring of lightning vanish. He rasped. "What the fuck did you just say to me?"

"Sakura's secrets aren't as well hidden as she'd like to think." Kakashi picked his words carefully because in reality he had no idea what the truth was. "I know what happened. You're a fuckin' dog Sasuke. You know what she did and you still let her hold you by the throat on a leash. You're nothing but her attack dog now, what the hell happened to your vaunted Uchiha pride?"

It never occurred to him Sasuke would attack. Or that Sasuke would _throw_ his scythe. Kakashi barely shushined out of its path and before he'd even rematerialized a pair of hands were around his throat and crushing the life out of him.

He let a Rakiri charge to life in his palm but Sasuke just grabbed his wrist and let the lightning burn his exposed skin. The Uchiha's voice was practically guttural. "You fuck with Sakura and you end up dead. End of story. My family is dead and nothing I do to Sakura will bring them back, and anything I do to her will just get me executed and leave Hanabi alone. I love Hanabi more than I hate Sakura. Hell, I love Hanabi more than I ever loved my family."

Kakashi braced his right leg and drove his opposite knee up. Sasuke leapt back easily and skidded through the dirt. The crackle of lighting filled the air between them.

Sasuke's face was ugly. "I'm her dog all right but that psychotic bitch leader of mine at least makes it clear where we stand. I don't kill her she doesn't kill me. I don't stand in her way and she let's me do whatever the hell I want. She killed my family once and she can do it again if I cross her. There's no room for pride anymore."

And suddenly it was all clear in his head. Jinchuuriki Sakura had had a hand in the Uchiha massacre. Kakashi felt light headed as everything he thought he'd known about the situation was turned on its head. "The Sasuke I knew would have never bowed to the woman who killed his family."

Sasuke spat. "The Sasuke you knew was a conceited little bastard who didn't know how the world really works."

The world was ugly and brutal and they both knew that, but this…what had once been just a ploy to get an advantage was now something Kakashi _really_ wanted to work. To see what Sasuke had been twisted into in the time he was gone was sickening. He didn't want to just turn Sasuke against Sakura anymore, he wanted to _free_ him.

The older jonin took a deep breath. "It doesn't have to be that way. Haven't you noticed Sasuke? Half the village is willing to back you up to kill Sakura, all you had to do was ask for help and we'd have given it."

Sasuke's jaw set in an unreadable and harsh line, and just as he opened his mouth to answer a kunai landed in the road between them. It had three prongs. Kakashi felt his blood turn to ice.

A familiar buzz and yellow burst bisected the air and Naruto stood between them. "Time to pull back Sasuke."

The Uchiha's face smoothed out. "What's the rush?"

Naruto gave a dismissive wave. "You'll see. Grab Hanabi and get out of here."

Sasuke turned his head to the burning building behind them. "Hanabi!"

A scream came from deep inside the burning structure and Hanabi trotted out moments later covered in soot. She looked disappointed."Already?"

"Sorry." He held out an arm and she latched on.

Kakashi shouted after them. "What I said still stands! You can change this!"

Almost imperceptibly Sasuke looked troubled and then the pair was gone in a burst of wind and leaves. Naruto remained staring at his old sensei dispassionately. "You're a real piece of work Hatake."

He answered archly. "Considering who you're fucking at night and being led around by, I think that more applies to you Naruto."

For a short, terrifying moment, Naruto's face turned into an ugly violent _thing_ Kakashi couldn't recognize. It vanished under a hardened exterior. Naruto answered with vicious sarcasm. "Better her than the old bastards who ran this village into the ground. Sorry sensei, just never swung that way."

The response didn't surprise him but right now all Kakashi was worried about was casting the seeds of doubt. "We both know she's a liar Naruto. Just what else is she keeping from you?"

Naruto flipped him off and vanished in a sizzle of yellow light. Kakashi found himself alone in the road. That hadn't really gone to plan but it was a start, he'd shatter the death squad before this civil war ended.

Nearby Iruka stumbled out of the rubble. One of his arms was an unrecognizable hunk of charred muscle. The jonin winced. "What happened?"

Iruka fell to the ground breathing hard. "A Hyuga with lightning chakra, too much creativity, and a vicious streak a mile wide happened."

That was as far as the conversation went. Seconds later the sky turned to fire.

**Konoha, 6:07 PM**

A child was crying. An adult tried to comfort the sobbing girl covered in blood but the tears kept coming and no one else but the one adult even stopped to even look at her. All over the city this scene had played itself out more than once.

Nearby a group of children drew in the dirt with sticks and ignored everything around them. And around them people ran past screaming and shouting, throwing out rumors to each other and running away from the next push from the ninja of the Hokage. None had time for the abandoned children drawing in the dirt.

None of them noticed the children were drawing with sticks with the tips coated in ink and blood.

One of the children, a little boy, looked up to the crying girl and the adult. "All done sensei."

Immediately the little girl stopped crying and her eyes as red as blood glittered with malice. "Oooh, what next?"

"Get in the circle and power it up." The adult tugged at her hand and his hair turned from brown to white as the genjutsu melted off. Jiraiya smiled down and the little girl let her henge melt as well. Sakura smiled back.

She stepped into the circle and the children who were drawing all turned into identical copies of a blond jonin. Their hands hit the circle of seals and they glowed blue, and all the clones of Naruto grinned. Sakura screamed as the seals turned to red and a pillar of light ignited into the sky.

Five more pillars went up across the city, stretching miles into the sky and deep into the ground. Red lighting powered by demonic chakra snaked between them. The pulses increased in intensity and they flared up and then flattened into sheets of light. The crackling went smooth to resemble a sheet of curved red glass. The chakra cooled and the giant cage reaching far into the clouds and deep into the ground turned a fathomless purple and stabilized.

Inside each corner of the cage hidden in the pillar of chakra, a clone of Sakura's could barley be made out suspended in the brilliant currents of seals and lights. The new cordon had gone up but this one was of a far different breed.

Unknown to both sides over a dozen Yamanaka had been using soul possession inside bird bodies outside the barrier when it went up. When they ran low on chakra three birds with human souls inside tried to pass through. They burned up on impact and died without a sound.

A few more tried to fly high enough to get over it only to find it had a roof of demonic lightning capping it. Four more Yamanaka died there. A few tried to leave their physical shells to pass through. Their soul's disintegrated on contact with the barrier and three more lost their lives.

The last five tried to find human bodies to posses but they had waited too long and with their chakra as low as it was they couldn't even posses children, let alone adults. Once outside, their bird vessels flew away and with no place to return to three of the souls frayed into nothing.

The last two found animals to house themselves in but their chakra continued to wane and eventually even the animals became strong enough to reject them. They died as well. The Yamanaka Intel sweep on the Hokage's forces ended without said forces being any the wiser.

At the Hokage tower the original Sakura and Jiraiya watched the barrier go up.

"He reversed engineered that barrier Orochimaru used in his invasion during the exam." She shook her head in wonder. "He's really something, I only ever told him about it one time and sparingly at that."

Jiraiya grinned proudly. "Kid can do things with seals I've never seen. And with you in the mix…well, he's gonna make the impossible possible before long."

"Too right." She turned on her heel. "I need to go inform Hime the barrier was a success. Those rebels are fish in a barrel in that thing."

"You go do that." Jiraiya chuckled and clicked down his radio. "And looks like Naruto's was right. Barrier has the jamming signal hemmed in. Communications are on line, out here at least."

He turned away from her to begin a long relay of orders, no doubt taking back over control of the ninja force Naruto had..._forcefully _taken command of. Sakura calmly looked back at the barrier filling the rapidly darkening sky.

Then her stomach dropped and her body went cold. She hadn't even considered just what that barrier _covered_. The entirety of the Clan district and a chunk of the commercial and civilians housing districts were now trapped with no escape. In between the Clan and the housing was the abandoned district.

As of five minutes ago the entire rebel force had been trapped behind inescapable walls with the Kyuubi no Kitsune and a handful of her clones. Horror did not even begin to cover it.

Hopefully the Kyuubi would remember to stick with the plan and not see this as an opportunity to have his own fun.

Yeah, slim chance of that happening considering what he'd already talked her clones into doing today.

_Shit_.

Her leisurely stroll to the Hokage's office turned to a sprint. Along the hallways she ran into people crowding around the windows, straining in excitement trying to get a view of the barrier.

She didn't have time to enjoy them gawking over Naruto's masterful work and when Sakura slammed the doors opened Tsunade glanced up, frazzled. "Did it work?"

It took Sakura a minute to remember why she was here over her panic. "Uh…yes. The barrier is stabilized, Jiraiya should be gathering reports now and any ninja and civilians not hemmed in by the barrier are being…culled."

She'd been every insistent on that point, Naruto hadn't argued (or really even acknowledged her), and at that point Tsunade and Jiraiya were past the point of caring. Within an hour the streets outside the barrier would be cleared.

One way or another.

"Good." The older woman made a quick notation on a report. "By the way your battle plan has been approved. Congratulations General Sakura."

She blinked. "Thank you my Lady." And then shook her head. There was nothing she could do about the Kyuubi right now; she had to prepare to finish the final act of this war and that meant she had to concentrate all of her willpower here and now. "I need three field commanders, do I require your permission or am I autonomous from here on out?"

Tsunade's lips quirked. "It's your choice. Who do you need?"

Sakura tilted her head, considering. "Shikamaru of course, he's just a given. Jiraiya-sama also. Right now our forces need stability and he's pretty much the last old generation ninja still on our side and everyone respects him. And lastly…"

She almost asked for Naruto but in the end knew she couldn't. "Akimichi Chouji as my last."

The blonde tapped her fingers on her chin. "I see the first two, but the Akimichi?"

"Chouji has his own way with people and frankly…" Sakura sighed. "Chouji is a clan child. This civil war is going to end in a massacre of one side or the other and even if no one ever says it out loud, those responsible for it will be reviled. Chouji's reputation is pretty much shot with what his family did, and I trust him to be able to do this.

The other woman sighed. "So that's why you request independent command. All the credit and all the blame, and here I thought you were just looking for glory."

"I wish." Sakura's eyes went dark and her irises were jagged from bitterness. "I won't have your legacy be one of blood Hime, and Naruto can't be General over a war that will wipe out half our village if he's going to be Hokage one day. Someday when passions die down and grudges cool our people will hate us for this. I was never meant to rise any higher than I have and frankly I've been taking on the sins of this village for years. One more won't hurt."

The other woman stood as if to come around the desk and hug her but then stopped. "I…can't deny that Sakura."

The former jinchuuriki shrugged. "This isn't a burden for me. Please, this is what I was _born _for. Let me be the weapon I was forged to be." By Itachi, by Tsunade, by Jiraiya, by the Kyuubi. No matter who it was in her life all of them had shaped her into the peerless killer she was today.

The Hokage let out a heavy breath and fell back in her chair. "I'm sorry history will remember you for this."

Sakura lowered her head and her smile was hidden. "I'm not."

And that was that.

**Abandoned District, 8:19 PM**

The area covered by the barrier was, at a rough estimate, only five percent of the village in terms of square miles. Trapped inside of it was over a third of the total shinobi force of Konoha and over half the civilian population.

It was not a surprise that went the barrier went up absolute chaos broke out for those inside it. The command structure of the rebel force had been tenuous at the best of times and with grudges and clan rivalries acting up at the slightest provocation (and their own jamming equipment making all field radios still useless), anything remotely close to cohesiveness was gone.

Stuttering efforts were made to try and break the barrier in all quarters, but after the first few deaths due to flash frying most attempts quickly halted.

The civilians were even worse off. They'd been rioting for hours and used as cattle by the rebels, then they'd been chased like animals by the Hokage's loyalists, but in the end a mob was still a mob regardless of where it was. Inside of the barrier riots were still breaking out from a mix of terror and frustration.

Luckily for the rebels that only lasted long enough until the civilians realized they were trapped in there for the foreseeable future and burning down the only shelter they had wasn't the wisest option. The mobs dispersed quickly laying claim to ground and the clans suddenly found themselves with squatters on their doorstep looking for a place to sleep.

The clans, Inuzuka, Hyuga, Akimichi, and Nara alike quickly and brutally disabused them of that notion.

In an unsurprising response the abandoned district was quickly flooded by civilians. It took one particularly curious man only ten minutes to stumble upon a certain room.

He'd looked in once, gaped, and quickly ran for help.

Exactly twenty-two minutes later in a surprising amount of efficiency Hatake Kakashi found himself standing in that room. He'd made the mistake of looking at the barrier with his Sharingan and it was like staring at the sun. He'd gone nearly blind and had been rushed back to the Hyuga compound for medical treatment, leaving him there at the moment a hysterical civilian came running for help. He still had filmy spots dancing on the edge of his vision as he looked around in shock. "What the hell is this?"

The small squad with him, a mixture of Hyuga and Inuzuka, looked equally baffled.

What were once sterilized medical sheets were laid out on the floor covered in blood. Pans and sheets of sterling metal were covered in an odd mix of medical supplies, surgical tools, and containers of chemical compounds.

Metal bowls with seals etched on the sides were filled with half dried, rotted fluids Kakashi couldn't even begin to identify. He didn't even really want to either.

There was a mattress in one of the closest and it was oddly bare. Rusted kunai were scattered around it giving him the feeling this place had been used long in the past as a bolthole.

And the walls of the room had seals scrawled in ink on every square inch, still rippling with chakra and happily and going about their work.

Kakashi knew an ad-hoc medical lab when he saw one but the better question was: what exactly was it here _for?_

One of the Hyuga jonin, main branch judging by his unmarked forehead, activated his Byakugan. He frowned. "I recognize this seal matrix Hatake-san. It's a chakra blocker; we have these in the walls of our own compound."

Kakashi rounded on the jonin. "This is a Hyuga lab?"

The main branch ninja quickly backpedaled. "No sir. These seals are also on any major secure building in the village, covers them from Byakugan, Sharingan, and chakra sensors. These kinds of seals hide a lot of things from view."

So this could have been made by anybody in the village who knew the right secrets. Lovely.

He rubbed at his burning eyes. Right now they were hemmed in a giant barrier trapped and like animals with seemingly biiger concerns, but Kakashi didn't believe in coincidences. This recently abandoned lab was right here right now for a reason; one he strongly suspected had to do with this civil war. But how?

One of the Inuzuka gagged. "Fuck. It smells like…it smells like body in here."

The senior jonin processed that. "What do you mean?"

"It's like…" The Inuzuka winced and uncovered his nose long enough to take a deep breath. He gagged again. "I can smell blood sure, but also innards: guts, liver, heart, muscle, stomach lining, brain matter…I've smelled dead bodies and torture rooms before but nothing has ever come close to this. And don't even get me started on all the chemicals in here."

Kakashi kneeled down to examine one of the trays. A bottle of ammonia and a bloody pair of latex gloves were on it. He did a quick scan and picked up only residual chakra.

He was no sensor and he knew he'd need help for this. "Someone, hell, anyone go get me one of our sensors and medic nins and get them here pronto."

The Inuzuka gladly bowed out to do just that. In the meantime the squad gingerly began picking through the remnants of the room. They hadn't discovered anything else before the sensor and medic nin arrived except for the fact who ever had been using this place had cleared out quickly. There wasn't any sign they'd try to clean up or hide anything at all.

Either they'd been caught off guard or…they just hadn't cared if anyone found this place. Kakashi hoped it was the former but with a sinking fear he knew it was the latter.

"Hatake-san?" At the sound of his name Kakashi turned around.

First he saw the sensor, a dark haired woman with a slight build and a touch of gray hair around her temples. Kakashi could not remember her name or even if he'd ever worked with her at all.

The medic nin on the other hand was an old acquaintance named Tanaka. He'd been a top medic until arthritis had made the more delicate surgical techniques impossible for him, and instead he'd become the head administrator of the hospital and had remained there until roughly three years ago. Then Tsunade had become Hokage and had fired him on the spot.

Tanaka had been in charge of the hospital during Sakura's childhood when she'd only been allowed in when the point had forced by the Hokage and she'd been close to death. If Sakura had anything less than life threatening injuries she'd been tossed back on the street while still bleeding.

Tsunade had not been pleased. Since then Tanaka had carried a deep and abiding grudge for both women, Kage and jinchuuriki.

Kakashi stood up to shake Tanaka's gnarled hand. "Good to see you."

Tanaka gave a thin smile and cast a disgusted eye around the room. "What do you need us for?"

The jonin raised his arms to the room at large. "I need to know what was being made here." He glanced to the sensor. "And who and how many people were making it."  
They both nodded. The sensor sat down, crossed her legs, and let her hands fall into a mediation seal. Tanaka began picking through the bloody detritus cast haphazardly against the walls.

The sensor piped up. "One chakra signature is in here, highly degraded. The amount of chakra being thrown around in here was…substantial."

"How much?" He pressed.

Her brow furrowed. "So much I would have told you the jutsu that caused this ended less than a minute ago. But due to the natural degradation…I think it's been nearly three days."

Kakashi counted back on his hands. Three days ago…

Tanaka cut into his thoughts with a revolted shout. "Human experimentation! I haven't seen a lab set up like this since…since Orochimaru."

The snake Sanin had been dead for a few months, courtesy of Sakura, so he was obviously resolved of any blame.

Tanaka kept rambling, shaking an empty bottle at them as he did. "Look at this. The supplies here are for reconstructive procedures but the blood…bah! Live dissection isn't out of the question. And judging by the chemical make up of the fluid in these dishes…someone was growing human organs here. Probably cutting up some poor bastard and ripping out his old organs to put in the new artificially made."

"But why would anyone do that?" Kakashi asked in bewilderment. Maybe he'd been wrong about this being involved with the civil war…

"We've repaired organs before in the hospital or replaced them with donors. But full on reconstruction from scratch? Someone crushed, burned, pulverized? Hollow them out and drop new organs inside, put some skin grafts on them and call it day. The leap in medical treatment alone…" The medic shook his head. "This seems to have been developed from our reconstructive process for corpses. I never imagine that anyone would be able to transition that to a long term viable treatment for the living."

A chill crawled down the jonin's back. One charka signature with a huge amounts of chakra being thrown around, violent experimentation, advanced medical techniques and all taking place in a hidden lab. If this was Hokage sanctioned it would have happened in the basement of the hospital under lock and key. Someone was obviously doing work off the books, and it was something horrible enough they hadn't asked for permission or had already been rejected.

Three days ago jinchuuriki Sakura had vanished for one night and no one had know where she'd gone. It all made a horrifying amount of sense.

"Who has the skill for this?" Kakashi already knew the answer.

Tanaka frowned. "Tsunade of course. No doubt Shizune as well, but this kind of work would need a team of medics just to power the chakra requirements alone…" He trailed off in horrified realization.

The silver haired shinobi swallowed. "Or one jinchuuriki with extensive medical knowledge and a lot of shadow clones."

Tanaka went bone white and sagged. "That bitch." He breathed.

Kakashi massaged his forehead. He was missing something. Tsunade had always indulged the worst of Sakura tastes and a little human experimentation with this kind of results…the Hokage would have gleefully funded it and probably joined in. There was something far more to this and not seeing it when he knew it was vitally important was driving him up the wall.

Then Tanaka picked up one last dish, looked inside, and swore. "God help us."

Kakashi took a sharp breath. He didn't want to ask this and his body felt oddly clammy. "What is it?"

The hollow, terrified, and appalled eyes of Tanaka told him everything. "She was making a _spine_ here. A _brain._ Dear god, that poor bastard she did this too…"

And the secrets and horrors just got deeper.

**Briefing Room, ANBU Headquarters, 9:34 PM**

"Settle down everybody. We've got a lot to work through and not a lot of time to do it." Akimichi Chouji spoke to the room at large and the hundred odd ninja sitting around him in the rising seats quieted.

The jonin was a big man, genial in his conduct and respected by all he worked with. He was also a juggernaut on the battlefield and no one wanted to get on his bad side.

Chouji smiled. "Good. You're all here because you've been chosen to join the strike force that will head inside the barrier at midnight tonight."

One jonin let out a shout from the back. "For Sakura-sama!" A resounding cheer went up at this.

The Akimichi smiled benevolently. "I'm sure she'll appreciate the sentiment, and I'm also sure you'll be all happy to know this plan was designed by Sakura herself and she'll be leading one of the divisions into battle."

Relieved and excited murmurs met this announcement. There were still rumors going around that Sakura had died on the operating table after the poisoning, and one of the objectives of this briefing had been to soothe a lot of fears and bed even more of the rumors.

"Now." Chouji tapped his finger on the board behind him. "This plan has five phases that will be carried out by four separate divisions, if you consult the packet issued to you at the door you'll know which division you'll be a part of."

Papers shuffled and various ANBU, jonin, and chunin checked their assignments. Some cheered, other just nodded, and a few looked over their neighbor's shoulders jealously.

He snorted. "As you've seen the four divisions are Toad, Deer, Slug, and Fox. If you haven't guessed yet the Toad division will be lead by Commander Jiraiya backed by sub-commanders Uzumaki Naruto and Uchiha Sasuke. Deer will be lead by both myself and Commander Nara Shikamaru, with sub-commander Yamanaka Ino assisting."

A few wolf-whistles echoed in the room, mostly from the ANBU in the back. Ino scared the shit out the rank and file ninja but to the ANBU she was their darling and their diva. Chouji made a mental note to keep his girlfriend away from the ANBU in their unit.

He smiled blandly. "Slug Division will follow lady Tsunade-sama and sub-commanders Shizune and Aburame Shino. Lastly the Fox Division will be led by General Sakura, with sub-commanders Aburame Hinata and Hyuga Neji supporting her."

Those in the Fox Division let out an excited shout, and Chouji let the good natured bantering and bickering go on for a minute before making a cutting motion with his hand. The room fell back to silence.

"Before we get into the grittier details we need to talk equipment. The rebel forces are mostly wearing the designated Konoha uniform and their ANBU the standard issued armor and masks. Because of that we ask all of you wear different gear. Red, black, purple, orange, yellow, whatever you want as long as it's not blue or green. And make sure it resembles the standard uniform in no way. Headbands are optional as we need to be able to tell friend from foe, and because of that…" Chouji lifted a small, black circular container off the table in front of him. "Everyone has been issued this."

The room rippled as everyone pulled out the strange containers they'd been handed with their briefing packets. When opened the inside held a slick, translucent gel that was colorless.

Chouji stuck his fingers in and calmly smeared some gel in a rough pattern on his cheek. "Now if you'd all repeat after me." He then performed a jutsu with four seals and touched his left eye.

The room at large followed him and when they touched their eyes s film of chakra spring up, giving the room a blue-green hue and allowed them to see the gel on Chouji's cheek stand out brilliantly like white paint under a backlight.

"Once inside the barrier have this jutsu activated at all times. All of our forces will paint the kanji for fire on their left cheek and it will allow us to differentiate between friend and foe without giving our enemy the same advantage."

Appreciative murmurs rose at this. It had been Ino's idea once she'd gotten a glimpse of Sakura's plan.

The Commander slapped his hand on the table. "Now onto the plan. Phase Alpha will begin at 11:30 and Slug Division will exploit an opening in the barrier that is on an underground walkway that runs under the old Temple of flowers."

The temple had been closed down for years, but the system of tunnels for the priests under it still remained. Even if he despised Naruto right now Chouji couldn't help but admire the foresight it would taken to know the temple and it's tunnels was there and leave a small flaw in the barrier right there in order to utilize it.

He continued. "Slug will set up our foothold, defenses, and field hospital and once they've secured the area all three divisions will cross into the barrier as well. After that we begin phase Bravo. Deer will move to take the Nara compound and destroy their jamming equipment while Fox and Toad will move into position. Radios may be up outside the barrier but inside the jamming signal is still running. When the lines are open the message will be sent out to begin phase Charlie. Toad will move in a southern sweep to draw attention of the main thrust of the rebel force while Fox will head straight to the Hyuga compound to begin liberation efforts."

One chunin spoke up. "Liberation efforts?"

He nodded back. "Yes. It was brought to our attention by lady Aburame Hinata that while the rebels have all made their choices to stand against the Hokage, the branch house of the Hyuga was not given that same chance."

This time he heard some discontented buzzing. He slammed fist slammed on the table. "Quiet down! They may be Hyuga but they've been slaves all their lives. Lady Aburame, formerly Hyuga herself is going to give them the chance to turn against their masters. Fox will fight long enough to distract and kill the Main house so we can get any deserters evacuated outside the barrier. Once outside their caged seals can't be activated. Slug and Deer who will be puleld back by this time will secure the evacuation corridor."

That quieted them down. He knew those Hyuga rescued would have to prove themselves, but after knowing Hinata for years and the dirtier politics of her clan, he realized most of the Branch if given the chance for freedom would offer their loyalty and their lives in a heartbeat.

He cleared his throat. "Slug will signal us when the evacuation is complete. That will trigger phase Delta: complete and total retreat of all divisions."

The room devolved into a complete uproar. The anger and frustration and fury was palpable and Chouji road it out, his face unreadable.

He snarled. "If you're all done whining we'll continue."

Slowly the gathered ninja tapered off into a tense silence. The jonin waited a little longer, letting it fester. Only when it seemed like it boil over again did he speak. "When everyone is back outside the barrier phase Echo begins."

"And what happens then, huh?" A jonin jeered. "We hope the rebels go away?"

"No." And Chouji's smile was practically feral. The juggernaut was here. "_Hell arrives_."

**Hokage's Private Office, 10:51 PM**

The lights had been left low in the room but they had all the illumination they needed. From the balcony windows an eerie purple light poured in cast from the barrier just a few miles away. It was a constant reminder of the battle fast approaching and while the atmosphere was calm there was a raising, painful tension that grew with every minute.

Tsunade sat behind her desk quietly, paperwork gone, Hokage's robes cast away. She was in battle gear for the first time in decades. Wire mesh, a tight armored vest, well fitting pants, military grade high heel boot with blades in the heels.

It'd been awhile since she'd fought a war on the front lines and Tsunade wanted to do it with style. Though mostly her division would be manning and guarding the field hospital aided by dozens of Sakura's clones and the entirety of the medical ninja corps. But still it was the thoguht that counts.

The couch across from her desk held Shino and his lady Aburame curled on one end. Sakura's head was in her friend's lap and Hinata was calmly braiding the jinchuuriki's long hair into a tight plait. Neji laid sprawled in another chair, Tenten sitting on the arm and murmuring something in his ear.

Last sat Hanabi and the girl had moved away from everyone. Every once and awhile she sent Sakura a chilly glance and the older girl didn't seem to notice or just didn't care.

Tsunade had a radiopiece in her ear and it crackled. She stood up with a new gravity in her posture. "It looks my division has been assembled. I wish you all the best Fox, sub-commander Shino?"

He sighed and got to his feet as well. He kissed Hinata first, a lingering, desperate kiss before they broke apart. Their eyes shared one last glance. Sakura sat up long enough for him to kiss her forehead as well before he brushed past. "Take care of each other you two."

Shino was a dear friend.

The girls nodded. Together Hokage and the last loyal Clan Head swept from the room.

Sakura lowered herself back into Hinata's lap. "It's almost here." She could barely keep the excitement out of her voice.

"I know." Hinata soothed, returning to braiding the other girl's hair.

On the eve of this battle Sakura had always pictured spending it with Naruto. Or Team Seven. Or all of her friends.

Now she sat with three Hyuga and Tenten and somehow she didn't feel that disappointed. Being with Naruto right now would just be tense and awkward (and he was ignoring her for some reason she couldn't quite name) and honestly out of everyone…

No one could calm her like Hinata. And she needed that badly. Who knew what the Kyuubi had gotten up to while they were still assembling their forces?

Sakura's radio crackled. She switched it on. "General Sakura here. What's your status?" She listened to her subordinate, nodded to no one, and flipped the switch off. "Our division is ready. Neji? Could you take Tenten and Hanabi and prepare them for our arrival?"

"Of course General." The jonin nodded and got up. He stepped in the purple glow left by the windows and she saw tonight he wasn't wearing a headband. The suppression array tattooed across his caged seal stood out starkly. It would be quiet the nasty little surprise when the Hyuga saw it later tonight.

They filed out and Hanabi cast her one last cold glance. Sakura wondered how much the girl knew now, and how many secrets Sasuke still kept from her. Maybe none. Sasuke had done something with his loved one she never could…

Cool fingers brushed her forehead. "What's wrong Sakura?"

The dark haired jonin looked up at her first female friend. A girl she had adored for a decade. She answered honestly. "I'm a liar."

Hinata's soft finger tips ghosted across her face. "I know."

Sakura didn't know whether to smile or frown. "Even to you."

The lady Aburame's eyes flashed with mirth. "You're saying this like it should come as a surprise."

"Oh." Sakura answered lamely. "Then why…" She didn't know how to ask the question.

Hinata pulled her into a half embrace. "Why do I not care? It's called unconditional love Sakura. I love you and I forgive you for everything you've done."

From anyone else she would have raged, been resentful, called them a liar. She had never looked for forgiveness, never wanted it, had no regrets. And yet…lately…

"You don't know everything I've done." And she hated herself just for saying that. For trying to prevaricate and talk someone out of believing in her. Because if they didn't believe in her Sakura couldn't let them down like she had Naruto and Sasuke…

Hinata grabbed her face and turned her back. Her voice was smooth and silk yet hard as steel. "I. Forgive. You."

And in that moment Sakura realized something. As soon as this civil war was over she didn't have to answer to anyone, she could live her own life, choose her own path. She could keep the lies she wanted to keep and tell the truths she wanted to tell and it was all up to her. The regret didn't have to hurt and the guilt…she just had to let the guilt go.

Sakura returned the hug. "Thanks."

"No problem." Hinata smiled, turned Sakura around, and finished tying off her braid. "I'm sure everything will work its self out. Naruto will stop being moody and…"

Her heart skipped a beat at the sound of his name. She arched a curious eyebrow. "When did you see Naruto?"

"I didn't." Hinata replied airily. "But Shino did."

Sakura had a sinking suspicion in her gut. "When?"

Her friend didn't look guilty in the slightest. "This afternoon at the hospital. The boys headed him off before he came to your room and had a little talk. Naruto didn't come back afterwards."

Hinata never spoke badly about anyone but the message of her words was clear. Naruto didn't come back so how much does he really care?

He friends were certainly treacherous and Sakura had no one to blame but herself for that. She had made them into what they were after all.

She didn't know whether she was irritated, amused, or wanted to cry. "A talk about what?"

"It's nothing you need to worry about. Just assume we all did something behind your back and we're not asking for forgiveness anytime soon." The pale-eyed girl answered in a cheery sing-song tone.

The former jinchuuriki groaned. "That sounds oddly familiar, haven't I used that line?"

"Possibly." Hinata pulled them both to their feet and changed the subject. "It's about time we left for the field, General."

"I understand , thank you sub-Commander Aburame." Sakura gave a manic grin in return. Sixteen years to reach this night, nearly a decade of her own planning, and it had all come down to this breathless moment. Hinata had forgiven her even for this.

She could enjoy this bloodshed without anymore regret. Which was probably not Hinata's intention but she no longer cared. This night and her life was hers. No one would take that from her anymore or make her feel guilty for having it. Not even Naruto. Not even the Kyuubi.

Sakura touched Hinata's shoulder. "And I forgive you too you know, for going behind my back. I know you lot did it because you're my friends."

Hinata's smile dimmed ever so slightly. "You shouldn't have to cry over him."

"I'm not. Not anymore." She was tired of the guilt anyways. "Let's go."

The two old friends linked hands and they stepped out into the night. On the horizon an amethyst glow burned and their eyes flamed with it.

The radio in her ear crackled and a jarringly flat voice came on. _"Attention all forces, phase Alpha has now begun…"_

War waited for no one.

* * *

AN: So the question you have to ask yourself is, which really is better for a person? Naruto who wants Sakura to change and face her own flaws and lies even if it ruins them, or her friends who accept her unconditionally and sometimes enable her cruelty? The answer isn't always very clear.

And away from that for a bit. Sorry this update took so long. Fall semester was horrible this year and frankly it was the hardest thing I've ever had to do. So thank you to everyone for being so patient about this.

I'm also doing a massive rewrite of this story that should be up to replace earlier chapters in a month or two. The first 16 or so chapters will be COMPELTELY different and a heck of a lot better. So there's that to look forward to.


	38. Double Edged

**AN:** Okay, **warning** to everyone this chapter is **Mature **for a reason. Violence, angst, civil war and all that. It's going to get messy and bloody and dark before this is done.

I believe there will be one more chapter after this and then hopefully, an epilogue if people want one. Also the first, ah…22 chapters of this story have been rewritten. It doesn't change anything of the plot, but it's a hell of a lot better now in terms of characterization, action, and flow.

But yeah, first gore and darkness. Be prepared.

**Disclaimer**: Naruto the manga is all about hope and bonds and faith triumphing. This story on the other hand…isn't. So I don't own Naruto, obviously.

* * *

**Konoha, 11:42 PM**

The barrier filled the horizon and for a moment Sakura could almost believe the sky had turned to violet hued fire. From the roofs surrounding her, ninja watched her stride by hand in hand with her sub-commander Aburame Hinata. There were cheers and catcalls and whistles all around. It was like a victory parade and from the districts still burning, ash rained on them like confetti. It was fitting in a macabre sort of way.

These ninja were the youngest and not part of the strike force, mostly genin and some chunin who now ringed the barrier to watch the operation unfold from safety. They had already culled the streets clear of any stragglers and the bodies now laid in the gutters burning.

The stench of burnt flesh and slick ash hung on the air, reminding her of what had already passed. Reminding her of the horrors still yet to come.

Hinata's byakugan was active and her voice light. "They certainly do adore you."

Sakura snorted. "All part of my nefarious master plan, I assure you." And it actually was, but Hinata gave her a look like she fully knew that and found it amusing.

Whether Hinata had some inkling of her plan though, she never voiced it. "They'll still adore you after tonight, you know." The Aburame girl said instead.

The jinchuuriki felt her lips pull tight. "We'll see."

Phase Echo begged differently. History would not look back kindly on this moment.

"Sakura!" This time the voice crying out her name wasn't an admirer but someone familiar. Konohamaru skidded to a stop in front of her, hands on his knees as he caught his breath.

She grabbed his shoulder. "What is it?"

He looked at her with wild eyes. "They wouldn't let me in on any of the divisions but…my uncle, my sensei Ebisu…"

Something in her clenched and she tried to let him down gently. "I can't make promises of sparing anyone Konohamaru."

His face darkened. "That's not it at all. If you see them, tell them I hate them before you slit their traitorous throats."

He had once been a bright and bubbly boy, clinging to her and calling her his sister, begging for training and laughing every day.

The boy—no—the shinobi that stood before her was none of those things.

And that request was something she could keep. The tight smile turned vicious. "I'll deliver it myself. I promise that."

She released Hinata's hand for a moment and pulled Konohamaru into a crushing hug. She whispered in his ear. "A long time ago you made a promise to me too, that you'd help me with something. I'm calling it in."

He turned into her hug and she felt his lips against her neck. "Anything."

The request was a necessary one. "I need you to clear a corridor to the western wall of Konoha from the barrier. No one can see what'll move through there when the barrier comes down. Please don't ask me why."

"I won't ask, I can follow orders easy." He pulled back with a cheeky grin. "You got it General."

He didn't even blink at the request and the thought of asking why never crossed his mind. Konohamaru was her fanatic and he's follow her to hell if she asked him to.

She retook Hinata's hand. "Carry on then."

He saluted her, grinned at her like she was everything to him, and vanished.

They kept walking to the barrier. Hinata never asked what they spoke about. Sakura appreciated the devotion more than she could ever possibly put into words.

They stepped off the street into a courtyard and the barrier was only thirty feet away. The yard was bristling with shinobi watching the entrance under the old temple, waiting for any enemy to somehow break through. A loud cheer went up at her entrance.

She nodded to the dozens of eager faces and as she walked through people touched her arms and slapped her back. All the while they called out adulations and complements and kill-requests. The image of her walking off to war thrilled them. The older generation would have been sickened by their enthusiasm.

They were all her creatures, truly.

She stopped short of entering the temple and the underground walkway. The archway to it was made of weathered stone but still towered above them unshaken, and she stood in the center of the gaping darkness. She raised her voice and silence fell. "All right kids, listen up!"

The silence was strung through with excitement and she grinned at them. "You'll all be guarding this area in case the rebels break through. To tell you the truth I doubt that'll happen. We're done playing around and letting these old bastards do whatever they please, this fight is ending here and now!"

This time the cheers were deafening.

She let them have it for a few seconds, letting it rise and fall around them like waves before her hand flicked and there was silence again. Once upon a time she would have reveled in the adulation greedily, now it was a part of her life and something to be cherished fondly. Her voice rose proudly. "Hold the line, protect each other, and I'll see you when this is over. Godspeed."

The shouting and applause and stomping of their feet, followed her and Hinata until they stepped into the dusty temple, slipped down the stairs, and crossed the barrier. The clamour cut off like a switch had been flipped.

Hinata asked coyly. "I suppose our division will be getting a rousing speech as well?"

She smirked. "I do have a knack for it, don't I?"

**Warzone: Temple of Flowers, 11:58 PM**

Nara Shikamaru opened his eyes. "All right. I'm only going to say this once so listen up."

Around him nearly a hundred faces watched him as silent as the grave. Chouji stood at his left shoulder and Ino was at his right, their team stronger, colder, and more driven then he'd ever thought possible. Those lazy and sun drenched genin days were so distant now. He couldn't help but wonder how they'd gotten here.

The rest of their division kneeled around them under the dark rafters, waiting hidden in the temple until the strike. The ID jutsu was already over his eye, giving the world around him a blue-green and glassy sheen.

The kanji for _Fire_ stood out on everybody's left cheek like banners, the one sign that wouldn't have them accidentally killing their own in the melee. Some kanji were neat and small, others had the invisible gel across their entire face. Some even had profanity laced insults written on their armor or skulls painted over their own features. A few had deer antlers on their backs or grinning foxes on their chests. Some had put whisker marks on their faces. Words like hope, damnation, love, strength, hatred, loyalty, pride, and delusion were written on their arms.

Almost all had cherry blossoms, Sakura trees, and fox tails twisted\\ing in dizzying patterns around their wrists.

Shikamaru knew he should have told them to _only_ put the fire kanji on, he knew better than this, ninja were _neurotic_.

He counted the faces with a sigh and already knew everyone was there.

His division was the smallest by necessity. Sakura's division was double his, Jiraiya's Toad division over quadruple that, and Tsunade had the entirely auxiliary and support and medics behind Slug. But his division were the infiltrators and the alarm couldn't be raised until the jamming equipment in the Nara compound was neutralized. Tonight they wouldn't have numbers on their side because a chunk of their ninja had to stay outside the barrier and guard the village walls. Shikamaru doubted Kumo and Iwa had heard in these few short days that a civil war was going on, but they couldn't leave that to chance.

That war would come later; they would have to focus on winning this one first.

Chouji touched his arm and Ino laid a hand on his back. They shared glances and their eyes said it all. They were together, they were angry, and tonight their enemies would _bleed_.

Shikamaru cleared his throat. "I'm not going to lie and say this will be easy, or that if you just follow the plan everyone will make it out alive. It's not that simple but I promise you, if you follow orders more of us will survive than not."

Grim nods answered him and no one spoke. No one even flinched; they all knew what it meant when they'd been assigned to Deer. He tried not to think of his previous commands and the people that had died under them.

The guilt of this night would haunt him for a very long time.

He continued harshly. "We must get to the Nara compound and we must _not be seen_. If the alarm is raised they'll have the entirety of their force on us and the operation will be compromised. That means no big ninjutsu allowed. All of you are assassins, genjutsu users, and taijutsu specialists. Prove to me and your comrades tonight that you were worthy of this."

Shikamaru wasn't one for grand speeches and he finished softly. "We must not be seen. We must not be heard. And we _must not fail_."

The resolute looks he got in return told him his trust was well placed. He looked to the door of the building and an ANBU was crouched there, waiting.

Shikamaru gave the signal. "Tell the General we're moving. Phase Bravo begins now."

**Warzone: Temple of Flowers, North Shrine, 12:05 AM**

The divisions had already been spread out among the old buildings, and her own was waiting patiently for her in the southernmost shrine after she'd given a quick and rousing speech to get their adrenaline flowing. At the moment though, Sakura was standing in the middle of the field hospital watching a swarm of her clones helping the medics prepare for the worst.

Jiraiya stood on one side of her, Hinata the other.

She had been hoping for someone else to be there from the Toad division. Preferably a blond someone, but her wish would not come true tonight.

The Sage spoke blandly. "Are you ready for this?" It was as if he was asking her about the weather and not whether she was ready to kill a few thousand people. But Jiraiya knew her and did not patronize her by pretending to be concerned about her being decliate about killing. She wasn't.

Sakura was a monster and Jiraiya had helped mold her, and she was exactly what he had expected her to be. Her cold-bloodedness had not only been anticipated but welcome.

Jiraiya was awesomely an enabler like that.

"Completely ready." She answered serenely. "Are you?"

"Hell no." He replied glibly. "But that's war for you, coming out of nowhere and fucking with your pacifism."

She rolled her eyes. "You were never a pacifist Jiraiya-sama."

"True." He rubbed his chin. "But I wish I could have been."

The nostalgia in that was as bitter as it was sweet.

"You can go be a tree hugger and write your smut books later." She scoffed. "We have a bit of a problem here to settle first, and bloodshed isn't optional."

He looked at her but his gaze was distant. "I think I'll write a tragedy next."

She raised her eyebrows. "A porn filled tragedy?"

He grinned smugly. "A porn filled tragedy. Why aren't you my apprentice again?"

They laughed like this wasn't the most surreal situation they'd ever been in, and Hinata cut in. "I think we should get back to our division, Sakura."

She sighed. "True." And looked around one last time. Tsunade and Shizune were nowhere to be seen, off preparing the sterilized surgical tables they'd no doubt need. Sakura would not see the Hokage until dawn, if not later.

Shino and his bugs were off surveying the perimeter to make sure their invasion was still going unnoticed. The other sub-commanders were all with their divisions already.

She looked to Jiraiya. "Where's Naruto?"

He flinched ever so slightly, and if she didn't know him as well as she did, she would have missed it. He offered lamely. "He's…busy preparing Toad."

"Ah." Sakura replied bluntly. "He didn't want to see me then."

Hinata made an angry hissing noise and Jiraiya looked sheepish. "I was hoping you wouldn't read into it."

She put an arm around Hinata and felt weirdly defended just by association. "S'all right." There just wasn't time to sort through their trust issues. "We'll deal with it later. I should—"

An ANBU landed by her side and whispered in her ear. She closed her eyes. "Shikamaru just kicked off phase Bravo. Excuse us; we have to get to our division _now_."

Jiraiya was already moving. "I guess I can see where I'm not wanted. Don't be a stranger Sakura!" He had his own division to lead and he went to do it.

She had to stop herself from waving goodbye, and she and Hinata sprinted to the southern shrine. A shushin this close to their enemy was too risky to chance. There were just as many chakra sensors on her side as theirs, and a hell of a lot more Hyuga.

She wondered briefly where the Kyuubi had gotten off to, but the area inside the barrier hadn't been burning when she'd gotten here and she couldn't send clones out to look for him this early. She'd just have to wait, pray, and hope to hell the Demon wouldn't crash the party.

Over two hundred ninja were waiting for her in the shrine. All were kneeling except Neji and he was standing with arms crossed and seal bared. Hanabi looked rather unhappy about kneeling and would barely meet Sakura's eyes. Tenten seemed entirely content and was flicking a shuriken back and forth across her knuckles.

Sakura beckoned. "Time's up. Keep it quiet, blend in, and try not to die."

For two hundred ninja they fanned out in perfect silence. As soon as they were outside many were pulling on fake civilian clothing, breaking off into marauding bands that would slip into the crowds of civilians around the compound. Others using Sakura's patented distract-the-Byakugan genjutsu, were already swathed in it and moving across the rooftops.

Sakura donned her genjutsu and her own little squad fell in around her. Hinata, Neji, Hanabi (because, Sasuke would kill her if she didn't keep an eye on the girl), Tenten, and three other jonin she couldn't place by name made her team. They took to the roofs. Overhead the barrier arched like burning fire, casting the world in a dizzying violet blaze.

With the ID jutsu on her eye giving its own blue-green tilt, her world was a wash of surreal colors trapped in a shattered kaleidoscope, and she wondered what blood would look like in this light.

**Warzone: Nara Compound, 12:19 AM**

It was his childhood home alone, Shikamaru knew that, but it meant something just as poignant to Ino and Chouji too. They had played in the yards here as children, dug up flowers in the garden for Ino to put in her hair, trashed the kitchen trying to make Chouji's favorite meal, and played Shogi on the porches even though his other two friends got bored.

He and Chouji hadn't been as close (desperately, maddeningly, painfully close) to Ino then as they were now, but the memories were still fond ones.

Sakura had never been allowed to step foot here.

And it would burn, all of them would burn.

Shikamaru placed his hand out, down, and then brought three of his fingers against his palm. His subordinate that was within eyesight saw the signal and relayed it to the next person down the line. They had no working radios and because of that, their formations all had to be in eyesight of each other for any orders to get around.

Their net on the Nara compound was closing. Two minutes until the assault. The genjutsu experts reeled out, getting ready to throw up a massive multi-layered genjutsu to hide what went on inside.

The timing had to be perfect.

One minute.

This had been his childhood home. His father and mother were inside somewhere, unaware their son had come to kill them. He'd thought this would be redemption for what his family had done. It didn't feel like that anymore.

Thirty seconds.

It didn't feel like anything.

The genjutsu surged up and closed. No more time.

Engagement. The guard wandering below him never saw the shadow coming. It was one of his older cousins, Haruka, and he'd given Shikamaru piggyback rides when he was four. The shadow grabbed his cousin's feet and spiraled up his legs and chest.

Shikamaru clenched his hands and twisted. Haruka's neck snapped.

Shikamaru dropped down and laid the body out. Three more guards fell and the net was closing in as they stalked towards the houses that made up the compound. He could see Chouji five yards over with Ino at his side. His friend looked sick.

Ino was grinning harshly.

The shadows around the house came alive. Shikamaru shouted. "PULL BACK!"

His squads leapt away but two of his men, chunin, were too slow on the take. The shadows caught them and they froze, and in seconds they were riddled with kunai. Both were dead before they hit the ground.

Nara Shikaku, his father, stepped out of the shadows and they pooled around him like ink. "Don't do this Shikamaru. You're only going to get all these people killed for that bitch."

Shikamaru growled. "Too late."

Ino snarled. "Don't you dare say a word about Sakura you worthless piece of—" Chouji grabbed her shoulder and she quieted, but her point was made.

Shikaku bowed his head. Nara and Akimichi and Yamanaka poured out of the compound. Had they been ready? Had they been warned? Or were their families just that good?

Shikamaru didn't know. His hand slipped into his pack.

Chouji's father, Choza, looked stricken. "Please Chouji, you can still join us. All of you, you're good kids, that demon just twisted you around until you couldn't remember it. We understand that."

"We're not your good little soldiers anymore." Chouji snarled and took his hands off Ino.

She surged forward, rippling with some manic energy and her grin was feral. "I'm going to skin you traitors slowly, pour your blood out on the table, peel it all back just so I can see what makes your traitorous flesh _tick_."

Both Choza and Shikaku reeled back as if struck, and every one of their enemies looked terrified. Their darling psychotic princess indeed. Shikamaru could not remember loving her more.

Shikaku breathed in sharply. "Inochi would be so disappointed to see what you've become Ino. I'm glad he's not here to see this."

"Yeah, me too." Ino's head tilted and her blonde hair flowed down her cheeks. It didn't hide the biting ice of her eyes. "I'm glad he's dead because you morons would have dragged him into this. I would have _hated_ to take my daddy apart layer by layer."

Some of the air seemed to just leave. The Yamanaka rebels moved back apprehensively because the _knew_ exactly what Ino was capable of, and Shikaku looked at Ino like he'd just never _seen_ her before. His look was one of regret.

"You're too far gone Ino. You'll die with that demon today." Shikaku turned to his son and Shikamaru could still see it in his eyes. His father loved him even now. "Shikamaru please. Can't you see how insane this is? How wrong? We're your family."

The younger Nara didn't have to think twice. "No you're not."

Shikamaru hand left his pack and the flash bang dropped. His squads had been ready and had eyes closed and weapons out. When they light cleared again shadows were twisting across the lawn like snakes, Akimichi were bulking up in size, and the Yamanaka were falling back into support positions.

Shikamaru had seen these formations a thousand times, run them a thousand times more, and been standing in every facet and directing each blow. Ino-Shika-Cho.

He knew the goddamned playbook already.

He shouted. "Ino, Chouji, on me! Squads one through seven storm formation! Eight through fifteen swing it in!"

More flash bangs hit the air, destroying the shadows for three precious seconds. Squads seven and down were in the air, launching kunai like hail and interspersed with fire and lighting and water jutsu. Some Akimichi by sheer size blocked the barrage, other rebels took cover, a few were cut down.

They were scattered out of formation and his father saw the mistake. "Pull in! Don't get—"

Squads eight and up were already coming in from the side, pincer perfect. Shikamaru's genjutsu users had the giants snared and the taijutsu specialists engaged the rebel Nara in hand to hand combat, too quick for his rebel family to get another shadow barrage together.

Chouji and Ino were already at his side. To their far left, Shikamaru pretended not to notice squad sixteen slipping away to the compound in search of the jamming equipment.

Shikamaru pulled back and waited, Ino behind him, Chouji in front of him. He was ready to command the battle the second it turned. Shikaku and Choza would not go down that easily.

The genjutsu were broken for the rebel Akimichi by a few Yamanaka chunin, and the wave from eight and up was pushed back viciously. Shikamaru watched some of his comrades get crushed by giant fists like they were made of paper.

The blood would stay burned on the insides of his eyelids for years.

A few Nara had gotten away and the shadow jutsu were abruptly back into play. More of his shinobi were snagged and the kunai hail came.

"Squad nine!" Shikamaru shouted. The squad, composed of earth and wind users immediately blocked the wave of blades with gales or walls.

That's when Shikamaru saw the exploding tags coming at his position. Ino had his collar and Chouji had them both and then there was nothing but flame. Gravel sheared into his face. He was airborne for a few seconds and then, amazingly, did not hit the ground.

He realized Chouji had him under his arm. Shikamaru opened his eyes and Ino was looking down at him cheerfully from her spot on Chouji's shoulder. "Easy there tiger." She purred.

His abdomen ached; still tender from where it'd gotten blown open at the faux peace negotiation just that morning. Shikamaru made a quick check to make sure his guts hadn't spilled out.

Chouji dropped him on his feet and that's when their rebel cousins fell in on them. Shikamaru was in a taijutsu battle for his life, swinging, ducking, stabbing ,striking.

Ino-Shika-Cho. He already knew this stupid playbook.

He stabbed one of his own cousins in the knee, disabling him enough to trip up an attacker on Ino. Ino gleefully cheered and grabbed her unbalanced opponent, twisted him, looked into his eyes and—

That particular ninja fell to the ground screaming, clawing his eyes out. Shikamaru did not even bother asking what kind of mind-fuck she'd just finished in two seconds flat.

"Drop!" Chouji roared.

Shikamaru and Ino didn't hesitate slamming to their stomachs. Chouji's arm, as big around as a tree and just as heavy, swung overhead. It missed them by inches but their cousins were not so lucky.

Bones snapped and blood sprayed and the bodies fell away with wet cracks. Ino giggled. "Good one Chouji."

"Hell yeah." Chouji's arm resized to normal. "Come on, we can't let Shikaku run the battle or we're fucked."

Shikamaru nodded and Ino was already pulling him up to his feet. They leapt back to the main brawl and it was absolute chaos. The enemy was winning. Shikamaru shouted orders and without question his frantic forces fell back into formation.

Choza towered overhead now at full, skyscraper size, a feat few if any Akimichi left alive could perform. Shikamaru dearly hoped those genjutsu outside were working or every rebel in five miles had seen Choza and was coming for their skins.

"Chouji…" He couldn't ask his teammate for this.

Chouji closed his eyes. "I know." But the question didn't even need to be asked, they knew the stakes.

Ino kissed her boyfriend's cheek. "It'll all be okay someday, I promise."

Chouji nodded and leapt up. Shikamaru was not surprised when his teammate's chakra flared out like butterfly wings without any food pills. The other Akimichi were speechless and Choza was so surprised that Chouji's punch rocked his father off his feet and broke his cheekbone.

Choza shrunk in size, falling, and Chouji followed him down screaming.

Bone broke, blood spattered. Shikamaru didn't know whose it was.

Ino blocked a blow from catching Shikamaru in the temple, shaking him from his distraction, and with casual ease she grabbed his attacker's head. The ninja croaked as she touched him, his eyes rolled back, and the attacker fell practically untouched in a drooling heap.

Ino was destroying minds left and right tonight.

She turned to him, swirling around a blow and breaking the overextended arm at the elbow. "Shikamaru! We need to take your daddy dearest out. Without him running the battle you can take them apart easy!"

He ducked under a kick, kunai in his hand and already driving up into exposed tendons. He nearly severed the leg off and blood gushed down his hands. It was one of Chouji's cousins and the poor boy was only a few years older than him. He fell screaming and out of sheer irritation Shikamaru jammed his heel down on his throat, crushing it instantly.

He didn't look back. "Fine. Track him and lead!"

She saluted, caught a punch, broke the hand, stabbed the offender in the neck, and with casual ease looked over at a Yamanaka trying to catch her in a possession while it happened. Ino tisked. "Naughty girl."

The woman, blonde just like Ino, shouted profanities at them. Ino languidly made a hand seal in her direction.

The woman died by biting off her own tongue and choking on the blood.

Shikamaru could not help raising his eyebrows. "Where have you been keeping these techniques?"

She preened. "Oh, here and there. Come on, I've got a bead on Shikaku." Her jump took her above the fray and he followed. She pointed out his father hanging at the back and directing the battle like Shikamaru should have been.

She made hand seals in his direction and Shikaku immediately jerked up and scowled at them.

Ino sighed. "Too much to ask for."

They were falling on a collision course, and he couldn't help but ask: "Did you just try to brain fry my dad?"

She replied sweetly. "Possibly."

They hadn't even touched down before Shikaku had shadows biting at their heels. "Don't think your mind games will work on me Ino!"

She tittered. "I wouldn't _dream_ of it."

The younger Nara somersaulted sideways and rolled up, throwing kunai as he did.

His father blocked one blade and the other landed behind the man harmlessly. The _harmless_ one had an explosive tag around the handle. Shikamaru made the ignition seal. The explosion caught his father in the back and his look of surprise was priceless.

The sound of his back shredding was less priceless.

His father replaced himself with a tree branch to pullback and asses his wounds, but Ino and Shikamaru doggedly followed him backwards into a house. It was their own.

When Shikamaru kicked down the door he heard his mother scream and his father shout for her to run. The inside smelled faintly of tobacco and freshly baked cookies like he remembered, the floor tile still white and the walls a cheerful yellow.

Shikamaru had helped his mother paint this kitchen.

His father had dragged ash and blood in with him and it coated the floorboards. Nothing about this made sense anymore, in any context.

Ino had not followed him in. Shikaku spun around and nearly caught his son in another shadow. Shikamaru dodged sideways and that's when he saw the front door was rigged. The explosion caught him in the side, splinters of wood shredding him. He'd dodged the worst of it, but the odd hundred splinters now in the young jonin's side burned.

Shikamaru rolled across the floor and when he opened his eyes again his father standing above him. The kick caught Shikamaru in the stomach and flung him back. Kitchen cabinets broke under him and his abdomen crumpled.

Shikamaru's head lolled and he looked around blearily. Blood dripped out of his mouth and it tasted almost like the cough medicine his mom used to give him. His mother was in the doorway to the living room, stricken and pale. "Shikaku please don't—"

"He doesn't want to be our son anymore." His father had a kunai pulled and there was nothing in that man's eyes now. "He's _not_ our son anymore. Please honey, leave…"

His mother turned away and hid her face.

Oh, so Shikamaru didn't even deserve his own mother watching as his father murdered him.

"No one's going anywhere." A girlish voice purred and everyone froze.

Ino had his mother in a chokehold, kunai at her throat. His teammate was humming as she poked the blade in to draw blood. "Get away from Shikamaru or _honey_ here get's the cut."

Shikaku's kunai clattered to the floor and his face was slackened by fear. "Ino, please. You had sleepover here, we cooked for you, we practically raised you! My wife bought you clothes and I read you bedtime stories…"

"You betrayed me." Ino answered coldly and all her cheer was gone. "You betrayed us all. Do you think some kiddie crap like pretty dresses and fairytales were going to erase that?"

Shikamaru swiped the kunai from the floor and jammed it into his father's open side. His mother screamed and Shikamaru didn't even care as he slammed his father down. He straddled the older man, digging the kunai deeper. Shikaku gasped and blood bubbled out of his mouth.

Shikamaru lowered himself down and hissed. "Before you fuckers decided to poison Sakura, when she was convincing Tsunade to let her come to that stupid trap you laid, she told us something."

His father spat up blood. "What…what the hell did that demon bitch tell you Shikamaru? To betray your family? To turn into a monst—"

Shikamaru ground the kunai in. "Shut up. You were on that council sixteen years ago. You took away Sakura's family name, the names of her parents, her even _knowing_ who they were."

Ino breathed in sharply. "Is that true?"

Shikamaru nodded and she let out a low hiss between her teeth. "Oh god Shikamaru, kill him _slowly_."

He pressed in the kunai and his father groaned back. "Just kill me. I'm not giving that demon bitch one more scrap. She took you from me, I won't..."

Shikamaru threw out a shadow around his father's leg, dislocated the knee, and then twisted the joint until it shattered. His father writhed and screamed and the kunai dug deeper, spilling blood all over the younger Nara's hands. He bit out. "Wrong answer. I know you probably secreted that information away somewhere. Where. Is. It?"

Shikaku panted, eyes rolling. "I…I won't…"

Everything had gone cold inside of him. This wasn't redemption for anything. He had wanted to give Sakura this one thing for his family's betrayal. It was too little, too late.

Shikamaru was redeeming no one including himself. Spilling blood never brought forgiveness.

"Ino?"

This was only damnation.

"Oh this will be fun." Ino crooned and drifted over, dragging his civilian mother with. Ino threw his mother down, straddled her on the floor, and started cutting and flaying and—

His mother screamed and his father howled, begging. And Shikamaru felt nothing, nothing, _nothing_—

"Look…" His father whispered. "Look at what that demon has turned you into."

Ino was still cutting, carving, and humming a sweet lullaby.

"You bastards made Sakura." Shikamaru answered harshly. "And maybe Sakura made us, but I just don't care anymore."

Ino dug the kunai into his mother's face, into the eyes…

Shikaku scrambled. "The Uchiha massacre! That demon was part of the Uchiha massacre!"

Everything stopped. Shikamaru looked at Ino. Ino looked at Shikamaru. His mother couldn't look at anybody.

The younger Nara gazed back down and everything was just _gone_. "Do I look like I give a shit?"

Ino went back to work. "Beg your husband, beg him for me and maybe I won't take your lips off too…"

He had grown up in this house. It still smelled like tobacco and cookies and his mother's perfume. Their laughter and smiles lingered in the air. The walls were still a cheerful yellow; he'd help his mother paint them.

Ino was helping him paint them over with blood.

He bit his tongue and there was something coppery in his mouth. It tasted like nothing at all.

His father told them where the information had been hidden when his mother begged long enough. Ino stepped off his mother and the white tiles were slicked red. The shadows crept out and wrapped around his parents faces. They suffocated.

This hadn't lessened the betrayal any in either direction.

"I'm rubbing off on you." Ino commented sadly.

Shikamaru closed his eyes.

She asked him. "Did you believe him, about the Uchiha massacre?"

"They need better lies." He spat out.

She pressed. "And if it was true?"

His eyes opened and he looked at her. "Does it matter?" And honestly it really didn't. Nothing mattered anymore. They were having this conversation over his parents mutilated and tortured _corpses_. Shikamaru was the murderer.

"No." Ino chirped happily. "And I think we'll just keep this to ourselves forever. Come on."

She grabbed his hand and led him out of the house. Shikamaru turned and flung an exploding tag behind him. It would burn, all of it would burn. The fire blazed against his back and it was almost redemption.

"I'm sorry…" He couldn't finish the apology. Months ago Oto assassins had tortured and murdered Ino's parents in their own kitchen. Ino had been the one to find the bodies and had never been the same since.

She had once been an interrogator with a specialty for mental extractions. She was now the premier, sadistic, near neurotic, and most devoted torture specialist in Konoha. Even Ibiki no longer could measure up to the ways Ino could destroy a person with a few well placed words and a sharp edge.

And Shikamaru had just made her relieve the nightmare that had made her from the other side.

Ino kissed his cheek and hugged him. "It's okay. You have nothing to be sorry for Shikamaru, none of us do. I made peace with my demons."

They had everything to be sorry for and clutched onto her, hoping she could convince him differently.

"It'll be okay someday. I promise you Shikamaru, the emptiness will fill right back up and it'll all feel okay." Her voice was soft, and even though in the distance he could hear people screaming and a fight still raging, her voice was all that mattered.

He gripped her tightly and for a second he thought there might be something still alive in his chest. "Promise?"

"Promise." They swayed together and she smiled sadly. "Everything fades."

And that sounded okay. He still had his mind even if everything else had shattered, and they leapt on a nearby roof and found the battle still in swing. It had devolved into chaos with no commander for either side. Chouji was in the middle soaked head to toe in blood and tearing through rebels like they were wet paper.

Chouji's eyes rose and looked at him. Nothing left in there. Choza was dead, Shikamaru knew that, pulped and broken at his own son's hands. At least it'd been in battle, whatever comfort that still held. Not tortured to death on their own kitchen floor…

They had done this. The war hadn't made them do it, their parents hadn't made them do it, Sakura hadn't made them do it. It could have gone a hundred different ways tonight and they had chosen this one.

Chouji and him always had been kindred spirits. Shikamaru smiled brokenly. Chouji smiled back and it was like shattered glass.

They had chosen _this one_.

The radio on his belt buzzed and the line clicked open. The jamming signal was gone; squad sixteen had pulled through. He lifted the radio and thumbed it on-channel. "Attention all forces, phase Bravo is now complete, proceed now to phase Charlie."

And there was no going back.

**Warzone: 1:26 AM**

The Toad division blended in, watched from the roofs, and waited patiently for the signal to come. Naruto sat cross legged in the alley with his eyes closed. The radio in his ear still buzzed static.

Jiraiya nudged him. "So do I ever get to hear about why you and Sakura are being so pissy?"

Naruto answered flatly. "No."

"Damn." Jiraiya sighed. "Seriously, when you two fight it's like the passive-aggressive championship match."

From nearby Kiba added. "Passive-aggressive-bitching championship."

"Good one!" The Sage called back brightly.

Naruto snarled in their general direction.

The radio clicked on, channel clear, and Shikamaru's voice came on flatly. _"Attention all forces, phase Bravo is now complete, proceed now to phase Charlie." _It cycled off.

From his position against the alley wall, Sasuke rose up and cracked his neck. "About damn time."

Kiba howled in glee. "Let's light some fires!"

Naruto brought his hands together into a seal.

Jiraiya flipped on the radio. "Listen up Toad, the party's about to start so if you'd turn your attention to the sky…"

"Boom." Naruto grinned.

And fifteen square blocks across a mile of the city went up in concussive flame. The ninja of Toad unveiled and leapt into the screaming crowds. The civilians were cut down like wheat. Blood and chaos was the order of the night and it was all just one messy distraction.

Naruto wondered if he could kick Kiba's ass without any noticing. The Inuzuka seemed to have figured that out and was already a street over wreaking havoc. Naruto let the thought and the Inuzuka go.

Naruto knew he was angry for different reasons: that Kiba had somehow ended up closer to Sakura in these past few days than he had, that Sakura gave confidence to some of her friends but not him. That Sakura was clutching onto lies and secrets that could destroy them and she seemed well and damned determined to go down with them and maybe take Naruto and Sasuke too.

He ran into the street and the first person he killed was a girl with dark hair and pale skin. She was young, too young.

Naruto thought of Sakura and wondered if she was thinking of him.

**Warzone: 1:30 AM**

Sakura heard Shikamaru's announcement and seconds later saw enough of the village blow to wonder if there was such a thing as too much C4. Probably not, but still.

She switched to the Fox division channel. "Five minutes to breech. Everyone will be running off to fight Toad and the compound will be as clear as it gets. Nothing flashy, we don't need to draw them back in."

She flicked it off and started counting down. From their position on the roof she could easily see dozens of ninja, most not Hyuga, running off from the compound to go fight. The Hyuga hung back waiting to see what happened, no doubt on Hiashi's orders.

She wasn't surprised. The Hyuga had always been willing to let others go into the grinder first. There was a reason so much of the clan had survived the Kyuubi sixteen years ago. Her voice pitched low. "Tell me the plan one more time Hinata."

The lady Aburame's demeanor was cool and detached. "The central array is in the hub of the compound, only a hallway off of where you pulled us out of that cell. It can relay verbal messages to anyone of Hyuga blood. I can use it to talk to all the Branch House at once, but…"

Sakura raised her eyebrows. Hinata's face darkened. "The problem is the Main house will hear it too and they'll be all over us in seconds."

"Then we'll just have to get creative." Sakura assured.

To her right, Neji growled. "I'll take Hiashi on myself, don't worry, I'll protect you from everything Hinata."

Hinata reached over and gripped his arm. "I don't need it, but thank you. Whoever my father fights though he fights, we can't let vendettas get in the way."

Neji's face told them he would be getting in vendettas all over the place tonight. Hinata rubbed her forehead and conceded. "Just don't die."

"We kill them now or we kill them later, either way it doesn't matter. It just saves Echo Phase the trouble." Hanabi was back to talking again, proximity to her old home bringing out her usual dry remarks.

Everyone instead of looking to the girl, stared at the jinchuuriki instead. Sakura knew exactly why this was and waved them off. "Don't give me that look. Echo phase gets here when it gets here."

And that was that.

Sakura counted down the minutes and no one spoke a word. A small hand tugged on her pants leg. She looked down and saw Hanabi's determined face. The girl asked. "I need to talk to you. Two minutes."

They needed to clear the air. Wordlessly Sakura grabbed the younger Hyuga, draped them in a silence genjutsu, and sat them back on the roof away from everyone.

"Go for it." Sakura ordered.

Hanabi took a short breath. "Sasuke…told me. That thing with the massacre, that you were..." She paused and bit down on her lip. "You did it, didn't you?" The girl looked up and pale eyes met jade. It was a defiant stare as if daring Sakura to say that yes, she had done it.

Daring her to be the monster they both knew she already was.

Sakura tilted her head curiously. "I did."

Hanabi looked crushed for a moment. "Oh."

"I'm sorry if you wanted me to lie." The jinchuuriki buffed her nails on her shirt. "Anything else you wanna get off your chest?"

The younger girl bristled. "Don't just brush it off like that! It was his family you killed in cold blood!"

Sakura was unimpressed. "And if you hadn't noticed I'm about to go kill your family in cold blood in, oh…a minute and forty seconds."

Hanabi scowled. "This isn't the same thing."

Except that it was. Sakura wanted to kill some people and, eventually, they got killed. This time just happened to be sanctioned.

She cut to the chase. "Look, Uchiha are dead and I did it. Sasuke and I already had our hash-out over this. Why are you bringing it up?"

"He thought…" Hanabi looked down and suddenly seemed to realize just _who_ she was talking to. Her voice cooled. "He was worried telling me would put me in danger. That'd I'm some kind of hostage that you'd kill if he attacked you, or if I even knew."

Sakura palmed her forehead. "Okay. Let's lay this out fast. I may, _may_ have made some implications about your safety in relation to this matter coming out, but I have since rethought those implications. I love Sasuke and Sasuke loves you. I love Hinata and Hinata loves you. I will _never_ hurt you Hanabi."

Hanabi blinked in shock. "…really?"

Sakura nodded wearily. "Really. This is between me and him and I won't drag you into it. Look, I _like_ you Hanabi and I'm not going to be slitting your throat in this lifetime."

"But you could." Hanabi accused.

"I could." Sakura admitted. "But I'm choosing not to. And really, coming from me you have no idea what that means."

Except with the way Hanabi looked at her, maybe Hanabi really did understand what it meant. For Sakura not to kill someone just to make things easier for herself…

She undid the genjutsu. "Okay. Heart to heart's done. We have twenty seconds until we breech."

No one on the roof even looked at them funny. Sakura came to the unfortunate conclusion that everyone had become inoculated against her bizarreness. The jinchuuriki was oddly let down by that.

The thought left and she sighed, for once genuinely relieved over everything.

She thought the circle on the massacre had finally closed between the four of them, her team, her broken family of brothers and sisters once bound by something that could have been called love. But unknown to her the poison of the Uchiha massacre had not stopped spreading, and the fractures would run deep.

**Warzone: Abandoned District, 1:32 AM**

Hatake Kakashi had beenexamining the detritus of the lab when the ground rocked and explosions tore through the night. The Inuzuka and Hyuga surrounding him ran to the doors. By the time he followed they had already poured outside to stand. They'd stared slack jawed at the sky. The purple fire of the barrier had been outshone by orange flame, and ninjutsu was already lighting up across the district.

Kakashi swore and felt his insides freeze. He knew what this was. "They're attacking. Fuck. Everyone listen up, I need Asuma and Iruka and anyone else you can grab brought here."

They looked at him strangely, some seeming ready to run off and join the fight regardless of his orders. He barked out. "NOW."

That sent them running. Kakashi closed his one visible eye and rubbed at it. It was all coming down to the wire, the secrets had been dragged out, the seeds of doubt laid. Yet one secret remained out of his reach. What had Sakura been making here?

His eyes shot open. Wars had been started with less than he knew, traitors made, battles turned. This lab was wreathed in secrets and lies but he didn't have to _know_ them to _use_ them.

Asuma got there first with a handful of chunin and two Hyuga. Iruka arrived next with most of the Inuzuka and a handful of extra jonin. No one else came back.

Asuma grimaced and the scar split through his cheek (courtesy of Kurenai) twisted. "What the hell is it Kakashi?"

The jonin in question spread his arms out at the lab behind him. "Our way of breaking the Death Squad."

Silence greeted him. Kakashi took that as invitation to continue. "Asuma, I need you to take as many people as you need and corner Sasuke back into the Uchiha district."

His fellow jonin looked at him like he was insane. "Why?"

"I'll explain in a second." Kakashi waved him off. "Iruka, I want you to take some of the Inuzuka and track Hanabi down, try not to lose another arm to her."

Iruka scowled, clutched his mutilated arm, but nodded.

One of the Hyuga spoke up. "And what about Uzumaki?"

Kakashi looked around slowly. "I'll bring him here. It's about time he sees the lies his girlfriend is capable of."

"And what lies are those?" Asuma asked.

And Kakashi explained about the whole ghastly affair: Uchiha massacre, fights between teammates, nearly killing each other, distrust, recriminations, and finally the secret lab here that seemed to be the center of it all. He then laid out his plan. It was reckless and it was crazy but most of all: it was the last option they had left.

**Warzone: 1:45 AM**

It would go down as the worst war in Konoha's history but in the middle of burning buildings, dying civilians, and under that eerie violet blaze of the sky, Kiba was having the time of his life. It probably wasn't healthy but out of everyone, Kiba would likely come out the most well adjusted.

Every one of the clan children that had stayed loyal to the Hokage had coped differently, with tonight and the betrays leading up to it.

Shikamaru had thrown himself into unraveling the conspiracy, Ino had used her skills to squeeze every last word of treason from their enemies, Chouji had tried his best to take care of them both, Hinata had devoted herself to her new family by marriage, and Hanabi had immersed herself into Sasuke's life and seemed happy never to return to the clans.

Kiba himself had wept for his sister, cursed at his mother, made a new friend in Sakura, but moved on. As the only male child of his mother and Alpha bitch of their pack, Kiba had always held the threat of becoming the Alpha since his birth. Instinct had his mother holding him at arm's length. She had trained him certainly, disciplined him, and eaten meals with him over the years.

But Kiba had never really been her son, and she had no interest in being his mother and doting on him. His sister Hana had at least given him affection and played with him, but the age gap had been large and as fellow siblings of the Alpha their bickering and scraps had sometimes turned ugly. Boys usually won out as pack leader over girls, and though Hana knew this it hadn't stopped her in the least from trying to beat him.

Instinct was something deeply ingrained in all Inuzuka and Kiba was no different. He'd been part of the pack but his mother had never let him in too much out of some fear of his eventual usurpation. Because of that Kiba had been rash as a kid, restless, angry at the world, willing to fight and insult anything that moved in his path.

Then he'd been put on a genin team and Hinata had mothered him more than his entire family combined, and Shino had been the confidant and steady rock of his life his temperamental sister never could be. They'd been the things he most needed. They had trusted him, loved him, and let him into every inch of their lives. There was no stading on the outside looking in with his team.

There were some things thicker than blood and Kiba had found them. It didn't matter to him anymore if he ever became an Alpha, though he knew his cousins that had stayed on the Hokage's side would probably pick him when the dust settled and the bodies were counted.

But Kiba had become one of _Sakura's_ these hellish few days, and the second he'd looked at her he knew she was _it_. He didn't need to be a leader, didn't need to resent his mother for denying him, didn't have to feel frustrated for being at arm's length from his own pack.

Sakura had given him a new pack that he was fully welcome in. One where he had no chance of ever leading and that had removed that frustrated burden from him. His instincts no longer ate at him to fight and break and conquer like they'd had since he was born.

Kiba didn't know if it was just instinct bowing to a superior alpha, a dose of lust, a weird sort of crush, or what the hell it was when he looked at Sakura. Whatever it was though Kiba had it, and that's what allowed him to cheerfully skip into this civil war and come out the other side unscathed.

Kiba dodged a fire jutsu, rolled sideways, and leapt back on the attack and let his teeth and claws _tear_. His enemy was eviscerated across the ground and Akamaru barked at him, already warning him of the next attack.

He caught a punch on his forearm and then grabbed the offending hand and twisted it into a lock. Kiba held the jonin in place as Akamaru ripped out the man's throat in one vicious bite.

"Good job boy." He patted his partner's head and the fur there was already soaked through with blood. Akamaru yipped excitedly and reminded him of the puppy that had once ridden along in his hood. The spattered bear-sized dog was far beyond that now.

A ninja sprinted by him, but with the ID jutsu on his eye Kiba saw the kanji for fire and didn't react. Rock Lee waved at him before leaping off to kick an chunn in the back, breaking the enemy in two in the process.

Kiba snorted. "Awesome."

The fur his hand was buried in on Akamaru's neck abruptly bristled up. A guttural snarl ripped from his partner's throat and Kiba turned. He smelled the air and there was sweat, scars, and fur on the wind.

Inuzuka Tsume, his mother, stood behind him with no partner of her own. The lack was all thanks to that catastrophe of a peace negotiation that morning and Tenten killing her dog.

Tsume's pack was arrayed out behind her, only half as large as they'd once been. Some had defected to the Hokage and the others were no doubt off fighting elsewhere.

In all they numbered nearly three dozen.

He saw the scars on her face caused by the acid of Hinata's beetle pet (another souvenir of that cluterfuck of a negotiation) and he smirked. She saw the smirk and her face turned stony. "You betrayed the pack Kiba."

He patted Akamaru's flank and moved to attack position. "You dumbasses aren't my pack. If you hadn't noticed my Alpha is a real stone cold bitch of a fox." His grin was practically feral.

His mother barked. "You've fallen in with that demon whore!"

Kiba belonged somewhere now and nothing could take that. His grin widened. "I'd do more than just _fall in_ with her if I could." The lecherous raising of his eyebrows probably helped no one, but his mother's horrified look was more than worth it.

He let his eyes wander while that sunk in and he realized he was outnumbered by a disturbing margin. Abruptly two people landed on either side of him. Kiba was mildly surprised to find Uchiha Sasuke and Rock Lee backing him up.

Sasuke slung his scythe over his shoulder and it was absolutely _filthy_ with blood and burnt flesh. "Need a hand?"

Kiba rolled his eyes. "If you _insist_."

Lee smiled brightly but it was marred by a new sadness. "It would be unyouthful to leave you to fight alone Kiba!" The boisterous, hopeful, idealistic Rock Lee would never be the same after tonight.

None of them would.

Kiba had a new pack now. "Yeah, all right, you losers can fight at my awesome side. Let's go kick some ass!"

Sasuke swung his scythe and lightening splintered out and the sheer force of it had his mother's pack scattering. Lee blurred into a taijutsu combination faster than anything Kiba had ever _seen_. The spandex clad boy cleared the way to his mother and Kiba followed while spiraling into a vicious attack. The street was soon filled with the smell of burnt fur, the snarl of fighting dogs, and the crack of breaking bone.

**Warzone: Nara Compound, 1:55 AM**

The ground stunk of death and around him every single home that made up the compound burned. The genjutsu that had surrounded them for the past hours slipped away, revealing to anyone who cared to know that the Nara, Akimichi, and Yamanaka were dead.

Shikamaru breathed in and looked at the battlefield. His division had nearly a twenty percent fatality, another thirty percent casualty. The injured had already been rushed back to the field hospital and the safety of the foothold at the temple.

Chouji looked at him despondently. "What now?"

Shikamaru was having a hard time remembering as his childhood memories burned down around him. What did come next?

Ino put her hands on their shoulders. "We need to clear an evacuation corridor for the Hyuga Sakura's rescuing. Come on Commanders, the night's still young."

Shikamaru steeled himself. He still had a job to do. He hit the radio. "Listen up Deer, phase Charlie means we should have been securing Fox's evacuation corridor yesterday. Everyone keep in mind of your assigned locations and move out. If you have wounded take them to the foothold and return. Move out."

**Warzone: Hyuga Compound, 2:07 AM**

They had breeched and infiltrated faster than Sakura could have hoped for. The Main House guards were killed while the Branch were knocked out. They made their way rapidly within the compound henged and covered in genjutsu, mindful they'd save more people getting out the message undetected.

Sakura and Hanabi ranged ahead of the group, the younger girl once again content in Sakura's presence and effortlessly followed her lead. If nothing else, Sakura could appreciate Hanabi's ability to mesh with near anyone without any effort. She also appreciated the girl's capacity to forgive.

Or if not forgive, at least understanding Sakura's neurosis and that no one Hanabi cared for was in danger from it anymore. It was probably the best Sakura could give at the moment.

The relay hub was unguarded but with the sheer chaos going on around them, Sakura wasn't surprised. With Hanabi's Byakugan they quickly cleared the area. Sakura slit the last throat of a chunin she didn't know and his family that was with him, and laid their bodies out under an overhang.

Hinata stepped into the hub, revealing a complicated sealing array painted over the floors and onto the walls and across the ceiling. Hinata nodded back at them(maybe an assurance), and calmly cut her hand and spilled the blood on the array. It activated and Hinata breathed in deeply. "Attention everyone, this is Aburame Hinata, your exiled cousin."

A stillness seemed to grip the compound as if everyone had sucked in a breath at once. Hanabi and Neji had grabbed their heads but they didn't seem to be in any pain.

"It's weird having her voice in my head." Hanabi commented for Sakura's benefit. "But it's like a bad feedback standing this close to the relay."

Sakura took her word for it. She joined Tenten and the jonin in setting traps and a perimeter and preparing for the worst. Hanabi moved to protect her sister while she continued using the array. Neji put himself firmly in the middle looking ready to kill anything that came near them.

Hinata kept speaking. "My cousins of the Branch house, the Hokage has offered you amnesty and asylum if you leave now. There are three areas you can go: one at the north wall, another at the south wall, and here at the relay itself. Our forces are waiting to take you from here. Run now and please hurry. I now you're listening to me father, I'll be waiting."

The good news was for a caged seal to be activated, a Main House Hyuga needed an eye-line on the victim, and if not an ey- line they needed a chakra sample. Most of the Branch could escape now as the chakra samples were stored and needed time to gather. The rest that were in eyesight of a Main House…well, that's what Sakura's division was here for. Full on rescue was the name of the game tonight. She summoned at least thirty clones and sent them on search and rescue into the compound.

They'd get out with survivors any way they could.

The first Branch members ran to them. The one at the front was a woman a few years older than them in a servant's uniform. "Hinata-sama?" The woman spotted Neji and nearly fell at his feet. " Neji-sama, you came back for us!"

Neji's eyes looked suspiciously misted. "I promised I would Kaya." He bent down and pulled a cylinder from his pack. It was the invisible gel and he quickly scrawled the kanji for _fire_ across her left cheek. He then pressed it into her hand. "Mark everyone else; it'll make sure our people won't kill you."

Kaya nodded and went to help out and mark the others that were arriving. The Branch gathered and one of Sakura's jonin led the first group out of the compound on the path they'd already cleared. Kaya remained behind, determined to keep marking her family.

There were a lot of disbelieving stares, relieved tears, and promises of devotion as they evacuated. Neji and Hinata got most of it, but Sakura had a decent share towards the end. Hanabi hung back content not to be anyone's savoir.

Sakura got a trickle of memories from her clones but said nothing. Some Branch were being slaughtered and tortured on the spot, her clones and Division too late to save them, but saving some was better than none.

Hinata stepped out of the hub, composed even though she probably knew what was happening in the compound around them. "I imagine my father will be here soon. I've insulted him too many times today for him to do anything but gather everyone and try and kill me here." There was a small, almost smug smile at this. At the peace negotiation that morning (that Sakura had gleefully ruined) Hinata had demonstrated practical _artistry _on how to verbally castigate someone.

Now she was using that to distract Hiashi into coming after them, giving her cousins as long as she could give them to escape. Hinata had an odd way of using cruelty for kindness.

Sakura had never been prouder. "I believe you have been rather rebellious today." The jinchuuriki then cursed unhappily. "I knew I should have brought popcorn."

Hinata patted her hand. "I'm sure—"

Kaya fell to the ground, screaming. A Main House Hyuga had finally come on them and activated her caged seal. Sakura dropped her gravity seals and in less than a fraction of a second was on top of the Hyuga and ripping off his fingers. No fingers meant no seal, and no hand seal meant no cage seal flaring.

Kaya fell panting and Sakura looked down at the Hyuga dispassionately. "Idiot." She backhanded him so hard his neck snapped.

Neji lifted Kaya and pushed her. "Get out of here."

She shook her head and clutched the cylinder. "Not until everyone else is."

He sighed but didn't ask again.

More Branch came but abruptly the flow cut off. Sakura knew what was happening. The Main House had surrounded their exfil point and cut them off. They were in the middle of the compound and surrounded on all sides. It was not an unexpected development.

The extra jonin with them were all gone escorting Branch Hyuga out. Now only Sakura, Hinata, Neji, Hanabi, and Tenten remained to defend.

Neji's range was the widest and his Byakugan was active. "They've netted us in. They're closing in now."

"Good." Sakura unsheathed her katana and tested the weight of it.

Tenten had her own sword out, a wicked and serrated thing of curving steel. "I've been looking forward to this for a _long_ time." And Sakura did not doubt her for a second, not with the small, calm, and nearly deranged smile on the other girl's face.

Hinata was somber. "We left here prisoners and we came back conquerors."

"They chose this; we just wanted to be free and they dragged us into a war." Hanabi worked out the kinks in her neck. Lightning was already crackling along her skin. Sasuke had been teaching his girlfriend some tricks.

Neji's hands clenched and unclenched and he looked as if he'd never expected this day to come. "They're here."

The roofs filled, their avenues were cut off, and Hyuga Hiashi stepped into the courtyard they were standing in. The Main House Hyuga and a few dozen Branch numbered close to a hundred.

That meant at least a hundred Branch had already escaped.

Sakura absently flicked on her radio. She vocalized low enough for only the open line to pick up. "My division, we have the majority of the Main House now engaged. Evacuate the Branch and retreat as soon as possible. I repeat, evacuate and retreat as soon as possible."

Affirmatives buzzed in her ear from her subordinates. Estimates of rescue were already pouring in. They had saved more than would die from the Branch house tonight, and that gave Sakura some comfort.

Hinata saw the Branch members still there among their enemy. She called out. "Any of my cousins left with the seal I advise you to run now. Once the battle starts your lives are out of my hands."

Hiashi gestured to the man standing next to him. The new heir to the Hyuga with both daughters gone. The man smiled viciously and formed a familiar seal. All the Branch there fell screaming.

Sakura phased in next to him. "That's not nice." And proceeded to cut of one of his arms up to the elbow.

The Hyuga screamed and blocked her swinging on into his chest, but Sakura was undeterred and reached out with a hand wreathed in medical chakra and cut his spinal cord. He fell to the ground twitching and bleeding, his arm a stump.

It had lasted less than three seconds and Sakura was back standing next to Hinata again.

The lady Aburame called out. "Go!"

The Branch ran and the second anyone tried to make a seal Sakura was there, a blur of dark hair and feral eyes and cutting them to ribbons. When the Branch had retreated out of range Hiashi thundered. "I should have killed you the moment you were born Hinata! You are a disgrace, a traitor, and turning your back on your family name to go marry into some _freak_ of a clan."

It was then Sakura noticed the beetle sitting in the folds of Hinata's armor. The acid spitter King Beetle. Sakura suddenly had an inkling of what was coming.

"The only freaks here are those that use a seal to torture their own family." Hinata raised her chin defiantly. "The only freak here is _you_!"

Hinata moved faster than Sakura had ever seen her move. She was in Hiashi's face in a second flat, bent low with her arms spread wide. "You are within my field of divinitation." Hinata spun into a style of jyuken that was faster than lightning and more fluid than water.

Hiashi blocked every blow but the ferocity of Hinata's attack had him staggering. Neji had already cleared the gap and joined Hinata's assault, and the two cousins effortlessly battered at his defenses. When one attacked the other guarded, when one guarded the other attacked. When Hiashi went for either of them any opening was exploited by the other.

It was like they had trained for years for just this one fight.

The other Hyuga tried to help their clan head. Sakura wasn't having any of it. Crimson chakra poured into the night air and she let her killing intent loose. Everyone froze except Neji and Hinata, and Sakura grinned. "Your fight's with me!"

A whistling sound split the night. Weapons fell from the sky like hail and nearly twenty Hyuga were cut down before they recovered. Sakura lazily pointed to Tenten who was readying another barrage. "And her."

Then Hanabi was in the front line, crackling with lightning chakra and grinning. Sakura joined the girl. "Her too."

And the Hyuga compound exploded into battle.

**Warzone: Temple of Flowers, Field Hospital, 2:40 AM**

Tsunade was doing the most important work tonight. Certainly, the battle could be won and the enemy killed, but saving lives was what counted. There would be another war, there was no denying that, and the price this civil war took on them wouldn't be left alone by Iwa or Kumo. If Konoha was to survive the next year as many of their ninja had to live as possible. They had to live to fight the next war.

That was why Tsunade was in here, over this medical table, pouring out her chakra to save another's life. This was more important than being on the front line by far. She was holding her own village's life her in her hands tonight, and Tsunade wasn't the queen of medics for nothing.

Shizune ran in. "Tsunade-sama! Maito Gai just came in, he released five of the gates gates, has two broken legs, and stress fractures on his arms. He's also losing blood from an abdominal injury from a kunai hitting his ribs at high speeds!"

The Sakura clones at the table immediately took over. "Go Hime, this guy is already out of the woods. Go take care of Gai."

Tsunade nodded and rushed to the next table. She could barely look at Gai as mutilated as he was. Most of it was self inflicted from the Gates and throwing his body around at inhuman and intolerable speeds. "We could have won this battle without the gates! Why the hell was he so stupid?"

Shizune looked at her with the clearest, most razor sharp eyes Tsunade had ever seen. Shizune answered the Hokage like she understood perfectly. "Guilt. Most of his friends became traitors. Maito-san loved Konoha so much and to see it tear apart like this…I suppose he would rather go out in a blaze then see the aftermath." Maybe Shizune did understand perfectly.

But like _hell_ she'd admit it.

"Not if I can help it." Tsunade's hands crackled green and she scowled. "This son of a bitch is going to live. No one's dying here until I freaking say so."

**Warzone: 2:47 AM**

Naruto had been in the middle of a wind jutsu big enough to take out a block when a clone of Sakura's breezed by.

He blinked, cancelled the jutsu, and followed her. "Sakura…clone Sakura?"

The clone skidded to a halt and turned to him, surprise and something like nervousness crossing her face. It vanished quickly and she smiled widely. It looked sinister beneath her scarlet eyes. "Hey Naruto, something I can help you with?"

"What are you doing out here? Shouldn't you be back with Sakura at the Hyuga compound?" He asked.

The clone looked at him strangely. "Why would I be…?" She cut off abruptly. "Ah, Sakura sent me to work…elsewhere."

"On what, killing people?" And he supposed that wasn't _that_ much of a stretch for Sakura.

The clone shrugged and agreed just a bit too readily. "Yep."

And something with this whole situation was off. She moved in. "I should be going." And made to kiss him.

He reeled back, slightly embarrassed, and the clone stared at him.

"Are we…" The clone gapped at him. "Are we having a fight? When did that happen?"

"We've been fighting for days." He looked at the clone closer and finally the pieces clicked. She was wearing what Sakura had been wearing. A week ago. "How old are you?"

"Eh." The clone hedged. "Couple of days."

"Sakura never runs clones longer than a few hours, so why…" He didn't get to finish the question before the next one came to him. "You were inside the barrier before it went up. What the hell were you doing in here?"

The clone glanced at him, behind him, and wouldn't meet his eyes. "Uh…" A block over the Kyuubi's chakra went up like an eruption. The clone cursed. "Fuck it looks like Ky—ah—one my sisters is having fun. I should go. Like, _now_." And the clone leapt off faster than he could track.

He tried following it but the red chakra was so intense he couldn't get within a block of the source. The clone harmlessly slipped into the red flame and vanished within.

Naruto had the feeling he was missing something.

**Warzone: 2:52 AM**

Kiba prodded the wound on his side, it was bleeding but it wasn't particularly deep. Once upon a time an Oto kunoichi had stabbed him in the middle of a Tsuuga and nearly spilled his guts out. Since then he'd always been particularly careful when his side got wounded.

It made the spinning and twisting of Inuzuka technique pretty freaking difficult.

His mother spat out a wad of blood, sporting a wound down her thigh and more bruises than he could count. "Give up yet whelp?"

He bared his teeth. "You wish old hag."

The fight was back on, twisting, snarling, clawing, and biting at whatever flesh could be reached. Any civility had long gone out the window and now instinct was all that ruled them. Kiba would rip out her throat with his teeth if given half the chance.

Nearby he heard Akamaru snarling, keeping three of his cousins off his back and out of the fight. Elsewhere Lee was pin-balling through the fight like a demented squirrel, keeping most of the Inuzuka so distracted Kiba's fight was clear.

Every once and awhile thunder would crack and something would burn. Sasuke was efficiently and brutally racking up a kill count that made his and Lee's efforts look rather paltry. Still, Kiba appreciated it. Without them he'd have been dead in this fight a dozen times over.

Then wind ripped through the street and Sasuke shouted in alarm.

"Sasuke!" Kiba called and for a split second allowed himself to look.

Asuma Sarutobi was in the street, trench knives out and sheathed in wind chakra, locked against Sasuke's scythe. "You're coming with me."

Sasuke scoffed. "What makes you say that?"

Two more rebels suddenly had Sasuke's arms pinned. Asuma smirked. "Them."

They forced Sasuke backwards and punched him into the next street. They followed him in a burst of wind and vanished. Kiba waited a second but Sasuke didn't reaper. This fight had suddenly gotten more complicated.

"Damn it!" Kiba cursed.

Lee tried to pick up the slack. "Hurry Kiba-san!" The taijutsu specialist would need help fighting the rest of the pack, and soon.

Kiba knew what he had to. He turned back on his mother and asked. "So why wasn't it good enough?" His punch cracked his mother in the ribs.

She staggered but then swept out his feet from under him. She panted. "What wasn't good enough?"

"Serving the Hokage, the village." Kiba kicked at her ankle and she leapt. He used the opening to jump back up to his feet. "What the hell were we losing? A little control? You killed my sister just because your pride was wounded!"

"You're such a fucking child Kiba." His mother snarled and her scars made her look more animal than human. "This is about more than pride, if you'd stop sniffing after that demon whore long enough to look at the situation you'd see what this is. And that demon was the one to _kill_ Hana!"

"From where I'm standing it was all for your pride." Kiba felt a low, guttural rumble building in his chest. "From where I'm standing you filled Hana's head up with that pack loyalty bullshit and let her skip off to try and kill a jinchuuriki. A jinchuuriki who did _nothing _to you!"

He launched himself at her and the tumbled across the ground, both in a Tsuuga and tearing and grinding and bleeding, the earth shredding under them as they shredded each other.

His mother landed on top of him and bit back. "You wouldn't understand, without seeing what happened sixteen years ago…"

"I've seen Sakura!" He roared. "I've seen her when she's full-on in that demon's chakra and ripping people apart! I've seen that demon's eyes in her face!" His voice dropped into that rumble in his chest and it came out guttural. "I've seen what you fear mother and I'm not afraid."

He would have ripped his mother's throat out with his teeth if given half the chance.

Demonic chakra rose on the horizon like a flare, and Kiba knew the Hyuga were about to be in for sheer hell from his foxy Alpha. Tsume looked up, startled.

She gave him half the chance.

His teeth tore into the soft flesh of her throat. Blood poured into his mouth and splashed across his face. It filled his nose, hot and bitter and choking.

Hit mother screamed and thrashed and he dug his teeth in deep and _ripped_—

The screams stopped. Everything on the street stopped.

The Alpha was dead. Kiba didn't bother wiping his mouth as he stood, but he spat out the flesh and skin. Lee stood frozen a few feet away, unsure of why everything had stopped.

Kiba knew. _Instinct. Pack. Alpha._

The line of succession had passed.

One of his cousins spoke. "Kiba-sama…"

It was a poor excuse.

"Do you think I'll just come over and become your alpha? Spare you after what you've done?" Kiba spat out blood between them, his mother's blood. "You made your bed, now you fuckers get to lie in it."

"We followed Tsume." One of the older men tried. "We'll follow you, obey you."

Kiba looked up and his eyes were hell. "No."

There was no forgiveness in him tonight. He already had his pack and there was no room for traitors in it.

**Warzone: Uchiha Compound, 3:21 AM**

Civilians were dying by the hundreds out there, half the districts were on fire, explosions were going up like fireworks, and yet here in the silence of the Uchiha compound that all seemed to be a distant dream.

The scent of old blood still filled these streets.

He was blind now and yet Sasuke could see every inch of that long ago day as if he had eyes. The day he'd found his family dead at Itachi's hands.

…at Sakura's hands.

Bile climbed up the back of his throat. "Is this supposed to shake me Asuma?"

Asuma lowered his trench knives. "No. It's supposed to make you remember. Kakashi told me everything."

The Uchiha stiffened. "If you think this will make me easier to kill…"

"No." Asuma snapped back, and he sounded frustrated and angry. "Sakura _did this_ to your family Sasuke. It's not going away, did you forgive her for this?"

"No." The younger jonin bit out.

Asuma fully lowered his knives. "Good. You shouldn't have to forgive her, you deserve revenge for what she did. Come with us. We're going to kill that demon tonight and you can help."

Sasuke started chuckling. "And what the hell makes you think that'll work? You idiots don't stand a snowballs chance in hell of killing Sakura."

"Uzumaki Naruto will help us." Asuma said.

The chuckles died on his lips. "Bullshit." There was something cold and disbelieving in his stomach, already spreading fissures through him and getting ready to shatter.

"Come for yourself and see. I promise you, Uzumaki will be there." The Sarutobi pressed.

Getting ready to shatter his resolve, too.

Sasuke could not wrap his mind around this and for a second nearly started laughing again. "Right, and you're going to offer me candy next to go with you. I'm not stupid."

Asuma's voice was low, assured. "If not for Uzumaki helping, come to make sure Hyuga Hanabi isn't hurt."

He went cold. "Hanabi's with Sakura, you can't…"

"Not for long she's not." Asuma answered coldly. "I don't want her hurt anymore than you do. And this place…this was your home Sasuke. Are you going to tell me you still don't want revenge?"

His resolve felt like glass getting ready to break, the cracks were already there and barely taped over. And even if Hanabi wasn't there at all…

Would he say no?

In some distant part of his brain he reminded himself that Sakura still loved him in her own twisted way. That love had hurt him more than if she'd been playing him all along. If he'd been used this would be so easy to decide.

Sakura had genuinely loved him. He couldn't lie to himself. Before the revelation he had genuinely loved her back. Was his half completely broken now?

Sasuke weighed his scythe, weighed his life, weighed everything. "Naruto will be there." It wasn't a question. "Right. This I gotta see."

Asuma sounded like he was grinning. "Then let's go."

**Warzone: 3:35 AM**

He had not been prepared for any of this.

Aburame Shino held the perimeter of the temple and watched the casualties pour in. The flagstone walkways were soon drenched in blood, and in the eerie violet light of the barrier it looked like molten ruby and amethyst twisting on the ground. Maybe alive.

Most of Deer had pulled in and back, Shikamaru and Chouji and Ino had nodded at him as they entered but not stopped. Shikamaru and Chouji had looked haunted beyond words. Ino had merely looked sad.

Some of the ninja of Deer were carrying small children out with them. The oldest of the unnamed, unexplained children was three. Branch Hyuga came next just thrilled to be alive and more cheerful than Shino thought they had any right to be.

Most of Fox had come in, and some were also carrying young children in from the blood and flame. Soon all were within the perimeter except Toad and the General's squad.

A few attacks had been made on the perimeter but Toad was raising such sheer _Hell_ on the other side of the district most of the rebel forces were occupied there. From the reports trickling in, Shino understood that Jiraiya and Naruto alone were decimating every front nearly single-handed.

Kiba had dropped in early dragging a limping Lee with him. Lee had been taken to the medical tent and then Kiba had joined his teammate watching the village burn. When Kiba got closer the Aburame could see blood down his chin and entire front and smeared on his mouth. Shino did not ask where it was from when he saw the resolute but pained set of Kiba's shoulders. He put his arm around Kiba and pulled him close.

There were some things that didn't need to be spoken of.

Then the civilians had come looking for escape or maybe mercy. Shino didn't know what they expected and they were efficiently cut down and their bodies cleared out. It had happened hundreds of time that night and the first time Kiba saw it, he didn't even flinch.

That made Shino feel a bit better about all of this. Then he thought Kiba might be too far gone to really judge and he felt worse.

A woman with two children then ran up the street, begging. The boy was ten, soon to be out of the academy judging by his clothes. The second child was a girl and barely two, and held tightly in her mother's arm. The little girl was pale and blonde, brown eyes. Reminded Shino a little of Ino a bit, honestly.

"Please." The woman screamed. "Please don't kill us!"

His ninja paused for a second, ready to kill but uncertain because of the children.

Shino dropped down himself. "You are here in this barrier, which means you were celebrating the near murder of jinchuuriki Sakura. Why should we spare you?"

The woman did not deny it. "Please, we don't deserve to die like this."

Shino looked at the little girl and stepped up and took her from the mother's arms. The little girl did not cry but just stared at Shino with wide, dark eyes. "Her name?" He asked.

The woman cried tears of relief. "Maya. Oh god, thank you, her name is Maya."

Shino backed up. The mother followed him, thinking he was leading her to safety.

Shino signaled his men. "Your daughter is young enough not to remember this. You and your son are not."

He tucked the child's face into his chest. The boy tried to scream but was cut down instantly, the mother lived a second longer until a kunai was in her throat.

He understood now why Deer and Fox had come back carrying children without a word. They were the ones young enough not to remember the tragedy and not old enough to be embittered by it. They did not need more Sasuke's running around and swearing vengeance, or else ten or fifteen years down the line they'd be back here again.

Some children had been spared, ripped from their families, but sparred.

Shino spoke to the girl quietly. "Hello Maya. I suppose you're an orphan now, my condolences." It was a horrible thing to say but Shino was working his way far past numb.

The child did not cry but merely held onto him, burrowed into his chest. "Hungry." She told him.

Shino jumped back to the roof, pulled out a rations bar, and let her nibble on it slowly. He watched on as the child's mother and brother were cleared away. Their blood joined the pools already flowing on the stone.

Amethyst and ruby. Molten and slick.

Kiba didn't say anything and picked up the little girl. "Hey there kid, what's your name?"

The child touched the blood on his face, fascinated. "Maya."

"Hi Maya." Kiba said. "I'm gonna introduce you to somebody cool, a real fox lady."

Maya looked interested. "Fox?"

Kiba grinned. "Yep." Maybe his friend wasn't too far gone yet. They could still smile, that had to count for something.

It was like they hadn't just ripped this child away from her family at all.

Shino hadn't been ready for any of this but the choices had to be made. Him and Kiba kept their vigil and waited for their comrades to return.

**Warzone: Hyuga Compound, 3:50 AM**

Sakura couldn't be stopped. Her tenketsu wouldn't close, damage wouldn't stay, and her body wouldn't break. She ripped through Hyuga and rebels and the blood started running all together in a long slick in her mind's eye.

She felt happier than she had in weeks, months, _years_.

All of it was coming together, the plan was perfectly executed. Over ten years all for this. To repay her own pain, to repay Hinata's on the Hyuga, to repay everything. Flesh broke and bone buckled under her hands. She had re-sheathed her blade and contented herself with tearing into her enemies bare handed.

It was wonderfully therapeutic.

She watched Neji and Hinata's battle with one eye. Hiashi was the clan head for a reason, with all the decades of experience under his belt and more skill than any Hyuga alive. But in facing down a prodigy not seen in generations in Neji, and a righteous fury that couldn't be quenched in Hinata, Hiashi had met his match.

It ended so quickly and brutally Sakura would reminisce on it for years.

Hiashi fainlly got enough space and with a cry of triumph, actiavted Neji's caged seal. Nothing had happened.

Hinata twisted his arms while he was shocked, and her soft smile held more venom than any snake. "You're too late."

The beetle leapt from her armor and Sakura heard Hiashi scream as his precious Bykakugan eyes were melted out by acid. Hiashi clutched for his face and then Neji was there, palms and chakra flying. Hiashi's insides were liquefied by the Jyuken assault in seconds. Hinata let his arms go and he slumped to the ground, dying.

"Was this worth it father?" She asked coldly. She pointed to the burning compound, the blazing violet sky, the bodies of her family ripped up around her.

He tried to answer but blood just came out. Hinata closed her eyes and her byakugan deactivated. "You brought this on us."

The radio in Sakura's ear crackled. "General! Our position is being overrun, the evacuation corridor will be compromised in less than a minute. Pull back ASAP. I repeat, the evacuation corridor will be overrun in less than a minute!"

Neji rejoined the fight of the straggling Hyuga and suddenly surging number of rebels coming in from elsewhere. Hinata stood in the center of the battle, staring at her father's body then up at the sky, unmoved by the chaos around her.

A clone dismissed itself somewhere and Sakura knew there were no more Branch members left to be saved. "Time to pack it up kids!"

Hanabi whirled by in a tangle of electricity. "Already?"

"Yes." Sakura phased over and grabbed Hinata. "Come on, this place is about to burn down around us."

Hinata looked at her and her lavender eyes cleared. "The Branch?"

"They're evacuated." Sakura assured. "We can't stay here."

Tenten was already packing up and Neji and Hanabi, the girl brutal offense and Neji switching between attack and defense, were keeping the enemy off their back. Sakura sent a few clones to punch a hole in the line and straight through the compound.

Hinata looked around one last time. "Good riddance."

Sakura smiled. "Ain't that the truth." She flipped on her radio. "Attention all forces, this is General Sakura. Phase Charlie is now complete. Proceed to phase Delta."

**War Zone: 4:05 AM**

Her voice came on flat, but there was no mistaking Sakura's feminine lilt. _"Attention all forces, this is General Sakura. Phase Charlie is now complete. Proceed to phase Delta."_

"Well it's about damn time." Jiraiya threw down another oil slick and absently set six people on fire. "You coming Naruto?"

Yellow buzzed and the jonin reappeared, holding half of somebody's severed arm. "In a sec, you caught me in the middle of something."

The middle of something being someone's dismemberment, apparently.

"All right. Just follow behind when you're done. I'll be punching through the line back to the Temple." Jiraiya flipped on the radio. "Attention Toad, you heard the General, party's over. We'll be swinging east to the Temple, we're almost done so hold on."

A cheer from a few hundred ninja over a few dozen city blocks went up. The districts were burning, the streets were filled with bodies and the gutters were running with blood. It was their village they were doing this to, their friends, their family.

Any complaints about the full retreat were gone. Everyone just wanted this hellish night to end.

Naruto glanced at him. "How many rebels you think are left?"

"Scattered like they are?" Jiraiya considered. "Few hundred, maybe a thousand still. Not counting the civilians. Be careful." And the Sage was gone.

Naruto buzzed back to finish dismembering his enemy. When the pieces were in ten different directions he caught his breath for a long moment and stared at the blazing sky. Smoke and ash had risen, creating an odd miasma in the top of the barrier. Chakra lighting crackled in the cloud and it was oily purples, reds, yellows, and oranges reflected from the fires below.

It looked like hell above.

He had made this.

Like he had for the hundredth time that night, he scanned the area looking to see if one of Sakura's clones was around. The few days old one he'd encountered that had apparently been within the barrier before it went up, ran from him, and had acted as shifty as hell hadn't reappeared.

The Kyuubi's chakra and some clones had ripped through a near mile of the city leaving a path of utter devastation in their wake. The chakra had been too intense for anyone to get near.

He heard a kunai clink as it was pulled. "Naruto."

The jonin looked over blandly. "Hatake Kakashi. Please tell me you've come to die quietly." All thought's of Sakura's clones went to the back of his head.

Kakashi's eye crinkled. "Not quite. I came to show you something."

Naruto raised his eyebrows. He noted Kakashi was probably standing a bit too close to a hirashin kunai… "Do tell." If he took one step back Naruto could eviscerate him.

The other jonin told him matter-of-factly. "That night that Sakura vanished a few days ago. She spent it in the abandoned district."

And all of Naruto's nefarious plans grinded to a halt. "…what?"

"She was making something there." Kakashi pulled out a bloody medical sheet and threw it at him. "Something she didn't want to tell anyone about. Not even you. Her chakra is over every square inch of that place."

Naruto caught the sheet and even as he touched it, he felt Sakura's degraded chakra humming under his skin. There was no mistaking it. "Where did you get this?" He snarled.

"I told you." Kakashi tipped his head. "I can show you the lab right now."

A lab, in the abandoned district which was in the barrier, Sakura had disappeared that night he'd finished the seal and he and Sasuke had nearly killed each other. A few days old clone had been in the barrier when it went up. A clone left behind to do something.

Sakura would not run clones that long unless it was vital. Unless she could trust no one but herself with what she was doing.

Sakura was making something in a lab the night he'd finished the seal, something she hadn't even told the Hokage about. Something that had made her go to Konohamaru to lie for her and make an alibi.

Not all of Sakura's secrets and most certainly not all of her lies laid in the distant and blood drenched past. Some were still happening right now before his eyes.

He pressed the heels of his hands to his face until he saw spots. He knew what Kakashi was trying to do and for the moment, Naruto had nothing to fear from the man.

Did he have to know, did he want to know what she was still lying about? Did he trust her enough to just let it go?

His trust had been worn so damned thin lately.

"What do you expect from me Hatake?" Naruto opened his eyes and they bared an electric blue. "Do you think I'd help you just because of a few bloody sheets and Sakura playing around with medical jutsu?"

"I think you want to know Naruto, and you won't like the answers when you do." Kakashi answered calmly. "And that you haven't said no means you want to find out. I'm not expecting anything, but I think we'll both get what we're looking for tonight."

Secrets. Lies. Sakura.

All tangled up and even when she'd apologized to him in the hospital, when they'd cried right after that night she'd disappeared and realized their relationship wasn't what they thought it was…Sakura had still been lying to him. About where she was, about what she was doing.

Naruto had given Sakura everything of them as children, trusted her with everything.

She had never trusted him in return. His choice was unmade, but at the very least he _needed_ some kind of truth. What would be done with that truth though…

He gripped the sheet. "Let's see this fucking lab Kakashi."

The older jonin smiled. "I had a feeling you'd say that."

**War Zone: 4:12 AM**

"For the love of god Hanabi, stop lagging!" Sakura shouted over her shoulder.

The younger Hyuga looked mutinous. "I'm coming. Jeeze, it's not like…"

Sakura saw the Inuzuka angling for her back. "HANABI!"

The girl rolled and Sakura caught the Inuzuka in the neck, crushing his throat instantly and whiplashing him to the ground. Hanabi gasped and looked at her. "You saved me."

Hinata, Neji, and Tenten were already too far ahead. They hadn't yet noticed some of their number had fell behind.

"Of course I did." Sakura breathed out, her heartbeat slowing. "Are you oka—"

The blow that caught her in the back of the head would have killed a normal person. As it was, Sakura felt her head snap sideways and some vertebrae pop loose. She stayed upright and behind her, her old Academy teacher stared at her in shock.

She smiled thinly. "Hi Iruka."

Red chakra snapped her vertebrae back in place and she flipped him to the ground. One of his arms was a husk of burnt muscle so she consoled herself by breaking his good arm in five places and then ripping it off. He screamed and she almost didn't notice Hanabi's shout of surprise.

Another two Inuzuka were on Hanabi, had her arms pinned, and were dragging her off. Not killing her, _dragging her off_. Something was wrong here.

Sakura was behind them in a split second, had both of their heads and then cracked them together. Their skulls fractured open like eggs and she was splattered with brain matter and blood. Hanabi had been equally splattered across her back. She stared up at Sakura, affronted. "You couldn't have done that any better?"

The dead Inuzuka fell and Sakura felt oddly chastised. "Sorry."

They walked back over to Iruka. Hanabi practically purred. "Oh I finally get to kill you. Goody."

The jinchuuriki glanced at the other girl but didn't ask the obvious question of when Hanabi had tried to kill him the first time. "Any idea why he was trying to snatch you?"

"Revenge for what I did to his arm?" The girl tipped her head and shrugged. "Fuck if I know."

Iruka was still alive, pale, but kept his mouth shut. Sakura knelt down. "One chance, one chance to tell us what you were trying to do here. If not I'll make you hurt beyond your wildest nightmares until you come clean."

"Go to hell." He spat.

Sakura traced a finger down his chest, medical chakra flaring. "All of your nerve endings have now been turned up to eleven." She poked him. To anyone else it would have been gentle, barely a brush of skin on skin, to him it was like being stabbed.

He shouted in agony and she nodded cheerfully. "Good, in working order then." And her hand ignited with demonic chakra and she pressed down. His skin bubbled up and charred off. His shouts turned to shrieks and after a minute, when his chest was an unrecognizable hunk of charred meat, did she stop.

"Answer me."

He gasped and tears were running down his face. "Hanabi…Hanabi was extra insurance against Sasuke in case he didn't want to do it willingly."

"Do what willingly?" Sakura asked sweetly. A little torture made them open up so easy.

His breath caught. "Kill you."

The world went silent, stopped moving. Froze over a dozen times and sent all her blood out of her body.

Hanabi choked. "He wouldn't agree to it! Sakura, please, Sasuke wouldn't agree to it—" The girl's panic was clear and Sakura pulled her into her arms. The jinchuuriki felt like she was spinning off kilter.

"It's all right. I won't hurt him Hanabi, and they don't have to make him do anything he doesn't want to without you hostage. Relax." The younger girl eased into her arms, but inwardly Sakura was near panic. Nothing he didn't want to do. That was the truth.

The only reason Sasuke had never stood against her was a mix of threats and having no options. Sasuke now had options and Sakura was no longer willing to keep the threats.

He wouldn't do it, except that he would.

She had to…

"Promise me you won't kill him." Hanabi demanded.

"I won't." Sakura assured but didn't know if she meant it. "I need you to get out of here."

Hanabi shook her head but before the girl could say anything, Iruka laughed. "Not only Sasuke." The pain had him delirious.

Sakura turned on him, rage boiling in her chest and sending bile up her throat. "What the hell does that mean?"

Iruka grinned bloody. "Uzumaki Naruto will kill you too."

No.

"Liar." She snarled.

Iruka wheezed, burnt skin sliding. "Kakashi knows all about your lab. All about your Uchiha massacre. "

Sakura couldn't breathe, she was light headed, the world was closing in. Kakashi knew about the Uchiha massacre how—

Forget that, he had _found the lab she made the Kyuubi in_.

Was she hyperventilating?

"What?" Hanabi sounded confused. "Naruto would never kill Sakura—and what lab?"

"You fucking liar." Sakura grabbed Iruka and let her chakra loose. Hanabi leapt back from the inferno as Iruka died, burning to nothing but ash and evaporated blood. The sickening odor choked the air in her lungs.

Sakura reeled on Hanabi. Hinata and Neji and Tenten were coming back, obviously realizing they'd fallen behind. Sakura only had seconds.

Her voice dropped to a vicious octave, a snarl locked behind her teeth. "Go back and tell no one about what's happening."

"But…" Hanabi stumbled.

"No. I made the promise Hanabi, but if you want me to keep it go back and tell _no one_ what you heard." The jinchuuriki felt rage rising, choking her voice and clouding her sight. Everything was turning red and she was sinking down into the demonic chakra, losing is surely.

They couldn't have figured it all out. They'd found the lab but not the Kyuubi, Iruka would have said something otherwise, and the Kyuubi was still around here somewhere and no one knew for sure about what she'd done…

Hinata was there. "Are you all right?"

Sakura pushed Hanabi into her arms. "Get out of here. Phase Echo is almost here."

Hanabi looked at her with terrified eyes but Hinata just nodded dutifully and pulled her sister along. Sakura watched them go and then crouched on the ground, put her head between her knees, and tried not to throw up.

If her clones were wandering around looking for the Kyuubi someone might follow them. She had to leave him wherever he was, hope he'd wait just a bit longer.

If they found the Kyuubi they'd tell Naruto and—

In her ear the radio crackled and Toad division reported in as almost completely evacuated, the field hospital was being closed, and the divisions were leaving the barrier. Phase Echo was almost here and Sasuke and Naruto were still somewhere inside the barrier.

All of her wretched secrets were crawling back to bite her.

Her sweat was hot on her back and her hands felt clammy. She was shaking. The precipice she stood on was vast and cold, dizzying and waiting for her to fall into it. I twas just waiting to swallow her and damn her.

Sakura told herself neither of her teammates would do it. Except that they would.

Lies, secrets, more lies—all double edged. They had once been necessary but now they were poised to flay her apart. Necessary, necessary to her, to the Kyuubi.

Necessary. What a freaking joke.

Sasuke wouldn't—

Except that he would.

Naruto wouldn't—

Unless he found out.

Sakura got to her feet and the violet sky blazed above her. She removed the ID jutsu from her eye and the blue-green hue went away. Reality crashed into her with it driving the air out of her lungs.

She would not need that jutsu to tell ally from enemy anymore. The starkness and raw ache of that almost had her back on her knees.

"I brought this on." She had, dear god, there was no one here to blame but herself. Maybe Kakashi could be blamed for rooting out the secrets, but in the end the blame was only on her for having them walled up so tight.

Sakura moved and did not wonder where the nexus of this night waited for her. Her feet took her to the place where it all began: the abandoned district. The place where it would all end.

To where the Kyuubi had woven her dreams and told her the truth.

To her childhood home.

How many shattering truths would that place hold after tonight?

* * *

AN: Wow, yeah, that's done. DRAMA up to eleven here. One more chapter (theoretically) then an epilogue if everyone really wants one. Oh, and if anyone was confused about that Sakura clone that got Naruto supiscious, it was one of the clones that made the Kyuubi's body and spent the last few days hanging out with him, unaware of what was going on outside. So that clone's a few days old and out of the loop, which was why she stumbled so badly in trying to deflect Naruto because she had _no idea what was going on_.

Also: longest chapter ever~!

That is all.


	39. Liar's Truth

**AN:** **(THIS IS PROBABLY IMPORTANT) **Okay, I lied. I thought there'd be one last chapter (and this would be it) but in writing this the chapter was hanging out at over 18,000 words and _I wasn't even done yet_. I decided everyone would appreciate at least knowing some of the story while I tie up ends, so I cut 12,000 words (roughly) into this chapter and added the overflow into the another instead (and I'm really truly sorry about this not being the end, I really thought it'd all fit).

So instead of one monster and likely over 25,000 words chapter, you'll get this chunk early and see the rest in about a week and change. Cutting it off was rather difficult because I like chapters to have an over arching theme, and this chapter ended up being about Sakura and Team Seven overall. So yeah.

The next chapter, well…we'll just have to see where that goes.

Also I'm just going to do a quick victory dance here in the fact I now have the first 30 chapters rewritten to bring this story up to quality. It took a lot of work and I'm almost done. Score.

**Disclaimer**: I don't own this and neither do you. Vindictive I know, but true.

* * *

**Warzone: 4:20 AM**

Sakura always had a plan. The Kyuubi always had a plan. Between the two of them they'd mapped out every possibility of the last decade without ever being too far off course. She'd always had a way out, exit strategies, at least a half dozen lies to pick from, and any number of paths to choose to get what she wanted.

For the first time someone else was calling the shots and all of her avenues of escape had vanished.

The lies were unraveling with every step she took.

The Kyuubi wasn't here to tell her what to do, and she doubted she would have listened to him even if he was.

Above her the barrier blazed and acrid smoke curled in invisible currents, reflecting the hellish light from the fires below. She could hear screaming and shouting going up everywhere, the rebels were trying to put out some the blazes with water jutsu and some people were still _burning. _The stench of it was melted concrete, burnt plastic, and charred flesh. It hung on the air like tar and it had already coated the inside of her ribs.

Their respite would not last long. Phase Echo was in the wings, and yet…

It couldn't take the center stage until whatever Naruto and Sasuke were planning got taken care of. Trying to kill her, trying not to kill her, trying to uncover her secrets—

Sakura didn't pretend to know what was going on anymore. And she knew, deep down, her avenues to escape this weren't _really_ that closed. Some were just as open as they had been when this messy night had begun; she just wasn't willing to take them anymore.

She'd sent Hanabi on and out of the barrier and closed that avenue herself. She had no leverage left on Sasuke that she was willing to take, and she'd never _had_ any leverage on Naruto to begin with.

That understanding didn't really make this situation any better, but it had settled a new sort of calm on her so she wasn't stopping every few seconds to fight down the urge to throw up. Even if she had been walked into this corner by Kakashi she was choosing to stay in it to see how this ended.

With no plan. What a joke, she was getting so freaking sentimental. A year ago, hell, even a week ago she'd be puzzling what throats to slit and making peace with the fact she might just be killing a lover and a teammate to hide her own lies.

But that was a week ago. Things were different now.

_What do I want?_ That was the question she was asking herself. And the answer wasn't these burning streets or more blood, revenge or more power, it wasn't tears and screaming and the thick stench of fear mingling into death. It wasn't the Kyuubi or what he was offering her.

Being a goddess, his goddess, might be fun a few centuries down the line. Right now though it was the furthest thing from what she wanted. She and that demon were tangled up beyond any kind reason and they were stuck with each other until the stars burned out. But being stuck with him didn't mean having to follow him like a good little pet anymore.

It didn't even mean they had to be on the same _continent_.

They had eternity to sort themselves out, to fight and curl up together, to hate and love, to break each other and grow again. She had filled her promises with the Kyuubi. He was free in a new body, the village was burning, and their elaborate play of revenge was nearly at its conclusion.

She owed him nothing.

_What do I want?_

Naruto. She wanted Naruto.

And there laid the problem. There was no snatching him up like a trinket to keep, he wasn't some pawn she could control at her whim. He'd never been a pawn.

He had to _want _her back. Want her lies and her secrets and her wretched past. Want her bloodthirsty impulses, her psychotic drive, and her unthinking cruelty. Want her love and devotion and some slim promise that _maybe I'll be better someday_ to pull them through.

She didn't think it was enough.

That was why she kept walking down the blood spattered streets, the stench of death like tar in her lungs and brackish smoke coating her throat. Her chakra fizzled under her skin reminding her she wouldn't die so easily.

Maybe she would never die at all.

And Sakura didn't know anymore if that was really a good thing.

**Warzone: Abandoned District, 4:24 AM**

Naruto could feel Sakura in every inch of this lab. He knew each of Sakura's quirks like his own, and he'd been wrapped in her chakra for so long he could recognize the feel of it even three days degraded.

This was her lab, her equipment, her work. He'd been in Sakura's labs in the hospital enough to recognize how everything was placed to accommodate a few dozen clones. But the end result of her work was nowhere to be found between the bloody sheets, scattered medical trays, and fluid crusted dishes. Still, he had an inkling of what this was.

It was something human and complicated, and whatever it was it hadn't been disposed of here. There wasn't enough body detritus or sign of disposal equipment for him to really think it'd been destroyed, and considering the secrecy Sakura had put in to hide this, Naruto knew she hadn't chanced taking it elsewhere to obliterate it. Whatever it was, she'd finished it three days ago and then left some clones behind to watch over it. Those clones had then gotten trapped in the barrier.

Kakashi spoke up helpfully. "The dish on your left is where she made a brain, that pan over by the wall is where she constructed the spine."

Naruto grabbed the brain dish and looked at the stabilizing seals etched around the inside. If that hadn't told him what this was, the tiny shreds of brain matted to the inside would have.

Kakashi kept talking. "We're thinking she was taking the organs in and out of some poor bastard to test the ones she made, so—"

Naruto snorted and Kakashi's voice trailed off. The older jonin was almost snappish. "What?"

Naruto flipped his hands at the supplies around them. "I'm no medic, but there's more supplies here than just for a few organs. There was never any _person_ here, whatever she made, she made it from scratch."

What that actually meant Naruto really couldn't stay. He had seen the tanks beneath their hospital; Tsunade was their Hokage _and_ the queen of medical ninja, and one did not become queen by playing it safe with only sane and not-disturbing experiments. And Sakura had spent three years in those labs learning every detail.

Those tanks had been filled with human but-not-human things: partially constructed bloodlines, full musculature not covered by any skin and _alive,_ free floating organs connected by strings of veins, vats upon vats of blood, and bones that were twisted into shapes that were not _not_ human. Soulless, distorted things were locked away in their village and he'd seen every one. It was not the genocidal experimentation of Orochimaru, but Naruto had kept a wide berth from Tsunade's experimental division all the same.

The stunned silence from his fellow jonin was pretty amusing, though.

"So what…" Kakashi blinked a few times like he'd been punched. "What was she making then?"

"No idea." Naruto replied cheerfully, stood up, and dusted himself off. He tried not to think of the tanks and the vats and the smell of freshly made blood. "But I suppose we can just ask Sakura that."

**Warzone: Temple of Flowers, 4:45 AM**

"Where in the hell are they?" Tsunade's shout rang across the courtyard and every shinobi within earshot flinched. Their Hokage being angry never ended well for anybody and most did their best to slink out of view.

All except Jiraiya, and he looked half bored as he stared into the burning streets. "I have no idea."

"That's not helping." Tsunade snapped. A group of medics carrying a stretcher hurried past her along with a dozen more Hyuga evacuees. Their foothold on the temple was closing down and they were ready to evacuate. At least they had been, until the Death Squad was just _missing_ and Sakura wasn't answering her radio.

Without that phase Echo couldn't initiate.

Tsunade turned on the crowd of ninja still holding the perimeter. "Does anyone know where the hell they went?"

Inuzuka Kiba raised his hand. "Last time I saw Sasuke he was fighting Sarutobi Asuma and a few Hyuga, but their fight sort of wandered away from mine so…" Kiba shrugged. "Yeah, I really have no idea."

Tsunade threw the jonin a scowl on genuine principle. The weariness of the situation was catching up with her though, and she could feel an exhausted tremble building along her spine. She'd long known what kind of call Phase Echo would force on her. "We have to operate under the assumption they're dead. The rebels are going to get their act together soon and we can't hold this place forever."

Jiraiya grabbed her shoulder. "The kids know they should have been out of there the second Phase Delta was called. Look, we'll give them twenty minutes to get out and then we'll close it down."

"And if they don't get out?" She asked but she already knew the answer.

His face was hard as stone. "We hope they can survive hell."

**Warzone: Abandoned District, 4:50 AM**

When Naruto stepped out of the abandoned lab a familiar face was waiting for him outside. Pale with hollowed cheekbones and a scythe spattered with death over his shoulder. At some point that night Sasuke had lost his headband and the scars on his eyes stood out in a silvery web.

Sasuke turned his head, all scars and disdain, and snorted. "So you really came. Fan-fucking-tastic."

Naruto stopped short and stared at his teammate, stomach dropping. The world was suddenly just the two of them on that overgrown lawn. And it was under violet hued fire that shot through the world with surreal flaws.

There was something like a challenge in Sasuke's voice, maybe something like anger too. Naruto almost had a kunai in his hand before he figured out the challenge for what it was. "Yeah I'm here; there were some things I needed to figure out." Maybe he wouldn't need to gut Sasuke here tonight.

"And did you figure them out?" Sasuke asked and his voice was venomous. Venomous for the same reason Naruto had nearly pulled a kunai: doubt, disbelief, rage. There were more words in this conversation than were being said, sub vocalized in their tones, spoken with body language, lost between the lines. A language only he and Sasuke could speak.

And Naruto realized his teammate was weighing his scythe, weighing this whole exchange. The blond had a choice to make but honestly, his choice had been made the second he'd followed Kakashi. He'd known what he was going to do tonight. And between the lines, Naruto already knew what Sasuke was going to do, too.

"We're Sakura's teammates; we're the only ones who can do this." The blond answered sardonically.

Sasuke's hand dropped from his scythe. "Glad to see we're still on the same page." His head tipped, half his face in shadow, half sliced into violet light. "Remember what I told you in the hospital, did you ever say it to Sakura?"

_It's about time we stopped living in the past. _ Naruto remembered that conversation well.

"Never got around to it." Naruto answered honestly. "But we can tell her now."

And that was that.

The two teammates looked to Kakashi, Asuma, and the ragtag group of rebels around them. Their assembled kill force on Sakura. This entire thing was pathetic and Naruto almost broke out into hysterical laughter.

Today had been too long of a freaking day.

Naruto hated what was going to happen next, what he'd say, what he'd do. What he felt driven to do. But he had to know what had been made in lab, or at least know where the lies finally ended.

Sasuke rasped. "So where's Sakura?"

Kakashi looked up grimly. "Coming this way."

**Warzone: Temple of Flowers, 4:55 AM**

Shino shifted the little girl in his arms (the girl he'd ripped from her mother's arms), entirely uneasy. Hinata stood next to him holding onto her sister, and Kiba stood grimly on his other side looking out at the city.

Hanabi had not said a word since returning and her face was as pale as if she'd seen a ghost. Hinata had tried to comfort her but Hanabi firmly had her mouth shut. More than that, Shino could see that the younger Hyuga was _afraid_.

Maybe that was why unease was climbing up the back of his throat like bile.

"What do you think?" Shino asked his wife softly.

Hinata looked back with troubled eyes. "I don't know what's wrong, she hasn't said a word since Sakura sent her off and Echo Phase should have initiated by now so—SHINO!" Her Byakugan flared and that was all the warning he had for the kunai coming straight at his chest.

And straight at the little girl, and with his arms around her and not willing to let the girl die he could only spin and catch the kunai deep in his shoulder. He went down on his knees, white hot pain lancing under his shoulder blade.

The shout of pain he let out was unintentional but at that point he was past caring.

Hinata and Hanabi leapt apart, fingers flying into Jyuken and blocking more kunai than he could possibly count. Kiba was at his side in a second, scooped the little girl out of his arms, and got an arm under Shino and lifted him up. "Come on buddy, I think that's our cue to get out of here."

Shino reached around to try and pull out the kunai, but Kiba swatted him. "Don't touch it idiot!"

The little girl was crying and shouts from the perimeter were going up along with jutsu flaring. The noise of it was filling every corner of his brain and the pain in his shoulder was whiting out his vision, shattering his skull apart in bursts of static.

The rebels had made their counterattack. More than that, the loyalists were nearly evacuated out and their guard was thinning and breaking behind them. They were losing ground and fast.

Shino sent out his swarm to help the Hyuga sisters, felt them buzz and leave his skin, and let Kiba carry him out.

Earth. More pools of blood. Stone.

Static wiped out his vision again. He opened his eyes and earth and stone were flashing by above him. Below him—

Oh, they were under the temple now.

They were under the temple and ninja and evacuees were crowding around them, jostling and shouting and surging forward. The smell of fear stunk on the air and another burst of static sent him away.

When he came back his shoulder was burning and he was on his back breathing clean air. Sky was above him, real freaking sky. Not violet blaze or hellfire or oiled smoke. Another breath of clean air soothed his lungs, and Shino realized he hadn't noticed how rancid the air in the barrier had become.

Kiba hovered above him. "Hold on Shino." And then he gave the little girl to a medic and turned to run straight back for Hinata. Shino was grateful. If he couldn't get to his wife at least his teammate would.

Two clones of Sakura's hovered over him, medic clones, and they brushed his forehead and the pain cleared away. Reality smashed back into him like a meteor.

The second clone patted his good shoulder. "It's not a serious injury Shino, just relax and you'll be fine."

That was as far as the clone got. Tsunade's voice boomed above the fray, projected by some jutsu. The frantic rage in her voice made him cold. "Pull back! All forces pull back! The barrier will be sealed in thirty seconds!"

His heart went into his throat. His team was still in there. He tried to fight to his feet but one of the clones jumped on him and held him down. Sakura's face swam over him and she was shouting at him. "They'll get out! Just wait. Just wait—"

The next twenty seconds were the longest of his life and all he could see was Sakura and night sky and purple flame.

Then an angel was standing over him. "Shino!" Hinata dropped down and hugged him. The Sakura clone crawled out of the way.

Kiba laid nearby flat out on his stomach, spattered with more blood from a massive wound down his back. The Inuzuka was breathing heavily and looked ready to pass out. "We're good. We're good…"

The Sakura clone moved to help him.

Distantly, Shino saw the barrier flicker. It was barely noticeable but he knew: the barrier had been shut. No more exits, those inside were trapped like rats.

Phase Echo had started whether they liked it or not.

Next to them, Hanabi laid curled up on the ground. Her limbs were angled and shaking, her pale skin pulled translucent-thin over her bones, and she looked as sharp and delicate as a dying bird. Hanabi was _sobbing_. "Sasuke's still in there! You can't—" Another of Sakura's clones grabbed her, and Hanabi punched the clone and screamed at it. "You can't kill him! You can't leave him in there!"

The clone must have been seriously chakra-reinforced to take the beating, and the clone crooned and rubbed the girl's back. "It's all right Hanabi. It's all right. I promise." But contrary to her words the clone stared over Hanabi's head at the barrier with worried eyes.

Something had gone horribly _horribly_ wrong tonight, and Shino's unease only deepened.

**Warzone: Abandoned District, 5:06 AM**

The sky outside was at its blackest, the blackness that came just before dawn would crest silver on the horizon. Through the violet flame and roiling smoke, Sakura doubted she would see it.

If she would even be alive to see it.

She flexed her arms and let her chakra flow, simmering into a low red throb under her skin. Her irises bled inward but she kept them from sinking all the way through. Jade eyes ringed crimson looked at the world and suddenly every plane was as sharp as a knife's edge.

She saw the familiar worn roofs of the abandoned district through the haze, and she mentally calculated the jump and gauged her traction. She leapt and kicked out a wind jutsu, effortlessly clearing the air for blocks.

She'd want to clearly see the faces of those trying to kill her tonight—today—this morning. Whatever it'd end up being.

She touched down and her sandals clicked against stone tile. Sakura absently let her chakra leak out, announcing her presence like a flare. There was no point in hiding and she really didn't feel up to trying an ambush.

She wouldn't attract the attention of the other few hundred rebels still alive farther out though, she'd save that for later. This battle came first.

Sakura didn't have to wait long for company. A dozen ninja landed around her on the roofs and gave her a wide berth as if she'd lash out. Admittedly the fear was a justified one, so she let it slide without comment.

Kakashi and Asuma stood as the leaders of the ragtag group and their dark eyes bored holes into her head. For a brief moment Sakura allowed herself to hope that Iruka had been lying.

Two more shadows landed in front of her, tall, blond and black haired. They were so familiar that her heart ached.

Her mouth went dry but her voice was smooth. "Sasuke. Naruto."

Sasuke nodded back, voice guttural. "Sakura."

Naruto didn't reply and just looked at her, _really_ looked at her. The blind devotion was gone but what had taken its place Sakura couldn't name. Maybe she was just too afraid to look.

Kakashi called out. "End of the line Sakura."

She shot him a poisonous (_green frosted bloody_) glare through her lashes. "Gloating doesn't become you Hatake-san. And I think you've stuck your nose into my business long enough, stay out of this."

The older jonin practically _radiated_ smugness at her, and if Naruto and Sasuke hadn't been standing between him and her, Sakura would have leapt over and torn his guts out. Her lips curled.

Sasuke interrupted her plans of bloody murder. "Where's Hanabi?"

She tilted her head, looking around Sasuke and straight at Kakashi. She gave him a nasty grin. "Oh, some of Hatake-san's _dogs_ tried to snatch her but I put them down. Hanabi should be…" Her eyes trailed to the barrier and in the flare of it she realized. "On the other side of the barrier. All nice and closed. No one's getting to her anymore. Not Kakashi. Not me."

The hand on the scythe relaxed. "Thank you Sakura." And honestly he really was thanking her.

"Hanabi wasn't part of this." Her voice dropped, smoke on broken glass. "But I doubt her being here would have made much of a difference to you."

"No." He admitted. "I already decided what to do tonight."

Her and Sasuke had always been brutally honest with each other when it came down to it. The only good thing was Sasuke had never asked for a secret she refused to speak. When he had asked for the Uchiha massacre and all of its gory details, she'd given it. That'd been the worst of it.

She flexed her hand and the chakra under her skin burned for release.

Kakashi growled. "Iruka's dead?" His fury was music to her ears.

"I believe the technical term would be _immolated_." She smirked. "But dead works just as well." She was enjoying this situation too much but she was a_ psychopath_, and no one including her should have expected any better.

"Sakura." Ice, wind, cold sheets, moonlight. A thousand memories just in her name. She nearly flinched at the sound of Naruto's voice. He looked at her with blazing eyes and she looked back with her flawed ones.

Suddenly it was only them in the world.

Naruto gestured behind them, at the compound, at the lab. At her worst secret.

"Tell me the truth." He rasped.

She sucked in a breath. "Oh, that? It's the temporary lab I used."

There was shocked silence, like he hadn't expected her to answer that blatantly.

She looked at him and smiled bitterly. "I won't lie to you but the exact specifics of what I made there are going to stay with me alone. I'm taking it to my grave." If she ever got to that grave. Or maybe in a few minutes it'd go with her bloody and broken, who knew? Sakura was an all or nothing kind of girl.

"Why?" Naruto demanded. "What the hell is so damned important about these secrets? Why can't you come clean for once in your life?"

"You know me Naruto." She held out her arms self depreciatingly. "Neurotic, twisted, bitter. You know I'd hurt and kill people in a flat second if it'd get me something." She stopped to consider that. "Or at least I would have. I'm tired of everything burning, I'm tired of the blood, I'm tired of my friends crying and me always being the source of it all."

The shrug came easily and her grin was rueful. "That last secret is mine. If I gave it to you, you'd never stop and the bloodshed would never end. You'd spend the rest of your life chasing shadows and monsters and you'd hate me…well, more than you hate me right now I suppose."

"I don't understand." His eyes flickered to the lab, then to her. "You made _something_ in there and it's still walking around. But how could it…" He didn't know how to voice the question, frustrated once again by the lack of detail.

Sakura was tired of the guilt, tired of crying. Tired of this stupid plan and these stupid secrets. She just wanted to _live_ already and be fucking happy for a change. Naruto finding out about the Kyuubi?

There'd be no happiness in that for anyone.

"I love you." She told him.

Naruto pulled back like he'd been slapped.

She continued on tiredly. "It's not that you want _this_ secret, you just want to know the root of where it all came from. I can tell you this much: what I made in that lab was _just_ for Phase Echo."

"You're just…" He let out a frustrated sigh. "I can't figure out what the hell you're doing here. I can't…" Something froze in him as he realized. "You made it just for Phase Echo? You made it three days back, Phase Echo wasn't even thought up until _six hours_ ago."

"You're right." Her smile was thin. "I didn't know about Phase Echo specifically but something like this…" She gestured at the village burning around them. "This has been in the works for years."

He understood her perfectly, because he was Naruto and didn't need to be tangled with her soul to understand her. "This massacre, this _war_, you knew it would happen…and you wanted it to."

"Yes." She gazed at him through her lashes. "I planned this, I _made_ this. It was surprisingly easy when you get down to it.

And he gazed back at her, nothing but stone and not the slightest bit impressed by her confession. "I just want to understand why."

He wanted to know?

"You know what? _Fine._" She spat. "You want to know where this all came from?" She'd give him everything, everything but that last stupid secret of the Kyuubi walking free. It was her promise to the demon, their bond and their bloodshed and their screwed up intimacy. That didn't belong to Naruto and it never would.

But if he wanted everything else? He could have it.

"I knew about the Kyuubi since I was five."

Naruto blinked. Kakashi staggered. Sasuke looked vaguely surprised. Asuma jolted like the wind had been knocked out of him.

"What?" Naruto asked, bewildered. It was finally something from him. Some kind of reaction and validation that what she said still mattered to him.

She didn't mean it but the sneer came. "I knew about the Kyuubi _since I was five_."

"I…what...how?" Seeing Naruto speechless was a rarity, and for a second she let the bitter thrill of it burn inside her.

Then she felt ugly for doing it. The sneer fell away. "He was in my dreams since I could remember and then the dreams turned into his memories. One night he finally pulled me deep enough that I was in the seal, and then he told me every _ghastly_ detail about what I really was."

Sasuke let out a low whistle. "Then all this time…?"

"Yeah. I knew." She agreed. "He wrote ninjutsu down onto my nerve endings, he taught me to kill, taught me to lie, taught me everything I knew. I was never really a child; the Kyuubi did something to my head that fucked it up so badly I could think like somebody three times my age. And then he kicked off puberty for me when I was like…nine, just so my body would grow faster. I was a selfish, shallow, and psychotic little bitch." She shrugged ruefully. "And he was the one that made me."

She looked past her teammates to Kakashi and for a second allowed herself to enjoy the enraged and gob smacked expression on his face. If she lived past today, she would cherish this moment forever.

Naruto looked stricken, maybe wounded too. "Why didn't you tell me?"

She stared at him in disbelief. "When Jiraiya told you I was a jinchuuriki, you threw a fit and wouldn't talk to me for a week."

"But—" He argued.

"You trusted Jiraiya implicitly and he told you, and you wouldn't _talk to me for a week_. Seriously, how the hell would I have brought that up? Oh by the way, there's a demon in my stomach and it turns out I'm a jinchuuriki?" She snorted. "Yeah, you would've of taken that _real_ well."

He crossed his arms and almost sulked. "I could have handled it."

"Yeah." She answered dryly. "Because you were the picture of maturity and compassion at twelve."

He scowled but it slid off his face as he thought about it, _really_ thought about it. The epiphany lit his eyes and slackened his face. "All this time you were listening to the demon."

"Bingo. I would have loved and devoted myself to anyone who showed me kindness back then. And the Kyuubi, well…he got there first." She raised her arms. "And here we are a decade later in a civil war that has all the people who hated me dead or soon to get there. You do the math."

Kakashi roared. "You started this civil war!"

"Yes." Her smile was razors. "Gemma was captured and that information leaked out _just_ early enough for you to escape and escalate the war, then I got poisoned at the peace talks, then someone in a suicide vest just _happened_ to be waiting for me to get poisoned to blow the half the compound, then a few rebels slipped the net and 'attacked' loyalist ninja forcing us to seal you in and kill you. Isn't that just a strange string of coincidences Hatake-san?"

The jonin gaped and killing intent sizzled through the air. She cackled. "Oh, fox got your tongue?"

"Since you were five? You were planning for this war _since you were five_? Damnnit, why did you—" Naruto fought for the right word.

But Sasuke knew. "For revenge."

"Yes." It felt like a weight had finally left her. "I hated everything so much. Myself, this village, the injustice of it all…I hated and hated and the Kyuubi used it. It took me a long time to feel anything beyond that. I told you Naruto, I made friends before I actually knew what that meant. The Kyuubi told me to go off and play with some puppets to entertain myself, and eventually I figured out I could have so much more than just pawns."

The wind caught her hair, swirling both smoke and the dark strands around her face. It was like a veil coming undone.

Sasuke murmured darkly. "And here we are." It was strangely that simple.

The secrets and lies weren't grand, weren't poignant, they were just ugly and laid bare. "I'm not really as deep as you think I am." It was nice to have finally said this all out loud. "You just caught me at the tail end of one long and fucked up chapter of my life. I'm done with the plans, with these wars, with the Kyuubi…I'm just fucking done. So let's do what you came here to do. I want to sleep one way or another; it's been a long day."

Her gaze shifted to Sasuke. "And I suppose it's only fair. I got my revenge; you should get a shot at yours."

Sasuke responded calmly. "We are teammates, aren't we?"

Her breath caught. They wouldn't—

Except that they already had.

Naruto looked at her with clear eyes. "Thank you for telling me."

The last secret still remained. "You don't want to know what I made in that lab?"

He grinned ruefully and he was all Naruto, all the Naruto she'd known these past years. Maybe no longer devoted, maybe no longer blind to her faults, but she hadn't destroyed him. "I think I can let that one go." And the blond signaled the rest of the ninja. "It's about time we finished this."

Tears burned at her eyes. "You two really know how to twist the knife, don't you?" She was almost proud.

"You made us." Naruto whispered. His eyes were violet fire, blue irises, and shadows chasing out the light. And all of that was in his voice. He pulled a three pronged kunai. Sasuke gave his scythe a few test swings.

Asuma stepped up. "It's about time. I was tired about hearing you justifying all that shit."

Sakura looked at him dispassionately. "You really don't understand anything that just happened, do you?" The tears fell hot but she felt ready to laugh. "By the way, Konohamaru has a message: he hates your traitorous ass."

Asuma's lips thinned and his cheeks infused red with anger. At least she'd kept that promise.

Kakashi put his hand out, gripped his wrist, and his palm flared with lightning. "You were a monster from the beginning."

"I was." Her eyes cleared, all jade. "But if you don't understand now you never will."

The jonin snarled. "Pin her down!"

They all leapt, Naruto and Sasuke and a dozen ninja coming for her life. She didn't bother running or dodging, didn't bother trying to prolong it. Naruto and Sasuke had made their intentions clear.

Steel sliced flesh, bone cracked. There was screaming, screaming, _screaming._ Blood spattered hot down her stomach and Naruto and Sasuke's shoulders plowed into her. All the air left her lungs. Their arms snared her and lifted her and there was so much red soaked on the roof around them.

She couldn't breathe and more blood spattered down. No more footsteps, no more noise. No one was chasing her anymore. She didn't have to run.

There was no air left in her and she arched back, staring at the violet sky, and through the tears it was a fractured prism. And she was gone, gone, _gone._

**Konoha, 5:29 AM**

The districts inside the barrier were burning but not anymore than when they'd left. The seven of them sat on a rooftop, not willing to break the silence settled between them.

Shino had his shoulder bandaged and he was sprawled in his wife's lap. Hinata was smoothing down his hair, her fingers shaking. Ino, Chouji, and Shikamaru all sat together leaning on each other.

Chouji's arms were bandaged up to the elbows, stress fractures shot through his bones like frost. At least four of his knuckles were broken and he thumbed at them numbly. Shikamaru hadn't said a word in hours but merely stared at the barrier with heavy lidded eyes, irises reflecting that violet fire. His stomach was heavily bandaged, old wounds busted open again.

Ino was softly humming some melancholy song. She was bruised from head to toe but didn't seemed bothered by it. Just looking at her made Shino ache in sympathy.

Kiba was sitting up beside the Aburame couple against Akamaru, his back patched and watching the barrier with unmatched intensity. He never did clean the blood from his face. Shino didn't know who it belonged to and still didn't feel like asking.

Hanabi let out a few dry sobs but from her position smashed between two of Sakura's clones and more sedation chakra than was probably healthy, she was likely the calmest person there.

Shino caught the eyes of one of the clones. "Why haven't you started Phase Echo?"

The clone shrugged and looked back to Hanabi. "I don't know, something must have gone wrong with her." They meant real Sakura, not them-Sakura. Her clones always had been strange about who was real and who wasn't.

"Sasuke and Naruto." Hanabi elaborated. Everyone looked at her but she offered nothing more.

Ino and Shikamaru shared a long and understanding look, both their eyes dark with anger.

"Hanabi?" Hinata reached out but her little sister shied away from her touch.

Instead, the younger girl looked up at one of the clones fiercely. "You promised."

The clone returned the stare blankly, bemused. "I did?"

Hanabi sounded close to tears or maybe close to flying into another rage. "Will you really keep it?"

The clone obviously had no idea what was going on but answered anyways. "Yes, I think Sakura will."

Hanabi turned back to the barrier resolutely, jaw set and brittle as fracturing glass. She still looked wound tight enough to break and her pale skin was stretched lucent over her bones.

Kiba moved over and got his head on part of Hinata's leg. Shino threw an arm around him and held on like they'd be ripped apart. Ino practically climbed into Chouji's lap and pulled Shikamaru closer. They clung together and waited.

Shikamaru asked. "What do you think?"

Shino wondered who he was talking to, but Shikamaru's teammate understood him immediately. Ino answered. "That maybe your dad was telling the truth after all."

Shino looked at them but Shikamaru just shook his head. "There's nothing we can do."

And the ensuing silence stretched around them like the grave.

**Warzone: 5:31 AM**

Her toes weren't even brushing the ground and the blood that had misted her face was already cooling. Crimson had been spattered all across the roof and she could see pieces of flesh scattered in it. It'd been a messy few blows, but she couldn't have expected much considering the confusion.

"Did you really think I'd kill you?" Naruto asked her.

He held her tighter and she snared a hand in his hair and then her other hand in Sasuke's hair too. They were so close together they were breathing the same air. Their arms were around her and each other.

Team Seven. Together. And the blood on their bodies belonged to none of them.

She lowered her head and kissed his forehead. "I would have let you."

They had never meant to kill her but those words alone had Naruto shuddering. Sakura still didn't know if they could have actually murdered her, really, or if she would have stayed dead. But there it was.

Sasuke and Naruto had cut down the ninja trying to kill her, a slick-snip-splash of steel on flesh, screams of confusion rending the air, and then they'd spirited her up and away. Four rebels were dead and the other ten had fallen back in shock.

Kakashi's chidori died in his hand as he grasped just how many double-crosses had racked up between them tonight.

Her teammates held her up like they were afraid she'd unravel in their arms. A thousand million threads of madness, red and black and stripped to the bone and all trembling under the threat to come apart at once. Maybe they still would.

Naruto looked up at her, caught somewhere between wonder and bright edged pain. "God Sakura, you would never have let me kill…" He stared up at her calm, accepting face, and his words fled.

She would have let him. Who knows if she would have died, but she'd have let him.

"You were always complaining about me not trusting you." They were so twisted around each other she couldn't tell where anything ended or began. "Will this finally be trust enough?" She had trusted they wouldn't kill her, trusted that they _would_ kill her, and been okay with either. She'd handed over her life for the first time _in_ her life and let go. She'd spent too long white knuckling through this, holding onto every detail and controlling every step. A decade of this had been too fucking long and she was tired.

Maybe it all began here. The life she'd always wanted and could never quite get right. All the mistakes she kept getting wrong. All the things she couldn't fix and desperately wanted too. Maybe it would all begin right here while everything else ended.

The world was burning because of her and it felt like a beginning.

Naruto's eyes tore straight through her. "It's more than enough." He laughed and it almost sounded like he would cry. "It's too fucking much."

"I'm so sorry." And this time she might actually mean it.

He murmured into her collarbone. "I know."

A hand shifted on her back, Sasuke's hand, and she wrapped her arm tighter around the Uchiha too. "I'm sorry Sasuke. I'm sorry I killed your family, I'm sorry I ripped out your eyes. I'm sorry I couldn't fucking say sorry." And she finally really did.

It was weird that here and now when she _wasn't_ human anymore that she finally got it. But there that was. This had been a long time coming but her head was finally getting untwisted. Maybe it would never be enough, maybe nothing ever could be, but she could try.

She could _actually_ try.

Morality and humanity wasn't going to be something innate in her, it'd have to be learned and even if she managed that she knew it would only ever be a thin strand. Barely nothing.

It'd have to suffice.

She wasn't quite sure how to phrase her doubt. "I didn't think you would...save me."

Sasuke gripped her tighter and it was like he was trying to meld into her skin, or maybe peel her apart. "I want to go back to how it was. You, me, Hanabi, Naruto. I'm not going to say I forgive you but we can at least stop living in the past. We can _move on_."

She wondered if any of them could actually leave the blood drenched past behind. Considering who they were and what they had done, none of the odds were good. But the only way to find out was to attempt it.

"You were never this mature." She giggled helplessly.

"No." Sasuke smiled against her skin and the roughness of his scars pressed into her. "Just this once though I can try to be."

They shifted, the mess of this night written in the grip of their arms and the snare of her hands and the tears burning behind her eyes, and she punched Naruto's arm. "You two planned this." She tried not to sound insulted.

"Not exactly." Naruto grinned. "But once we saw each other we figured out pretty fast that neither of us was here to kill you. I just wanted…sorry, I just wanted to know the truth and I thought this was the only way."

"You guys suck." She hiccupped. "Tricking me, honestly I should know better than this." Considering her track record for lies, Sakura found it incredibly easy not to be all that mad about the deception. On the other hand as a professional liar, she felt seriously affronted.

"The Kyuubi taught you better?" Naruto asked and it wasn't an insult, but it was definitely testing new waters.

She groaned. "If he ever finds out he'll be _pissed._"

She had lost her mind somewhere tonight but that was okay. If this is what it meant to be mad, if this is what she got for going insane, she should have done it years ago.

"Put me down." They dropped her on her feet, still in a tangle of limbs. "When this is over ask me whatever you like. I'll try to answer."

It was a small offering but it was all she could give. Naruto grabbed her chin, dragged her head up, and kissed her so hard her lips bruised. It felt good, different and hesitant and bitter, but still good_._

The kiss broke. Naruto gazed at her and they both smiled, it was fractured and not the same but it was something. "I'll hold you to that." He murmured.

She rolled her eyes. "Seriously, my life isn't as interesting as you've built it up to be."

Flame crackled and the air burned. A fire jutsu nearly caught them in the back and they leapt apart. Kakashi stood behind them, smoke curling from his mouth and he snarled. "That's it? You don't even care that she started this civil war? That she still won't tell you the truth?"

"I have the truth I wanted; I really don't need anything more." Naruto scoffed. "And screw the civil war, I hate you guys. Hurry up and die."

She always had been impressed by how Naruto could twist his morality into any shape to fit the situation. But coming from her, the girl with no morals, it probably didn't count for much. Then again knowing Naruto, regardless of how he actually felt he'd go down screwing with his enemy's head if he could.

She didn't know what Naruto was thinking. They had decided not to kill each other but how they moved on from here was anybody's guess.

Sasuke cackled. "I'm only loyal to Sakura; why in the hell should I care about this war? All of us _like _fighting." That was the truth. Sasuke wasn't exactly complicated.

Naruto glanced over at her. "Though I have to say…wow, bitch move."

She shrugged. "I am a horrible, horrible person. And also a bitch." Her lips quirked. "A bitch who can carry a grudge for a decade."

"It's not like that's news to me." He turned back to Kakashi. "Yeah, we're all good here. I gotta say though, all this conniving of yours? Great therapy for us. We're back and better than ever." Naruto paused. "Would it be too soon to start gloating?" She still couldn't tell who he was screwing with.

This was them: cruel and flippant and liars to the bone.

She just laughed. "Probably."

In her elation she almost forgot just why she was _here_ and the cackling stopped. "Oh, right. I should have started Phase Echo like…an hour ago."

Naruto winced. "…shit."

Sasuke regarded the barrier. "Well we're not getting out. It's locked. Nothing's opening on that barrier without bringing it down."

Naruto pulled out a three pronged kunai. "Not necessarily."

The Uchiha sighed. "I shouldn't have said anything."

Sakura waved goodbye. "I'll see you guys when I'm done."

Her boyfriend hesitated. "Do you want us to stay?"

She poked him in the chest, hard. "You're going to be Hokage. You can't have Echo on your hands so don't give me that look. Besides I have a few…issues to work out. I'll see you both when this is over."

The Uchiha shifted mutinously. "I don't have a reputation to save, what's a few hundred more corpses between friends?" There was still a bit of strain there but not what it had been. They'd already had a few weeks head start in working their issues out.

"Not gonna happen." She snorted. "Get out of here, the both of you."

Naruto pulled her into another hug. It lasted barely a moment before he was jumping back and snagging a disappointed Sasuke. Her boyfriend called out. "I love you!" It wasn't much considering he had never loved another person.

Sakura called back. "I love you too! More than anyone!" She thought it might mean something but it was hard to know.

His grin was wider and brighter than anything she had ever seen, and then a sizzle of yellow ripped them away. Gone. Safe.

They couldn't stay for Phase Echo but that was alright. She was so happy. They were going to be together; they were going to move on, they knew her secrets and hadn't laid her out bloody for them. She wasfree. Free, free, _free_.

Her eyes flamed scarlet. "Phase Echo, I've been waiting over a decade for this. They've locked you all in here with me and now I get to go _wild_. That massacre the Kyuubi started? It's going to end with us."

The other rebels shifted anxiously, not understanding why her teammates were gone but beginning to understand why she remained. This would all be on her head, all on her hands, burning blood and the tar of their bones and the weight of one last Konoha genocide.

All hers. The weight of it was a gift the Kyuubi had long promised her.

The weight of it was the last blood drenched sin (lie, secret, manipulative gift) she'd take.

The weight was something she'd bear so this village could live on with themselves when the fires finally burned out.

**Konoha, 5:47 AM**

"Holy—" Jiraiya nearly jumped out of his skin when the air next to him burst yellow and was holding two jonin instead of air. It was one of those things he thought he'd be used to by now. "Goddamnit Naruto, are you _trying_ to give me a heart attack? And did you—did you just—just Hirashin _through_ the barrier?"

Naruto gave a sunny grin. "Yep."

Jiraiya sighed. "Well aren't you a bucket of sunshine." The good humor left. "What the hell kept you? And what happened to Phase Echo?"

"We got sidetracked for awhile, but Sakura came along and sent us on our way. Phase Echo should be starting right about—" Naruto didn't get to finish.

At that moment three solid blocks went up in a crimson supernova. It roared up and flooded the sky. The chakra rushed them, and the hundreds of ninja watching it surge forward gasped and flinched back as it crashed into the barrier.

The collision of demonic chakra and barrier rang like the tolling of a bell, and for a moment the violet fire of the barrier was almost red. The chakra ebbed back and everyone seemed to breathe again. Except now every block inside that barrier was burning, breaking, and fracturing to dust.

They watched on in awed and maybe even uneasy silence.

Phase Echo. It had all come to this.

Sakura would crush every square inch of that place single handedly. Naruto let out an appreciative whistle. "It should be starting _now_. I think I'm gonna go sit back and watch this if you don't mind."

Jiraiya was too busy staring at the inferno to really care. "Yeah, sure, do whatever you want."

Naruto walked off to find a good vantage to watch the show. Sasuke followed him.

The blond glanced back. "We okay?"

Sasuke didn't think twice. "We're okay."

"Cool." Naruto started whistling happily. He stopped after a few moments and breathed out. "Man, all these years and we were dancing to that demon's tune. And here I thought we weren't under any higher powers."

"You're calling the Kyuubi a higher power now?" Sasuke scoffed at him. The bickering was as familiar to them as an old friend, and god had Naruto missed it.

Sakura had been made by the demon; they had been made by Sakura.

He looked at the barrier and the crimson storm going on inside. "Don't you?"

The Uchiha didn't have an answer for that.

Naruto tried not to think too hard about the years since he'd met Sakura, didn't bother trying to frame them inside the greater revelation that the Kyuubi had always been watching over them all. Manipulating them, calling the shots, dictating their actions.

Naruto had never even _seen _the demon and it had been running his whole damn life. But he wouldn't jump to conclusions; he and Sakura would be having one long and complicated conversation after this so he could figure out where they all stood.

Kakashi was wrong in saying Naruto wouldn't like the answers he'd find. Naruto had found them and while he'd admit they _sucked_, it wasn't the end of the world that Sakura had always made it out to be. It wasn't the relationship breaking betrayal Kakashi had hoped it'd be.

_I love you too! More than anyone!_

That was the truth Sakura had given him. She had made some decision here tonight he didn't quite understand, but he didn't have to get it to know what she meant. Sakura had picked _him_.

And Naruto had picked her.

Everything else would work out; he'd make sure of that.

"So did Sakura…did Sakura apologizing make this any better?" Naruto had no idea why Sasuke had showed up to that clusterfuck with no intention of killing Sakura at all. It was probably some weird combination of pragmatism and just wanting the past to stay the past.

Or Sasuke had turned into a saint when he wasn't looking.

"Better, no." Sasuke paused. "But it is easier now."

Whatever that meant.

They passed under a roof and Naruto glanced up and saw a half dozen familiar faces. He raised his hand in salute. "You got room up there?"

Shino and Kiba stared down in surprise and wariness, Shikamaru didn't even blink and looked at them like he was considering punching them, and Ino wiggled her fingers at him from her spot on Chouji's lap. "Sure!" Her voice was just a touch too sweet.

And that's when Hanabi saw his teammate.

"SASUKE!" She shrieked in joy and leapt down.

Sasuke startled and barely managed to catch her before she hit the ground. There were tears in her eyes and she hugged his teammate like a lifeline. Hanabi babbled incoherently. "Sakura kept her promise. Sakura kept her promise. I was so worried but she kept it—"

Naruto waved to the worried faces above watching like Hanabi had finally lost it, and quickly herded the reunion into an alley.

"What promise?" Naruto wasn't even sure he wanted to know.

Hanabi answered. "Not to kill Sasuke. " She paused "And well, you by extension I guess. I know about everything and she promised me...promised me she wouldn't."

That sank into his stomach and fear and self-loathing curled up in his belly with it. Sakura had walked straight to them with some idea they might kill her and she'd promised not to kill them back. She'd been willing to trust them that much and it brought him cold.

That level of trust frightened him and suddenly Naruto felt like such a fucking child for demanding it from her. The weight of that? It was far too heavy to bear without feeling guilty. No one should trust _him _that much. Naruto was human and he had almost, _almost_ for one sliver of a moment thought to break it.

Trust was far more double edged than he'd ever given it credit for.

"…well alright then." Naruto scratched the back of his head and tried to slither away from that realization scalding through his chest. "I'm just going to, uh—leave you two here to…what, celebrate?"

Sasuke was whispering something to Hanabi already, some kind of soothing assurance, an affectionate mantra he was brushing into her skin with his lips. Hanabi clung to him and murmured back and Naruto didn't need to hear the words to understand.

They would be okay.

He left before the make out started though, he wasn't a voyeur, thanks.

He leapt up to join the group watching Phase Echo, and the light of it was reflected in their eyes. Over sixteen years of hatred was in that violet-red glow. Sakura's hatred, the clan children's hatred, this Village's hatred, and even his own. There would be a lot of finger pointing when the dust finally settled on this, when the bloodlust faded and the horror of what they'd done really settled in.

And they were all guilty, the living and the dead. Sakura was a lot of things but she couldn't make something from nothing. This civil war wouldn't have happened unless the people in it had seen it as necessary. She had nudged and cajoled them all in this direction, but in the end they had all been fully capable of turning on each other.

Fully capable of killing each other.

They were all guilty, even if Sakura would be the most guilty when this was done. Not that it meant much to him; Naruto had long known his girlfriend was capable of atrocities. But now that he knew, he would shoulder that guilt with her and carry it to his grave. Sakura had chosen him.

And he had chosen her.

He lost himself staring at the chakra shooting from one end of the barrier to the other and back again. It tangled like two separate suns, coming apart like meteors before crashing into each other again. Naruto had never seen Sakura's chakra do _anything_ like that.

A soft voice shook him. "Did something go wrong?" Hinata asked.

Naruto shook his head. "Nah, she just got a little delayed in kicking off Echo. Everything's fine now."

"Fine?" Shikamaru snorted. "Nothing about this is going to end up _fine_."

Except for Naruto, it would. "Whatever you say." But for him this night had been the beginning of something new, for the rest of them it had been the end of an ugly betrayal. Blood killing blood. Every person on this roof except Shino had spent tonight killing their kin for their village.

All of Sakura's friends stared at him strangely as he started whistling again and kicked back to watch. They knew about his fight with Sakura and seeing him so cheerful had them thrown off guard.

He could have gloated that Sakura and him were okay again, that she loved him the most. He could have said a lot of things about that confrontation at the hospital just that morning with Chouji and Shino and Shikamaru, about which of their methods of loving Sakura had turned out better.

Except that be the stupidest thing ever, because Sakura needed more than just him and unconditional love like theirs had kept her together during a time Naruto hadn't even known her name. They were all part of her history and her future, and Naruto wanted that future to be a bright one.

"Everything's okay." He told them. "Really. She'll be back soon."

Ino and Shikamaru shared a glance and relaxed as if they were letting some weight go, and Shikamaru's ire faded. The others just smiled at him faintly and something mended between them all.

Sakura wasn't the only one tired of fighting for old grudges.

**Warzone: 5:47 AM**

Her threat (to kill every last single person in here) hung on the air for only a moment. Phase Echo was here and here to stay.

Kakashi thundered. "I'll kill you first!"

"Try your best. I'm going to murder you slowly. You tried to take my team from me Kakashi." Red chakra exploded like an inferno. "And they're MINE!"

"They should have been turned!" The Jonin shouted back furiously. "I can't believe—"

She phased in inches from his face. Her fist slammed into his cheek and she felt it crack under her. God, had she been _waiting_ for that. Asuma tried to intercept her with a thrust of a blade into her gut, but Sakura bent out of the way like she was made of water.

Instead she let loose a tidal wave of chakra. It crashed through their ranks and flung them like dandelion seeds caught in a gale, and she was already flipping away and chasing Kakashi down. He hadn't even landed before she snared him and threw him again. Wherever she touched her chakra sizzled and he burned.

Airborne, Kakashi flipped through seals and exhaled another torrent of flame. Sakura caught it head on and plowed through. His look of shock made her laugh before she kneed him in the stomach. He bent around the blow, grabbed her knee, and twisted.

Her joint broke with a wet pop and she went down. A kunai was in his hand and nearly in her throat before she twisted away, red chakra wrenching her leg back into place.

"Too slow!" She crowed. She felt so _free_.

The chakra branched out into tails. One, three, five…

Her mind remained crystal clear. There was none of her losing it, her skin wasn't burning off under the heat, her instincts weren't going haywire. She really wasn't human anymore.

It seemed like a fair trade.

Wasn't human…oh, that gave her an idea.

"Let's go!" She flung herself at Kakashi and they traded taijutsu. Punck, kick, block, thrust, spin, drop, roll.

He tried to snare her in a genjutsu and she brushed it off and pulled her katana in return and tried to slice him in half. He drifted out of the blow and his next ninjutsu was earth.

The wall of rock and mud nearly swallowed her whole, and as it was she lost of layer of skin on it. She burst clear only to find wind ripping into her. Asuma was above her, shouting insults she couldn't hear over the blood pounding in her ears. The jutsu was coming too fast and it tore into her chest and stomach like knives, spilling blood that burst into steam as soon as it hit her chakra.

She landed hard and skidded along a roof. The stone tiles grated under her and that's when two shadow clones belonging to Kakashi slithered out and grabbed her ankles, trapping her there. It was a good trap; even she could admit that.

The sound of screaming birds was behind her. It happened so cleanly and quickly Sakura didn't have a chance to blink.

Kakashi's hand tore into her back with chidori flaring as it burst out her chest. His arm went straight through her heart and spilled what was left of it on the roof. Pure agony exploded through her ribs.

Sakura stared down at his hand dumbly, mind fogged by pain. "What…?"

"Game over." He hissed in her ear.

Her limbs were shaking, blood was gushing out, she was getting so weak—

Her left hand grabbed his and her head twisted around at an unnatural angle. Her grin was a slash of insanity. "Gotcha."

And one of her hand's sheathed in chakra went for his throat, her cadaver's grin wide.

His trap had been good but hers had been better.

It was in that moment Kakashi made the most difficult triage of his life. She had his arm, his arm was through her, and she was going to kill him. With a grunt of pain and he severed his own arm and rolled out of her attack.

He left a slick, black trail of blood behind him. He locked the scream of pain behind his teeth and it came out as a muffled yelp.

The rest of Kakashi's group caught up and they stared at her in horror as she stood there with her heart blown out and an arm in her chest. It probably looked ridiculous, terrifying at best, but mostly ridiculous. She pulled the arm loose with a slick pop and waved it at him. "You left something!"

Kakashi glared at her, staggering from the sheer pain of losing his arm. Asuma landed at the jonin's side and tried to cauterize the stump of his elbow. Sakura knew the joke was wasted on them.

More's the pity.

"How?" Her old sensei rasped.

"Hmmm." Her chest mended before their eyes, her heart stitching together out of chakra and blood before skin sealed shut. "I'm a monster; did you really think it would be that easy? Though I have to tell you it's a _bitch_ having to manually pump my blood." Five tails turned to six.

"Fuck you." Kakashi spat. That was probably the pain talking. Maybe.

It was like he forgot the fact that she didn't play fair. He wanted a world shaking fight to pit his best to hers so he could prove something, but she'd fight dirty every step of the way.

Sakura sort of felt like waving her arms and shouting _Psychopath here!_ at them to remind Kakashi she'd take a blow to the chest just to cripple him. Sakura didn't like fair fights, not when she could help it.

She threw his arm away and watched it burn to ash on her chakra. "I think that's an experiment that doesn't bear any repeating. You're done Kakashi; a one armed ninja is no challenge." And it felt so fucking good to say that. It was all ending tonight, a few last issues, a few last nightmares being put to rest, a pain that had ached for years finally leaving. She was going to be _free_.

Her old teacher stepped forward. "I can still fight you." His face hardened. "I _will_ fight you."

"What are you fighting for?" She laughed. "Are you trying to stop me? All of your nightmares have come true and your side lost,it's over Kakashi. Killing me will get you nothing and even if I die you'll all still _burn_."

"At least I'll have the pleasure of taking you out of the world." He shot back. And well, Sakura had to concede that point. This was what desperation looked like but at least it was desperation of a productive sort.

Asuma stepped up too. "You're not going it alone, idiot." And wind twisted around his arms. But Sakura had fought a wind master in Naruto and she had nothing to fear because there _was_ nothing that could catch her off guard.

More of the ninja dropped in and surrounded her again, preparing for some kind of joint attack that had her laughing. Their furious chakra ringed around her like a corona. The crackle of it smelled of ozone and futility, and it sparked blue-green-purple like shards of lighting high in the atmosphere. Sakura _bathed _in it. "Oh honey, do you think a little thing like that is gonna peel the flesh from my bones?"

A familiar chakra brushed her.

The laughter stilled. "Oh." She breathed.

It was about damn time.

"You want to know what I made in that lab, Hatake-san?" She crooned.

He stared at her warily, not answering. The corona grew brighter, the rush of a dozen jutsu threatening to envelop her barely holding off.

She looked over her shoulder. "If nothing else, it was polite of you to wait for them to leave."

"It was polite of me?" Kakashi asked blankly. All the rebels held their breath, unease stilling them.

She shook her head. "Not you. _Him._"

The world exploded into red. An absolute typhoon of chakra crashed into the center of their circle, a red thunderhead bursting apart the corona and it blew them away. When the air cleared a smoking crater remained. Kakashi opened his eyes, Sharingan spinning hazily, his head listing sodden from the shock.

A man stood at Sakura's side in the crater, wearing loose clothing and no armor on and not even a headband. Neither Sakura nor the man looked particularly harmed by his crash entrance and crimson chakra tangled around them, leaping from his body to hers and back again like they were live wires.

They were their own nimbus now, a superheated corona, a storm of light and wrath and thunder that was building in strength. Six tails turned to seven. Every rebel in the barrier would feel it and come in swinging and neither seemed worried at all. Every rebel could attack right now and Kakashi feared it wouldn't be enough.

The man's hair was a blazing hue redder than blood. Their eyes were the same crimson. Their faces were the same shape. Seven tails of his own flared and an eighth was threatening to take form, and they tangled with Sakura's.

And the last secret finally became clear. "Meet the Kyuubi no Kitsune in the flesh." She purred.

"So…" The Kyuubi grinned and his teeth were already stained with blood. "Where do we start?"

* * *

AN: And there we are. This was never meant to be a tear your heart and stomp on it conclusion, but don't tally this story in the happy-ending column yet.

Choices made in the heat of battle don't always carry over when you have to live with them the rest of your life. Outside the battlefield, the things that were done and lies spoken still need to be faced. And inside the battlefield, there's still an ugly past to come to terms with.

And we'll see how that wraps in the _really going to be last chapter_ after this.


	40. Hell

AN: FINISHED! Boo-freaking-yah.

Okay, that's enough gloating. Actually between writing this chapter and the last I put a lot of agonizing into how this story was going to end. There were some very happy endings that never saw the light of day. There were also a hell of a of kill-em-all kinds of ends that I considered, but they would have left this story just as dark and fucked up and bloody as when it started.

Some people complained that last chapter got resolved without murder (they wanted to see Naruto die, or the Kyuubi die, or Sakura die or what have you), and I'm not really complaining because that's their opinion to have.

(And frankly if this story gets you arguing and thinking about what would better semantically close this out, I consider my work here done)

But if it'd been Naruto to die, that means Sakura would have never changed. Everything she went through? It would have amounted to nothing and then she would have been the same little stunted girl at the end as she was at the beginning.

When I decided how to write these last two chapters, this is what I asked myself: _If we don't end up somewhere different than where we started, then what was the point of me telling you this story?_

**Disclaimer**: The manga of Naruto hasn't ended. This has. That should be your answer on who owns it.

* * *

**Warzone: 5:59 AM**

The scarlet chakra thrummed on her skin, under it, through it. Bloodlust was riding her so hard Sakura was dizzy with it. For some reason it felt more like the Kyuubi's bloodlust than her own, but that was just fine. She'd waited a decade and more for this, for the accumulation of her hopes, for this pinnacle of her ambitions, for the collection of all her mistakes. She couldn't tell which was which anymore.

The demon sidled up next to her; limbs loose like that body had always been his. It was such a facsimile of humanity she nearly laughed. There was a monster riding under that flesh, a veritable god of fury constricted by bone and blood.

And she had put him in that flesh, bound him down in it tight. The power of that was invigorating.

"Is tonight everything you thought it'd be?" The Kyuubi taunted her and his hand was on her neck and splayed up her cheek. The feral smile on his face was almost fond.

"It's more." She assured. Tonight was painful and messy and a million regrets rolled into one. "You promised me damnation and I skipped to war. Your perfect little pet, your queen, your _cage_."

His chakra—_their_ chakra—snarled around them like a storm and she took it from him and he took it from her. The rage and vindication had sunk so low in her belly it almost felt like arousal.

His lips peeled back, teeth bared. "Aren't you feeling smug tonight?"

"I'm smug because I got what I wanted. I kept my team." Her lashes flared innocently wide. "I started my war." Her grin was wider. "And I held my secret."

That last inescapable secret.

_You_.

His other hand was on her hip, claws digging in, and he pressed his nose to her cheek. Their eyes were less than an inch apart. Red against red, monster to monster. "Don't take all the credit brat. I think we know who etched this plan into the back of your skull." They were breathing the same air and his exhale felt like fire on her cheek. "Besides, I could have stepped in at any time and then all those secrets would have come crashing down. What do you think that blond bastard would have thought if he saw the demon you were supposed to be carrying given flesh—"

She took a swing at him and he caught her punch. Muscle pulled thin under her and the ridge of his knuckles showed just how little he restrained her by.

She brushed her lips along his cheek, then her teeth. "Shut up."

The Kyuubi didn't even flinch. "I missed you too." They were close enough to kiss but he just smirked. "Are we going to get this massacre started or are you going to keep crying because you managed to pick up a little humanity after all these years?"

Sakura gave serious consideration to biting him but judging by his grin, he would have welcomed it. Then he would have bitten her back because that's how they operated. Violence for violence. Mark for mark.

Her and the Kyuubi were connected in every sense of the word and she could feel it flexing now to find how deep and painful it ran. And that feeling of rage, bloodlust, and _almost arousal_ pulsed between them in a distorted feedback.

The enemy ninja just watched on in stupefied horror. Sakura thought maybe their brains hadn't quite reset over the shock. That, or they were waiting to see if she and the Kyuubi ripped each other limb from limb first.

Either could happen now.

She nudged the Kyuubi's face with hers, cat-like affection, animal-like challenge. "I guess we can start it if you're in _such_ a rush. But I have to say, that warpath you burned through the city while I was busy at the Hyuga compound? That's cheating."

"It was a warm-up." He licked his lips and she saw his blood stained teeth and an even more-stained tongue. "I was getting _bored_ while you were having your hissy fit over your team."

The snarl road low in her throat. "Don't talk about them to me, they're mine and you don't get a say in what I do anymore." She bit off every word. "So back. The fuck. Off."

The hand on her hip tightened and pulled her in. They were practically molded into each other but Sakura felt the miles between them. Once upon a time he'd been riding under her skin like a virus. That'd ended less than a week ago and the balance between them had been swinging like a pendulum since, unable to settle. Master, lover, equal, monster. He'd been all things to her and maybe now he was none of them.

And she missed having him with her, probably always would, even if now she'd like nothing better than to drive an ice pick into his skull. A serrated, snake-venom-coated ice pick. Because _screw_ him.

"Let me think about it." He murmured scathingly.

Serrated, poisoned, red-hot ice pick it'd be. "Jackass." She answered.

If the Kyuubi would have kept the argument going she'd never know, because Kakashi finally spoke. The sheer horror in his voice rang hollow. "What did you _do_ Sakura?"

She gave her old sensei a disinterested glance. "I thought that'd be obvious." There were probably a million explanations she could have given right then, but for some reason none of them came out.

The thing that marked Kakashi as unique (out from everyone else that'd hated her) was the amount to which he hadn't given a _fuck_ about her. During her genin days he could barely spare enough energy to look at her, let alone train her. She had vaguely appreciated the freedom his negligence had given her, but that was the only good thing she could really say about him.

And Sakura just didn't care. A man who had once been a loathed obstacle was now just a ninja, one of hundreds now surrounding her. Kakashi's death was no more pressing than any other, no more meaningful to her then the men she'd already killed laying in charred pieces.

It didn't matter. Kakashi didn't matter.

"I don't care what you do Hatake. Oh, wow—" She looked impressed with herself. "That's new."

The Kyuubi gave an amused snort. "Then you won't mind if I take Hatake apart." It was more statement than question.

"Oh, no." She smirked viciously. "Go for it."

A lightning jutsu ripped the air. The Kyuubi barely glanced at it before their chakra rose, swallowed the jutsu, and swung it back in the direction it'd originated. Some jonin she couldn't name shrieked when it slammed him. He plummeted off the roof.

The Kyuubi swung his eyes back to her like nothing had happened. "We'll finish this conversation later."

It sounded like a promise. It sounded like a freaking challenge.

She nodded. "Most corpses win." But she wasn't talking about their conversation.

Demonic chakra shook the village down to its foundations, rolling out like waves, lapping to every corner and setting ablaze anything it touched. Out in the world, district on district burned and inwardly she smoldered just as much. Fire rolled under her blood, her sinew was made of magma, her bones were molten steel. She was higher and lower than she could have ever dreamed of, ecstatic and euphoric and damn near ripping her own skin off.

It was time. Phase Echo. Her dream. A decade long dream.

All theirs.

Her and the Kyuubi ripped apart from each other and swung into their own battles. They cut paths of devastation in their wakes and Sakura rode it into her first victim. The dark haired jonin she crashed into grappled with her and they went down in a tangle of limbs. Her chakra seared into the jonin and he came apart in pieces under her, screaming the whole way down. She was so tangled in his charred guts she almost didn't catch the two ninja trying to stab her in the back. Her hands closed around their wrists and she used it as leverage to flip over their heads.

Her legs snapped out and she caught each shinobi in the jaw with her heels. Necks snapped and they went down.

As she landed a dozen jutsu slammed into her. Starbursts and blood exploded behind her eyes and she hit the ground with a wet crack. The red chakra mended her back together in seconds, it did nothing for the skin that'd burnt off but she'd worry about that later.

Ninja were screaming orders and formations and insults, some just _screamed_, and the fires burning around them were so loud (glass shattering, embers spitting, steel screaming) that she couldn't hear much else. Under her feet the asphalt and concrete roads had already begun to melt. The dead men burnt into the air coated her ribs like tar and she welcomed it.

She savored it for one glorious moment. Then she was off like whirlwind into the ranks, twisting and spiraling and weaving around her enemies so fast they couldn't hit her without risking each other.

Murder and violence and hell was under her skin and it wanted _out_. And she'd let it, let it all go.

Maybe it wouldn't come back.

And maybe, hell would finally stay out here and not haunt her.

**Warzone: 6:03 AM**

This was how Hatake Kakashi would die. His village burning around him, his friend's guts matted dry on his clothes, his comrade's blood boiling on his skin (literally, actually boiling), and the shriek of fire and the dying so loud in his ears he was almost deaf.

The smell of the air was rancid and he could barely get enough oxygen in as he ran, fought, and bled.

It was all a horrible nightmare, or maybe a bad joke that'd gone too far. The demon he'd seen reflected in Sakura's eyes all that time? The demon he thought might be Sakura? Turned out she'd only been a vessel after all, and the real demon was chasing him into hell piece by piece.

The Kyuubi was driven by some unknown agenda and wouldn't let Kakashi escape it for one second. The Kyuubi fought messy and didn't use ninjutsu or genjutsu and barely used taijutsu. Honestly, the monster-in-flesh just didn't seem to _get_ how to use a human body, but between Kakashi missing an arm and the demonic chakra and the near hundred ninja trying to help the jonin...it was an even battle.

But the Kyuubi just ripped and tore and crushed anything in his path, and Kakashi was _in_ that path.

His backup kept fighting in a cloud, a veritable hail storm of jutsu and steel. None of it touched the Kyuubi and if it did, it healed too quickly for any of them to know.

"Keep it together!" Kakashi shouted to everyone and no one while red chakra seared at his heels. "Concentrate all your jutsu on—"

Seven tails turned to eight and they lashed against the road, sending molten concrete splattering for blocks. Kakashi barely replaced himself to avoid the surge and landed by a chunin, just in time to watch a spatter of it catch her in the cheek and burn through to hit her tongue.

She screamed and tried to spit it out, but opening her mouth only gave it more oxygen to burn and it backslid down her throat. He grabbed her and tried to help her but all he managed to do was watch her die both drowning and burning.

A voice spoke above him and blandly at that. "The dead don't need your concern."

The voice had a low rasp to it, maybe blood drenched gravel. Kakashi looked up.

The Kyuubi no Kitsune hung above and upside down from a burning tree, a languid grin peeled across his face. The sight should have sent Kakashi's heart busting out of his ribs but it didn't. Instead the jonin asked the question he'd wanted to know for sixteen years. "Why Konoha?"

The Kyuubi tilted his head, amused grin still torn wide. "A lot of reasons, but none of them a mortal like you would really understand. Let's just say one of your ancestors ancestors _really_ pissed me off."

All of this hell just for that, the village burning right now and the village burning sixteen years ago, just for _that_.

"You son of a BITCH!" The chidori burned white and Kakashi leapt.

The Kyuubi leaned sideways and dodged the strike aimed for his skull. The line of blisters Kakashi burned on the demon's temple healed in three seconds flat.

A few tails caught the jonin and flung him . Kakashi tried not to scream, tried not to give this monster the _pleasure_ of that when his skin burned off at the contact. He shoved chakra into his back so he wouldn't sink into the hot muck of the road, and he skipped across it and managed to land on a cooler section of broken wall. It was one of the few things left that wasn't burning.

The Kyuubi dropped to his haunches, chakra channeled in his bare feet keeping him above the molten cesspool that was now the street. And it was viscous concrete and liquefied steel and human bodies turned sticky.

"Headshot? Not a bad try." The demon rapped his knuckles on his skull. "But you should know even if you manage to rip me out of this body? I'll just go ride shotgun with Sakura until she makes me a new one."

The jonin panted. "Then I'll just kill her too."

The other man's (demon's, _demon's_) lips quirked. "I doubt that. I'll admit I'm still getting used to this body and might accidentally rip the spine out jumping too fast, but Sakura? She's far beyond any of you monkeys now."

"Oh yeah?" A chidori wasn't going to work, at least, not when the demon was still moving.

But that'd be rectified shortly.

A dozen ninja stormed the Kyuubi, water jutsu hitting his chakra and turning to superheated steam, and they pressed the attack by charging the cloud with lighting jutsu and letting anything inside fry. The explosion (of superheated expanding air) ripped an entire block apart like thunder.

Kakashi had already flipped out of the way.

Kunai and shuriken and slabs of earth were hurled after it, flattening anything under the cloud to a bloody paste. For a second there was nothing but the flicker of the fires and steam clinging heavy-damp to his hair. Kakashi dared to hope as he watched the crater smoke.

Hope died.

Chakra exploded and the Kyuubi was flying through them, claws tearing red lines. One man tumbled down completely stripped of his guts.

Someone screamed to Kakashi for help but the jonin was too slow to stop anything, and he watched another man get sliced hip to clavicle. Then the Kyuubi was on Kakashi again and the jonin was trading blows that blurred red. Oddly, he recognized the fighting style as Sakura's but just as he figured that out, a tail slammed into his abdomen and sent him flying.

"You won't lay a finger on Sakura even if this shell of mine dies." The Kyuubi smiled bloody. "You can barely get your eyes on me; sixteen years has my girl moving that brittle human body of hers _just_ right." There was something in that grin that was almost vulgar. And for a second, Kakashi wondered.

Then he crashed into the upper level of a house. He went through one wall, then another, and then finally bounced to a stop on a bed. The house had not yet caught fire on the upper floors but he could smell smoke. He threw exploding tags across the floor and just as the Kyuubi jumped through the gash in the wall, Kakashi flung himself out the window and flipped the ignition seal. Fire and sound roared over his head.

Kakashi landed on the grass and felt it smolder under his feet.

A bored voice spoke up behind him. "Cute, but I know how your tags work."

_Shit_. Kakashi spun to punch but the demon caught the blow without so much as a flinch. The jonin panted. "How?"

"I saw through her eyes." The demon's teeth were milky and splattered bloody. His eyes burned bloodier. "Every. Single. Fucking. Day. I saw through her eyes and had to watch you morons scrabbling around in the mud. I had to _learn_ about what worms I was surrounded by."

Kakashi slammed his forearm into the demon's wrist. The monster's limb buckled and Kakashi threw a kick into the ribcage. More bone broke and the Kyuubi was sent skidding back. His crumpled rib cage was clearly visible but the Kyuubi barely seemed to notice as each rib snapped back into place.

"I hope it was hell being trapped inside that bitch." Kakashi snarled. "I hope she turns on you like she's turned on every person in her life. Looks like she was almost there a few minutes ago."

The demon looked amused. "That's just my little girl growing up. She's going to start shoving at me to spread her wings, call that bitching of hers growing pains." The Kyuubi snorted but then his eyes lit manic. "Let me guess, you're one of the people who thought Sakura was born a monster, right?"

The fox stalked forward languorously, a predatory grace smoothing his limbs. But the laughter bubbling from his chest was far more terrifying.

That's how Kakashi almost missed the tail angled for his head. The jonin rolled, the air singing with the near miss, and the Kyuubi followed. "So what is it Hatake? Was she a monster?"

Kakashi had to one-hand his seals; and the water jutsu he unleashed was steam less than a foot out of his mouth. "YES!"

The monster let out a pained shout when the steam hit him. But the answer Kakashi had given had it smirking. "Wanna know a secret before you die?" The Kyuubi landed on him, claws digging into Kakashi's shoulders and the jonin saw that the skin had been _seared _off the demon's face. When the monster grinned, Kakashi could see muscle pulling red over its teeth. "Of course you want to know, so let me tell you."

And everything about the demon dimmed, even his chakra. Eight tails became five. "Sakura was born with a beautiful soul."

Kakashi almost had the Kyuubi flipped off him when he heard those words. All the air in his lungs was suddenly cold. "What?"

"She was born perfect, literally untouched. She came into the world in the middle of all that stinking, putrefied flesh and she was still pure down to the marrow." The Kyuubi breathed in wonder. "Her soul was so clear there was nothing reflected in it, not even me."

"But—" The silver haired ninja scrabbled. "She was—the Uchiha massacre when she was seven, jonin skills when she graduated at twelve. Only something born a monster could of—"

The Kyuubi shook his head, eyes shining vindictive. "No. She was untainted even after they put me inside her, she was what you'd humans would call…_divine_. There was human goodness inside every inch of her. And trust me, I checked."

Human. Sakura had been human right at the beginning. His head spun so hard from the news, Kakashi thought he'd throw up. Maybe he'd just drown in the vomit. "Liar." He spat.

The Kyuubi tipped his head back, eyes a murky red and half lidded, and it was as if the monster was remembering. "It was a fucking curse being trapped in a body holding that soul. I couldn't touch her and even if I'd tried I would have just burned up on her."

That fond remembrance (of something so twisted) told Kakashi more than anything, that every word here was the truth.

The Kyuubi's lips split and his tongue ran across his teeth. "I couldn't have ever spoken to her if she'd stayed that way, but then you dumb sacks of flesh hurt her. Blades under her skin, poisons forced down her throat, snapping every pretty bone in that body…" He paused then as if savoring the memory. "She was so afraid and the fear you drove into her turned to self-loathing and the self-loathing to rage. And then that beautiful soul _cracked_."

Kakashi's eyes flared wide with horror.

The Kyuubi grinned like the devil. "And I slipped in the cracks. Dear god, you bastards opened the door for me and I walked right in. She kept shattering and shattering and all right on to a silver platter."

The village had made Sakura, made her ripe for the picking. The Kyuubi had just gotten there first. Kakashi remembered walking right by Sakura one time when she'd laid bloody in the street, a tiny little body strung up like a doll. If he'd just—

If one of the villagers had only—

If they'd just not hurt her—

If that one time Kakashi had just helped her up—

Here was hell and they'd invited it in.

The Kyuubi saw the realization and laughed in vindication. "Sakura wasn't born a monster, but she was when you were done with her."

The realization numbed him. To the fire, to the horror, to the blood soaking up under his skin. Right then Kakashi couldn't feel anything at all except the _knowing_.

But there was nothing he could do to change it.

He only had one arm but that was all he needed to elbow his enemy across the temple. The Kyuubi crumpled sideways and Kakashi rolled to his feet.

Asuma was suddenly there, wind roaring in a cyclone that picked up flame and embers and threw them straight down. Enveloped by the flame, the demon disappeared with a shriek.

"We need to pin him down!" Kakashi shouted.

Asuma nodded grimly. "I know."

There were more ninja, more comrades, more of Kakashi's friends falling in around him. They were pouring in from all sectors, driven by more than fear but a steeled resolve to take these monsters with them. They could still do this.

Kakashi recognized Ebisu in the crowd. "Where's Sakura?"

Ebisu looked to one of the few, if last Hyuga left. They exchanged a quick burst of chatter. Ebisu answered. "A mile over! She's tearing into what's left of our southern line and massacring the civilians!"

Divide and conquer, in their arrogance they'd already made this easy by going in opposite direction to fight. Kakashi only needed one point of leverage to get this to work. Once they killed the Kyuubi (and even if his soul did go to ride shotgun with Sakura) they'd just kill her next.

Then both would be gone. _Gone_. And they'd take the damnned knowledge of what made Sakura with them.

Sweat fell down Asuma's face as he held his jutsu. "Here he comes!"

Kakashi gave his orders just as the cyclone burst apart. The Kyuubi was loose again and shredding any flesh he could reach. But he didn't know how to use that body; he was a fox sitting in a human shell depending on raw power and demonic chakra to pull through.

The demon had been right about one thing: right now, Sakura was the more dangerous of the two of them.

Kakashi charged in and traded taijutsu with the demon. Two more of his comrades joined him in the assault and they all had at least two of the gates open. The Kyuubi fell to defense and they chivvied him into the next street.

"Now!" He shouted.

They scattered and that opened the demon wide to the fire jutsu and explosive tags coming up from the side. They impacted like bombs and like usual, the Kyuubi didn't try to dodge and took the damage instead. The demon skidded farther into the street, legs broken, skin charred.

Then earth jutsu from nine different ninja took that molten street and made a warped cage of arched concrete, twisted rebar, and serrated asphalt . It pinned the animal flat on his stomach, concrete red-hot but turned solid piercing his arms and legs in a dozen different places. Joints, soft flesh, tendons.

The hardened sections pierced through-and-through the Kyuubi and back into the street, pressing him face down into the boiling morass. The Kyuubi seized and screamed as he burned.

Kakashi dropped in from the sky, a long blade from a dead comrade in his hand. It pierced the Kyuubi's spine clean and the thrashing stopped.

Kakashi leapt off to a distance and the demon breathed weakly, eyes rolling, limbs twitching. More blood poured out of his back and it boiled as soon as it hit the air.

Ebisu screamed. "Incomi—"

His neck snapped clean, warning too late. A dark blur, black and pale, landed on that twisted cage that looked like human bone.

The Kyuubi's back was bare, his shirt already burned off. Sakura sat astride him with her legs shin-deep in the festering quagmire. The junction between her legs was pressed right against the blade sticking out of the demon's spine, and her hands rested delicately on the hilt.

She looked down, every movement lethargic. She carried herself with sinuous ease and her voice came out smoky. "You're getting careless again Kyuubi-_sama_. I've told you this a dozen times: you need a spine."

The demon spat out some concrete and it dripped down his chin . "It took you long enough to get here."

She practically purred and rocked forward on the blade. He hissed in pain as it dug in. She cooed. "But your pain felt _good_." Her posture hardened, shoulders pulled tight but her voice tighter. "I thought it might teach you not to get so careless, they pinned you down and I'm not in the mood to forge you a new body right now."

Kakashi knew where this was going. "Hurry up and get her off before she—"

But it was too late; Sakura pulled the blade out with a slick-snap and touched the demon's spine. The wound closed before their eyes and as his spine healed Sakura kicked apart the cage. She slung down low across his back again, astride him, and bent down so her lips were by his ear.

Her hair brushed the morass and smoldered but she didn't seem to notice. "Next time you fuck up I'll let you burn."

And she was gone.

The Kyuubi got up rolling his shoulders and he called after her. "Bitch!" But it sounded fond.

The demon cracked his neck, spine shifting back into place. He almost looked rueful. "I was hoping the next time she was on me it'd be as _pleasurable_ as our celebration when I got out. Apparently that was too much to ask for."

Kakashi thought about how they had butted heads when they first came together, a tension the jonin couldn't name between them, faces nudging and lips not-quite-brushing. He thought of the Kyuubi's vulgar grin when he spoke of how Sakura could _move_. And Kakashi had just personally witnessed the way she'd sat straddling the demon's back with her thighs against that blade.

It shouldn't have surprised him, except that it did. "You _screwed _her."

Sex and violence. Just like that. And all the secrets Kakashi had been trying to figure out were complete. Here laid jinchuuriki Sakura and there stood the demon that made her.

"I spent sixteen years riding underneath her flesh." The Kyuubi spat out something molten and bloody, and his grin turned feral. "The second I got out I decided: why not see what the ride is like from the outside?"

Kakashi was staggered for a moment just by the sheer insanity of it. "You sick _fuck_." It was all tumbling together. "But Sakura is with…" And it seemed stupid to be surprised Sakura couldn't handle monogamy considering how screwed up she was.

The demon's head tilted. "I never understood you humans and all those obsessive neuroses you have with sex and fidelity." The Kyuubi crossed the space between them in seconds and the stench of hell hung off him. "I made her thought patterns, I carved her pathways, I mixed her first chakra to meld the physical and spiritual into her flesh."

Eight of his tails spun out and picked up ninja including Kakashi. He barely managed to replace himself with a gnarled chunk of steel. Those less lucky burned up in the chakra.

The Kyuubi kept bearing down on him. "I molded her DNA; I've left my touch on every strand."

Kakashi jumped to a roof and sent kunai and a hunk of plastic explosive behind him. The kunai were blocked and the explosive going up was barely a gnat to the demon, and the monster kept talking. "I was the one to weave her dreams, to keep her nightmares."

Kakashi used a jutsu to turn the roof tile to projectiles and then _threw_ the hundreds of stone hewn kunai.

The Kyuubi wove between them like they were in slow motion. "I triggered every growth spurt she had, I made sure every limb was balanced, that every genetic feature she had was perfect." He slammed one tail down and brought the entire building beneath them down.

Kakashi had nowhere to go but downward and he landed hard on the rubble and bounced. His limb that'd been severed roared in pain as he landed on what was left of it.

The Kyuubi just stood over him, sneering. "Her soul was shattered and I injected my own through the flaws. Her _soul_. She was mine from the day she was born. Sex was nothing compared to any of that. You humans just get so tied up in the subjective moral details you don't even notice the things that matter: like _making monsters_ you can't put down."

It was getting harder to breathe and Kakashi righted himself. No one was coming to help him or maybe they were dead, he'd been smacked around too much to know which. Another chidori and probably his last ignited. The jonin had no more words left.

The demon cackled. "But you wouldn't understand, would you Hatake Kakashi? You've been alone all your life. You wouldn't even know the meaning of being so close to someone you literally know the patterns under their skin. Keep yourself trapped in that small mind, it probably comforts you." That gravel voice turned slick and mocking. "Sakura was a monster; it's not our fault she turned on us. We couldn't have seen what she'd become even though we tried to kill her every single day. It was her choice to be a psychopath, not ours, we had _nothing_ to do with it."

Every accusation stung like alcohol and acid poured in open wounds.

The Kyuubi laughed uproariously. "Hell, just keep telling yourself that after sixteen years inside her I just got all fucking nostalgic to get under her skin one more time. Keep telling yourself that she did all of _this_ for something as paltry as sex."

The Kyuubi spat the last words with scarlet eyes blazing more vivid than flame. His arms raised to the barrier, to the burning sky, to the molten streets, to the funeral pyre miles wide; to a hell so absolute not even Kakashi's wildest nightmares could have come close.

All of this hadn't been done for sex or love or even loyalty.

It had been done out of pain and fury. It'd been born from a systematic campaign to destroy one little girl so completely only a demon had been able to put her back together.

The Kyuubi marveled. "It's radiant what we made, isn't it?"

The chidori laden arm went up and Kakashi braced his feet.

This was how Hatake Kakashi would die: on a suicide charge with one last jutsu, all against a man that was a demon and the closest thing left of a god on earth.

This was how Hatake Kakashi would die: knowing the mistakes that had led him here and each one with such bitter clarity it took his breath away. He would be too tired to find regret for them.

This was how Hatake Kakashi would die: head held high, dying on his feet, and finally knowing all the secrets he'd searched for.

Secrets that should have stayed buried. Because this was how he would die: losing his mind from the truth.

He charged and it ended in the blink of an eye. Blood splashed, bone snapped, and the Kyuubi watched the body drop dispassionately. His shoulder smoked and mended back together, the strike had been wide and high, barely a scratch.

Kakashi however, had a hand coated with red chakra forced through his chest and straight through the heart. The jonin was already dead.

"This is boring." The Kyuubi scratched at the blood on his face as it burned away. "Fightning down to your level is such a hassle."

He shrugged off the body and for a moment watched it burn. The last Sharingan in the world boiled out of Kakashi's skull.

The sight bored the demon quickly. He let his chakra roll out and it pulsed red over him like a second skin and churned thicker. He looked up and more ninja were already dropping from the sky.

"You run right into it willingly. Humans," His lips peeled back. "You're all fucking insane."

Eight tails turned to nine. Three square blocks disintegrated in a howling wall of scarlet.

**Warzone: 6:38 AM**

She felt the moment the Kyuubi opened the floodgates, felt him detonate in the middle of the district brighter than a nova. For some reason most of the enemy ninja had been focused on him.

Not anymore. They were gone, vaporized, less than dust.

The numbers of their enemy were dwindling and Sakura thought for a minute to unhinge the last locks and let seven tails branch to nine. But that made things too…_easy._ Sakura wanted challenge and more than that she wanted _catharsis, _and she'd find it limb by bloody limb if she had to.

There was nothing left not burning. It was so sweltering in here no one was even sweating anymore as it turned to steam the second it hit the air. Sometimes it took living skin with it. The smell of it was foul.

Sakura raised her arm absently and caught a kunai before it impacted her eye. The enemy had learned fast to go for her head with every chance they got, but it was a pity they'd only figured that out when she had culled half their number and the fire had taken another quarter.

They were too few to reach her anymore. Their desperation hung thicker than the ash in the air.

She coated the blade in chakra and chased down the man who'd thrown it. He was easy to find, with fingernails already charred off just holding steel in this heat. They tangled together, steel to chakra, and the enemy chunin snarled at her. Sakura smiled blandly and watched her fellow ninja's kunai melt in his hand. The man screamed when the liquid steel dribbled onto his wrists.

While that seared down to the bone, Sakura calmly buried her blade in the man's eye. It seemed fitting.

Someone screamed below and Sakura glanced down. Six civilians were huddled under a stone outcropping. She had no idea what the stone had once been, but rivulets of it were already running off and turning to slag.

She grinned and dragged the civilians out one by one. She had forgotten what it was like to skin a man with just her fingers. Four corpses rectified that oversight.

"Get away from them!" It was a squad of ANBU, though they'd discarded their masks in the heat. She could see their eyelashes and brows had already singed off. It was probably a furnace in here but Sakura barely noticed, long grown used to boiling alive inside the Kyuubi's chakra. This was practically wintery by comparison.

Her hand flicked and the last two civilians burst into flames. "Whoops." She smirked.

One ANBU let out an incoherent shout and leapt. One of her tails caught him. He immediately started writhing and screaming, trapped in the same scarlet hell as she was.

"Too hot for you babe?" She sighed. "Typical." And snapped his neck.

"You bitch!" One of the ANBU shouted.

She flung herself into them and bared her teeth at the one who'd spoken. "You should be thankful for the small mercies."

A Konoha squad always numbered four. The first was already dead, but the second stabbed her in the back. She barely heeded it and slammed the heel of her hand into his jaw. The jaw bone broke and she kept pushing until his head snapped so far back his neck broke too.

The third was a woman and that ANBU tried to close-line the former jinchuuriki with lightning imbued wire. Sakura still remembered her fourth birthday and the ninja who had tried to garrote her to death. She really hated wire.

Her tails caught the line, snarled it around, then turned it back on the woman and garroted her instead.

Memories like that needed to be shared, needed to be flung out into this hell so they wouldn't stay inside her.

The last ANBU left was the one who'd spoken. He screamed at her. "You call this mercy!"

He should have done less yelling and more fighting. She buried her hand into his stomach and _ripped_. His guts game out in her palm and he plummeted into the blistering cesspool below. Was it really that surprising, dying?

He fell and if he drowned or burned down there, she wouldn't know.

She dropped the guts and listen to the sizzle of them as they cooked and then burned. Sakura had never been one for human flesh, but some of the Kyuubi's old memories still stuck up inside made her consider it for a brief moment.

Her nose wrinkled. "That's disgusting."

A familiar voice answered her. "Don't knock it 'till you try it."

She glanced up. "Spare me the: _it's an acquired taste_ lecture. Please."

The Kyuubi grinned at her and with the burns on his face; she couldn't tell if the sinew over his teeth was his or someone else's. He smirked. "Your loss."

She rolled her eyes and jumped to a few spires of stone barely supporting a tiled roof. It was one of the few structures left standing that she could see in the flame and boiling smoke.

The demon followed her and absently reached over and ripped out the kunai still buried in her back. She didn't even flinch and arched an eyebrow. "Don't think that makes us even." It had been useful to learn from his screw-up that they could survive spinal cord injuries, but still, she didn't appreciate having to drop everything because the Kyuubi felt some insane _need_ to play with his food before killing it.

He answered dryly. "I wouldn't dream of it."

The blade was flung away and all nine of his tails tangled into her seven. Sakura considering pulling another two to match him but for the moment she was too content to bother. "Is everyone dead?"

He rolled something that looked like melted steel, charred flesh, and blood against his teeth. "No, but the oxygen levels to sustain human life just dropped below the threshold…thirty seconds ago."

Her heartbeat did feel rather sluggish and Sakura realized she'd stared manually creating oxygen and forcing it into her blood nearly twenty minutes ago. It was amazing the non-jinchuuriki and non-medics had survived this long.

Her neck arched back and it was nearly impossible to see the violet flame of the sky. All she saw was the oily orange, hellish red, and gold-made-plasma glow of the pyre of the village reflected against the rolling ash.

This was theirs. Her chest felt like it was made of glass it was so clear and light.

But his voice was a raspy harbinger. "Sixteen years and all for this. All for my pretty little jinchuuriki."

The lightness to her was dragged back down into the muck. The ash was suddenly bitter in her throat. "We filled our deal, you free, them burning."

"Not quite." His eyes settled on her and her chest was molten steel again. He moved towards her with predatory ease. Every second he was out here it got easier to disregard what he'd one been. And yet in the hell of his eyes she would never forget.

"_Them_ burning? You left so many alive out past there." The words rolled off his tongue scornfully. And _past there_ was beyond the barrier: friends and teammates and her Kage and her comrades.

Her hackles went up.

"You know—" One of his hands grabbed up and under the back of her vest, twisting there and pulling her flush to him. "If we made that barrier fall we could burn every inch of the village and no one could stop us. Then our deal really would be complete."

This wasn't what he wanted exactly, to go out there and kill everything and everyone (though he wouldn't say no to it). In the fury and challenge of his gaze she knew what he _really _wanted was likely far worse.

The growl ripped from her throat. "Don't you fucking even _think_ about it. We agreed the village was mine when we were done, and you promised me I'd get a lifetime with my generation before our game picked up again."

"Do those maggots mean more to you?" The derision hung guttural in his voice. His face pressed to hers and she could feel his lips and teeth and even his mending flesh. "I heard every word you spoke to that team of yours. Sakura, my darling jinchuuriki, you can't martyr yourself on them for forgiveness if you already know they won't kill you."

Her breath hitched.

He kept going. "The minute that Uchiha opened his mouth you _knew_ they didn't have the balls to rip your guts out. You didn't trust them with your life Sakura, you're filled with as many doubts as you were before. None of them went away."

Her blood froze. Before Naruto and Sasuke even tried to charge she had known. _We are teammates, aren't we?_ Sasuke had told her exactly what was happening in those few words. Did it really count letting them choose if she already knew their answer?

His whispering crawled into her skull. "They don't know you as long as you cling to this lie of what I _am_ to you. Do you think if I'd gone there and told that blond bastard how I _know you_, he would have still held you up instead of cutting you down?"

"Naruto let that secret go." She gritted her teeth. "What you were to me doesn't define what I am to him!"

"Were?" He cackled. "Don't pretend you're suddenly not tangled up in me, this was always just us and it always will be. I don't give a flying fuck if you take human lovers and little friends to pass your days, but I won't let you lie to me." His nails dug into her. "I won't let you lie to yourself."

"I know what I am." She answered flatly.

His head tilted. "Do you? Do they? Maybe if I told them about how you lie and how you kill and how you _fuck_—"

She broke his shoulder cleanly. The kick she slammed into his gut nearly sent him off the roof and into the morass. He skidded to a stop right at the edge, solar plexus mashed sideways. He pushed it back into place with a snarl. "Hurts doesn't it? They don't know you and they never will. Are you still going to choose them over me?"

Something hotter than a star lanced her chest. "What are you playing at?"

"One last test Sakura." His smirk flayed her apart and his nine tails began lashing the ground.

"For what?" She didn't understand what he was driving at and her chakra flared out like ribbons. Seven turned to eight. "What ultimatum is it this time: them or you? Do you think me wanting to stay in this village, _save _this village, comes down to just that?"

"Not quite." He beckoned her. "But the question should be: do you know what it comes down to?"

It was always mind games with him.

She was tired of mind games.

Eight became nine.

Tile splintered under her feet as she _flung _herself into his chest. The tackle sent them flying off the roof and plowing into the quagmire below. They skidded on it but then it rose up like waves and enveloped them. For a second Sakura and the Kyuubi were tangled together, blinded and mouths filled with the molten mess. It was so heavy she was lost for a moment in which way was up.

Chakra flared and a rushing noise filled her ears. The weight left her shoulder and steam screamed through the air. She opened her eyes, melted steel dripping from her lashes, and she saw the morass had been cauterized off and away. Sakura didn't have much skin anymore. Neither did the Kyuubi. Hell, her hair had been shorn and burnt so close to her skull she couldn't even feel it on her neck.

One of his tails grabbed her and _threw_ her. What breath left in her lungs was smashed out as she streaked through the sky. Smoke billowed around her and she wrenched herself around and slapped every single tail against the roof of the barrier.

For a second she hung there, half a mile off the ground and gasping. She let the disbelief of how close she'd come to burning up on a barrier of her own making roll over her.

And _fuck_ that.

She wrenched back around and flung herself down with a sonic boom. The Kyuubi was waiting for her. Tails hit tails and each clap was thunder. The sheer force of it dug his feet into the earth and nearly sent her airborne again.

At the last second her tails streaked down and snagged whatever she could grab. It sent her tumbling sideways and there was flame and smoke and then molten quicksand filling her eyes. The burn of it was slap across the face and she dug out of it with a gasp. The Kyuubi was right next to her. "What's the point Sakura, really? They're going to die and you'll be back with me inside a century."

"Because—" Her chakra burst and an earth jutsu bucked under her, sending spires and claws of stone and white-hot steel crashing into him. "It's not about the end result anymore. It's about _having_ something with me, even if it's only memories."

He laughed and sent his chakra slicing into her jutsu, cutting and parting it around him. He strode forward. "If you give me that crap about it being the _journey _and not the destination, I'll kill you for your own good."

She followed the attack wreathed in genjutsu. It took him a split second to determine what was her and what wasn't, and in that second she had her fingers between his ribs and _tore_. They went down and she was on his stomach with his blood pooling wet between her fingers. She answered."It's about being happy. In this last decade how many times was I really, genuinely happy?"

One of his hands reached up gently and rubbed at the charred skin along her cheekbones. "Not enough." He rasped.

She paused for a second, fingers loosening from his ribs. In response to her hesitation his hand grabbed her head and shoved sideways. Her skull hit earth and splintered.

"But then again," He mocked. "Your happiness never entered into our equations, did it?"

Her hands were on the ground and she rolled her hips and then her legs into a swing. Her heel caught him in the temple. The crack of it almost alleviated the roaring ache in her own skull. She snapped back. "No it didn't. But guess what? I'm changing the equation!"

She tore after him and went at his chest again. He caught her blows and the rolled and tangled and plowed through a wall. She spat out blood. "I'm not living to fill your desires anymore, I'm living for mine!"

They skidded to a halt and his tails wrapped around her. She grounded herself with her own tails before he could throw her and burrowed them into the ground. She stayed on him. His lips split open to reveal more bone and blood and he cackled. "And your plans are to stay nestled all safe inside your lies? They're not your equals Sakura, at best they're your solace. Those humans are never going to be more."

His eyes darted sideways and she followed his gaze. Somehow, someway, in their brawl they'd blown straight into the middle of the Uchiha compound.

It was barely recognizable broken and burning, but still. She knew it.

"You didn't outrun this sin." His fingers traced an old, _old_ bloodstain on the ground. "What makes you think you can outrun the rest?"

His forearm slammed into her nose. She felt cartilage break and jerked away from him. Her nails tore long, deep gashes in his abdomen as she went. She rolled twice and landed on another bloodstain. The flagstone walkway of the Uchiha was one of the few things still intact.

His voice followed her as he came to his feet. "Your master plan is to try and outlive the lies, and we've seen how well _that_ worked out."

"So?" Her eyelids fluttered wide. "My friends aren't chasing the lies anymore and neither am I. There won't be any new ones between us. I'm going to live." Her hands landed on the old bloodstain, Uchiha blood she'd spilled. It hissed and steamed and then was cauterized away.

Wiped clean. She breathed it in. "I'm done. I'm done being your goddamn pet!" She launched herself off the ground and felt it splinter as she went.

He tried to strike her but her tails lashed the ground, halting her flight path and spinning her up and away. As soon as she overshot him she grabbed the ground and came right back around.

He turned and she slammed into his chest. But instead of breaking him, his chakra cushioned her impact and raised her into the air. She tried to break loose but his control was light-years ahead of hers. She could use his chakra now without losing her mind, but there was no substitute for millennia of practice.

He slung her upside down and blood rushed to her head. Also, the blood on the outside of her body coursed up her chest and neck and into her eyes.

It was boiling.

"I made you." His voice was flat.

The snarl was locked behind her teeth. She wrenched back and used the momentum to grab enough molten concrete to throw into him. It disrupted his grip and she fell loose and right on him and dug her hands in. "And I made this body." Her head jerked unnaturally sideways to avoid his fist and she grinned like the devil. "And I can _unmake_ it."

Chakra went into his skin and she unwound tendons and started pulling at the joints of his bones. She kept speaking. "It's not about you, it's not about Naruto, it's not about anyone. I'm living with them because I _want to_. I was yours once but I'm not anymore. The only person I belong to is me and it's my choice where I go."

He grinned brightly and then his chakra exploded. The sky and air was filled with red and she was blow so far back her skull cracked the ground a second time. When she came to, this time it was the Kyuubi astride her. He casually wrapped his hands around her throat and began to squeeze.

He asked her. "What are you afraid of?"

Even losing oxygen, her mind cleared. It was always mind games with him.

There was very little oxygen left or strength in her neck, but she spoke. "Nothing. If they know me, they know me." A last hiss escaped her. "I'm done running from myself."

It was amazing how flexible you could be when you didn't mind breaking bones or dislocating them. He was sitting high on her stomach and not on her hips, a mistake no human woud have made, and she wrenched her legs up and hooked her ankles around his throat.

There was surprise in his eyes for a second before she wrenched him backwards. In the ether of their chakra the shadow clones came easily and they all had katanas drawn. They buried the blades into his arms, his legs, his stomach, and even his chest.

It pinned him to the ground.

She breathed. "I'm not asking you anymore, I'm not begging you for scraps and promises. I'm telling you: I don't want to see your face for the next century. And if you come within fifty miles of any of my friends…" She ratcheted up on his chest and lowered her face to within an inch of his. "I'll rip apart this body cell by cell and wrap your soul back up inside me. Then you'll spend the next millennia being able to look but not _touch_."

His chest vibrated under her and with one lung pierced, it took her awhile to realize he was laughing. It was a wet and raspy sound, but it was open and full. His head was thrown back as he gasped for air.

When he stopped, his voice was a throaty rasp . "I love you Sakura."

The terror and rage warring in her chest stilled. She was glass again, light and airy and free.

"Don't stop changing, don't ever stop growing." His gaze was back to that fondness she had never really recognized, but the hunger in him she recognized well enough. "I'm never going to get bored with you, am I?"

"No." She promised. "You won't."

Only one of his arms was loose and he grabbed her face and held her there. "Don't stagnate; you were the one being that never disappointed me. Don't ever let what those humans _want_ you to be constrain the metamorphosis you're in."

And she understood the test. He didn't want to waste her; he just wanted her to keep growing.

It was about time she stood on her own two feet and found a path that was hers alone. He didn't want to dictate to her anymore, he wanted her to surprise him and challenge through their eternity.

What she had with the Kyuubi was eternal and far past instinctual. It was a love so primal Sakura would never be able to peel it out of her psyche without shattering herself to bloody pieces. She could grow beyond it, grow higher, but in the end it would always lurk at the most base parts of her. He wanted her to know that.

He wanted her to grow beyond it. He wanted her to shed that last loyalty, shed that last trust in him. They'd be together until the stars burned out; it'd be easier this way. And she was okay with that, with who she was.

Sakura was broken, bitter, and untrusting. She could love and hate and hold a grudge lasting a decade.

She could change, had changed, and would keep changing. She was growing and while not yet beyond the messy parts of herself, someday she might be.

They were finally equals.

She removed the blades one by one gently, listening to the scrape of them on his bones. He watched her lazily and when she was done, he pulled her onto the ground next to him. One of his arms wrapped around her shoulders and they stared up into the vastness above.

Sakura closed her eyes. "I was born into hell and even when I grew strong enough to get out of it, I stayed inside. When that wasn't enough and I dragged everyone else into it."

He scoffed. "You say that like a bad thing." One of his hands twined in her butchered hair. His fingers ghosted along her scalp.

It eased her. They would never be together again in the way she wanted, but that was the cost to being truly free.

Her fingers brushed his chest imploringly and he let her go. She rose and opened bloody irises, bloody eyelashes, and ruined eyes to the sky. "I'm leaving it here. All of it. I'm done being angry."

"Maybe." He breathed and rose up next to her. "I'll miss it; your hell is a radiant one."

Their fingers linked instinctually. She squeezed once. He squeezed back.

"I hate you, you know." She told him.

He nodded. "Same to you."

There was a pause but the next words were just as natural. "I love you."

His lips quirked. "I love me too."

She punched his side and he cackled. Then, briefly, he turned to kiss her. Something at that moment ended and their kiss was only a brush. They let go.

"I love you." He echoed, licking her blood off his lips.

She would feel every emotion under the sun for him and he would feel every single one for her, but that wasn't the sort of thing to keep two being together for every waking moment anymore.

They would meet and part a million times from here.

It wasn't perfect and it wasn't meant to be. He wasn't here to make her happy; she had to find that for herself. It'd taken her a long time to realize that but she had. Sakura thought for the first time she might finally know where to find it, too.

There was no need for a real goodbye. "I had Konohamaru clear a path to the western wall, leave through there. Go burn Kumo or Iwa for all I care."

"I'll try not to implicate you." His answer was wry but beneath that he sounded rather impressed. "You always have a plan, don't you?"

She smiled wistfully. "I learned from the best."

Their eyes locked and stayed that way, and for the last time in a century two mirrored beings threw their chakra together and pushed _up_.

Hell shattered across the sky.

**Konoha, 7:17 AM**

Dawn came on a smudged sky, the winds silent and the ash falling like snow. When the barrier came down every ninja outside it just stood watching the red column of light pouring up. It splashed crimson on silver, the roar of a fox thundering up to a crescendo of a mournful howl, and then it all faded into mist.

Silence filled the air. The blast had smothered all the fires, sucked in new air to replace it, and let the pillars of smoke free into the clouds. After the screaming of the chakra and the roar of flame, the silence was unearthly.

Naruto felt a lump rise in his throat.

Ino and Hinata were already jumping away, ash dusted on their lashes. Shino and Kiba and Chouji followed, kicking away embers as they went. They tore off into the ruins searching for the only person who could be left.

But Naruto didn't move yet.

Shikamaru looked at him. Sasuke and Hanabi had gone earlier and they were the only two left. The Nara appraised him. "Coming?"

Naruto nodded. "Yeah."

They went looking for Sakura. By the time they caught up everyone else had surrounded her on a stone roof in a tangle of limbs and hugs. They were all laughing and Naruto immediately knew why: Sakura's hair had been butchered off shorter than anyone's there. It hung in a dark, soot smudged halo around her face. It looked ridiculous.

When Sakura saw him she wiggled her eyebrows, which were amazingly _not_ burned off. "What do you think?"

He grinned. "I liked it long."

She threw a roof tile at him and he caught it, tossed it, and swept her into his arms. Everyone else watched them, though Ino soon started complaining that he was hogging Sakura. That started off another round of bickering and passing Sakura around, but eventually they all laid on the roof together in the ash.

They watched it fall from the sky like snow and bury them.

**Konoha Hospital, 11:35 AM**

When Tsunade stopped for just a moment to rest from all the surgeries, she found a soot covered Nara Shikamaru waiting in her office. She sighed and pulled off the surgeon's jacket and threw it on her chair. "How's Sakura?"

The Hokage had been amazed the jinchuuriki had walked out of that crater with only skin burned off, but Sakura always specialized in the unexpected.

He shifted uneasily. "She's resting at the Aburame compound with Hinata and Ino."

Chouji, Shino, Kiba, and Naruto had unfortunately been wrangled back into sorting out the wreckage and the dead. The girls, however, had quietly slipped away for the showers and feather beds of an empty compound.

The jonin fidgeted with a dusty folder under his arm. It was filled with yellowed papers.

Tsunade frowned. "Why are you here?"

He shoved the folder onto her desk. "Sakura's family history—the one the council sealed—my father squirreled the file away instead of destroying it."

Tsunade immediately jerked it open and looked inside. "Why are you showing me this?"

"I wanted to—" He swallowed. "I wanted to give it to Sakura, but I can't."

Tsunade knew what he was asking of her. "You want me to give it to Sakura for you. Why?"

"I thought it'd be forgiveness for what my family did." He shook his head. "There's no forgiveness for what happened, and nothing for what I did to get that."

He stood with a smudge of black ash long on his cheek and bowed. "If you'd excuse me, my Lady."

Tsunade knew there was no swaying him and dismissed him. There was too much guilt, too much pain, and too much in the past. This file was proof of that.

She read it and hours later, when the sun was getting low in the sky, Sakura breezed into the office. "You called for me Hime?"

The Hokage tapped her desk. "Sit."

The jinchuuriki sat.

Tsunade held up the folder. "Your family history that was sealed? It was recovered." She laid the file on the desk.

For a moment, Sakura stilled with a look of utter longing on her face. It faded just as fast. The jonin pushed the folder back. "I don't need it."

For some reason, the older woman wasn't surprised. "Why?"

"It's just another reminder of what I've already had taken from me." Her head bowed. "I have a family now, maybe not by blood but it's better than looking for the dead. I think it's time I moved on from what's gone."

She rose slowly, stiffly. Her fingers brushed the file for a long moment and Sakura murmured so quietly, Tsunade thought the girl didn't mean for her to hear it. "I'm done being angry."

Tsunade covered the younger woman's hand and they rested together on the folder. "If you ever change your mind it'll still be here."

Sakura smiled and it was faded but warm. "I know."

And the jinchuuriki walked out the door without a backwards glance. It was true: Sakura always specialized in the unexpected.

**Hokage Tower, Four Days Later**

The civil war ended like most things in their world did, with more questions than answers and bodies to bury.

In Tsunade's desk, Sakura's family file was locked away. Someday if the jinchuuriki could bring herself to look at it, she only needed to ask the next Kage.

But Tsunade's gaze was elsewhere, off to the wane sunlight coming through her balcony doors. A burnt smell still hung on the fall air and the horizon was a splash of vibrant fire. The sky was always the most beautiful after things burned, the ash made a lovely prism.

"I thought we'd get to rest." She murmured.

Jiraiya glanced over. "War tends not to work that way.

Between them, maps and battle plans were strewn out. The village had gone on lockdown after the civil war and her ninja had been allowed to rest. But Konoha burning on the horizon couldn't be hidden forever. The Fourth War outside their walls had never ended, just been put on hold. And the hold was over. With half of Konoha dead the vultures would circle and old grudges would be brought to grind.

Kumo, Iwa, and even Ame.

"Amegakure, with them in the fray…" She was too tired, tired of all this.

Her old teammate smirked bitter. "After Akatsuki what did you think would happen? Sakura killed their god; people usually don't take that lying down."

Pein's legacy of ruin just kept unfurling. There was never an end to war. Not really.

They could only make due.

"I'll miss the view." She stated thoughtfully.

Jiraiya blinked. "You going somewhere?"

"The enemy is already entrenching on our borders. The first assignment I gave was too Naruto. He'll preside over the entire Iwa and Kumo front." She smiled ruefully and the sunlight was a washed out blue on her skin. "When the war ends I'll name him Hokage."

Jiraiya dipped his head. "I'm sure he'll be pleased to hear."

"Oh he already knows." Her lips quirked. "He seemed rather unfazed; I think he had other things on his mind."

"We all do." Jiraiya gathered up the maps. "I need to get to my network and I know you have war assignments to give so…" He threw a rather loose salute and made to leave from the balcony.

He voice stopped him. "Did we bring this on them?"

The war. Every war, from the outside and inside.

"The kids?" He looked to the inked black clouds and fiery sky. "Maybe." His face was lined, aged, and had seen so much and saved so little. "But those kids are willing to pay the debts, all we can do is help them."

And with the debts gone they might just be free.

He left quickly and without a real goodbye, but he always did. Goodbyes meant they wouldn't see each other again and Tsunade wasn't having any of that. She fully intended to retire with Jiraiya and spend their golden years touring every bar and casino from here to Grass country.

Saying goodbye would never happen, not in this lifetime.

**Konoha**

The village was put on lockdown with a week of rest given to every ninja involved in the final civil war operation. Sakura had been promised as much time as she needed, but she took only week like everyone else.

A lot of it was spent with Naruto and all they seemed to do was talk. They spoke hours and hours and sometimes through entire nights without sleep. They talked about their lives.

Sakura assured him that no, the Kyuubi was nocturnal and had in fact not given a flying fuck what they were doing most of the time, yes she had been in steady contact with the Kyuubi concerning steering the civil war, no the war wasn't just an opportunity she'd taken advantage of, yes the civil war had been her intention all along.

They mapped out details and timelines and just flat out why she had ever done anything at all. They talked about Itachi a little.

Sometimes they talked about her childhood. Sakura was hesitant at first but when pressed would slide into graphical detail of some of the things done to her. Naruto would get angry at her for deflecting by trying to disgust him out of listening with the gory parts, and then she'd get angry and ask why he was suddenly complaining about getting _details._

Then they'd both apologize and leave her childhood for another day. Those were old wounds and they stung terribly, but Sakura felt just a bit lighter after each one was really torn open and allowed to bleed. But doing it all at once wouldn't solve anything.

Sakura knew she'd spend years telling Naruto everything, and Naruto knew that and was patient to take it a little at a time. But the past getting drudged up left the air heavy and when it got too thick, Sakura would look for her friends instead.

Konoha's weakness would soon boil into international war. They only had so much time left to spend together, and Sakura knew that more than anyone.

/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/

The nail polish was laid out in tiny, rainbow bright piles that were garish in the noon sun. Each shade glittered its own vibrant shade and Ino toyed with them. "I'm thinking we match eye colors." She held a sky blue bottle to her eyes. "What do you think?"

Sakura laughed and held out a palm. "Sounds good."

Ino crowed in delight and passed her the bottle, then went searching for a shade to match Sakura's eyes. The two girls then put a foot each in each other's laps and got to painting.

They had to keep stopping to let the giggles pass, though.

"You know I've got my war assignment." Ino began languidly.

Sakura paused for awhile. "Where are you shipping out? When?"

"They need an interrogation cell set up on the Iwa front, I'm leading it." Ino flicked a cold, jade green polish over Sakura's nails. "I'll be gone in a week and a half."

"I thought they'd trust Ibiki with that." The former jinchuuriki replied lightly.

Ino snorted. "I love Ibiki, I do, but his psychological torture always has such a time lag. My methods are much more…quick."

"And bloody." Sakura murmured. She spread the blue out carefully as if this was a painting.

Ino smiled. "True."

Silence passed for awhile. Sakura felt Ino's fingers on the sole of her foot. The jinchuuriki had seen her friend peel a man's skin off the heel and then disjoint every bone. It should have been an odd memory to have come up, but not for them.

"You all right?" Sakura asked.

Ino blinked. "I'm fine. My assignment is going to be _awesome._"

Sakura thought of blood as she finished Ino's toes. "You want varnish?"

Ino giggled. "Oh yes, silver with snake venom."

Sakura clicked her tongue. "I'll take gold with scorpion, if you don't mind."

The life of a kunoichi suited them both too well. They painted each other's fingernails next and talked about straight razors and nerve clusters.

Then Ino asked. "Can you go visit Shikamaru? He's been quiet."

Sakura tasted something bitter. "Sure." In the sunlight, her fingernails glittered jade and gold.

/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/

She found Shikamaru holed up in the Intel department in front of a Shogi set. He looked worn. Sakura sat across from him and made an opening move on the board. "Ino's worried about you."

He snorted. "Peachy." And made his own move.

The game was on. They made a dozen moves in silence and Sakura had her leg under the table and her foot hooked behind his knee. She could feel muscle cording in his leg along with a frustrated jitter.

A pack of cigarettes laid on the table unopened. If the jitter hadn't told her, that pack did: it was the end of the world.

"They're sending me as part of Naruto's tactical unit." He rasped.

"That's…" She paused. "Good?"

"I've always been good at maneuvering, figuring out how to make the most people die in the least amount of trouble." He pushed a piece and put her in check.

She examined the board intently. "It's a useful skill." And moved out of check.

Shikamaru kept ruthlessly chasing her pieces down and she watched the annihilation unfold.

"Sakura…your family…" He trailed off and he put her in check a third time.

This time she didn't try and get out. "What?"

There was a darkness to his eyes and she understood. "You fond the file." She affirmed softly.

"I did." His fingers rattled on the table.

She reached out and grabbed his hand. "I'm sorry. I didn't look in it."

He closed his eyes and something went away. When they reopened, there was a brightness she'd been missing. He spoke slowly. "They were dead, all of them. Your parents both went the night the Kyuubi attacked."

All her family. Gone. Sakura sucked in a breath but her chest unwound. This didn't hurt. "It's easier this way. Isn't it?"

He took out a cigarette and lit it. Smoke trailed from his mouth. "Yeah it is."

He shifted a piece and looked at her through heavy lids. "Check mate."

Sakura just stole his cigarette and took a long drag. It tasted like home.

/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/

It was barely dawn and the sky was a rolling gray. The ash still hung in the air and some in the village had developed a wracking cough from it. Forward units were already moving out and the streets were so quiet it was like walking through graves.

People were digging in the rubble of what was left from the civil war. Sakura sat waiting in it with a thermos of coffee warm between her hands. Like she knew he would, Sasuke stepped into the ruined courtyard.

Courtyard of the ashes of the Uchiha compound. His head tilted up. "I guess I shouldn't be surprised."

"I missed you." She rapped her hand on the tile next to her. "And I heard you were shipping out in a few days to do hit-and-run Ops in Kumo."

A tension still remained jagged between them, but he sat next to her anyways and they shared the thermos slowly. The coffee slipped warm down her throat. For a moment, she remembered swallowing molten steel and nearly gagged. It passed.

They didn't have much to say.

"The war's going to last a long time, isn't it?" He asked.

She nodded morosely. "It will." Some part of her wanted to move closer to him but she knew she couldn't. She hadn't earned that back yet and might never earn it.

"The years we're away from each other…" She couldn't face him and looked at the courtyard. "It might dull this."

"Maybe." He titled the thermos back and drained it. He handed it to her and got up.

He almost left but stopped short. "Sakura?"

"Yeah?"

"They're going to rebuild here someday." He was surrounded by the wreckage of their past. "Tell them to let the grass grow instead."

Someday they'd be all right. "I will." It was a promise she could keep.

/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/

She found Chouji in a different part of the wasteland that had once been Konoha. He was picking at the pieces of his own home. She stood behind him for a moment uncertain on whether to intrude.

He made the decision for her. "I'm shipping out soon, Iwa division, line-buster."

She joined him and for a moment looked at his armor. It was scarred and pitted, no longer the shining candy red that she remembered. It was a rusted color like day old blood now.

He followed her gaze and his irises went dark. "You know the Akimichi had a specialized blacksmith here. Each of us wrought our own armor; my dad helped me make my first set." He touched his chest plate.

There had been more lost here than just lives. They'd lost legacies whole.

"I can't fix it." His chin dipped.

She hung onto his arm and waited. Brittle, broken pieces of ceramic splintered like bones under her feet.

He rubbed the back of his neck. "We'll have to order it out now, pay for it. Get it made by someone outside the family."

She touched his elbow. "What about rebuilding the smith?"

He brushed his own armor, scarred deep across the chest. "There's not many of my family left, I doubt anyone's going to live together as a clan anymore. We can't maintain a smith." He chuckled bitterly. "None of us even have the money to rebuild it."

They'd destroyed tradition, even the good parts.

Her fingers caressed the sun-warmed platting. They trailed down and then twined in his. "I'm sorry."

His gaze was beyond the horizon. "Me too."

/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/

In the Aburame compound, Sakura and Hinata took tea on a veranda.

"I'll miss the gardens." Hinata said wistfully.

The other girl sipped at her tea slowly. "They are beautiful, I'm sorry you have to leave them."

The Lady Aburame laughed lightly. "It's our duty as shinobi to serve, my assignment isn't the worst. I'm going to be part of one of the defensive fronts around Konoha." Her voice dropped. "I'll get to see home at least."

Not all of them would.

They lounged on the cushions for a moment shoulder to shoulder and lost in silence. It was the comfort of being old friends, not needing words all the time.

A humming bird buzzed passed them. Hinata followed it with her eyes. "The Branch Hyuga that survived are reforming into a clan."

"Really?" Sakura watched the humming bird too, ruby throated and emerald winged. "I thought they'd be sick of that."

"I think they're having trouble facing the world alone. They'll outgrow the clan system someday, but not yet." Hinata paused. "They're trying to make Neji the new Clan Head; they're even treating Tenten like the new Hyuga mistress."

Sakura snorted into her tea. "Oh god, I bet Neji loved that."

Hinata smirked delicately behind her cup. "He was rather off put. He's been apart from the clan too long to go running back, Clan Head or not." She shrugged. "But who knows what he'll choose, he always had a sense of duty."

They wouldn't know what Neji would do for some time. Practically every Hyuga was being divvied among platoons and sent out. How they would reform once the war was over was the real question.

"I'm worried." Hinata whispered.

Sakura knew the subject had shifted. "About what?"

White eyes turned grim. "That we all won't come home."

Sakura had no answer. The humming bird flew away.

/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/

She wasn't sure if she went looking for Kiba or he went looking for her, but they found each other regardless.

He rubbed the back of his neck. "Hey foxy lady."

They fell into step and Sakura asked him blandly. "What are you doing?"

"Supplying up, my squad will be out of the village in a week." He patted Akamaru. "Me and Shino are on border duty, tracking enemies that try to cross over to get at Konoha."

She nodded. "Sounds fun."

He grinned feral. "It will be."

They walked longer, down twisting streets and alleys and through sunlight and shade. Voices came to them on the wind but the village seemed empty. Sakura thought it might be everyone just giving her wide berth, after what they'd seen.

His fingers nicked at her side. "Hey foxy?"

She made a humming noise.

He took that as an invitation. "How do you…what do you do if you can't get the taste of blood out of your mouth?"

She looked at him and he looked back without flinching. His eyes were haunted and tired but it vanished so quickly she wasn't sure if she'd seen it at all.

"You eat spicy food until you can't taste anymore." She smiled. "My treat."

They went to a restaurant and ate until their eyes watered.

"It's gone." He told her later.

She dimed a little. "It'll come back."

"Always?" He asked.

Her silence was answer enough.

/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/

Sakura went to her old orphanage one afternoon, but only because Hinata asked her too. Kiba came with her. They found Shino leaning on the fence watching the kids play. Kiba hung back a bit while Sakura joined Shino and looped her arm through his. She waited patiently.

Shino spoke to her eventually. "See that girl in the yellow dress?"

Sakura followed his hand and saw a tiny, laughing little girl playing in the sandbox. She nodded. "Yeah."

"I killed her mother and brother." He said woodenly. "Her name's Maya."

The little girl saw them at the fence and immediately brightened and ran over. The child hopped in place excitedly in front of them. "Hi, hi!"

The staff watched on warily but didn't interfere. None of them had been working here when Sakura had stayed a decade back, and she thought that was probably for the best.

Kiba scooped up the little girl and sat her on Akamaru. Shino and Sakura watched on.

She murmured to Shino. "If you're expecting some arbiter or jury to forgive you, it's not going to happen."

Shino breathed in sharply. Maya babbled on, yellow dress fluttering, tiny hands lost in dog fur. She looked like a doll.

Sakura's voice went soft. "You can only forgive yourself and let the rest fall where it falls."

He replied gruffly. "Did you?"

_Did you forgive yourself?_

She smiled bitter. "Not yet."

Kiba brought Maya over and whispered to the little girl conspiratorially. "This is the fox lady I told you about."

Maya looked up at her with wonder fill eyes. Sakura picked up the little girl and swirled her around high in the air once before asking: "Wanna see something cool?"

Maya nodded fervently.

Sakura let her eyes cycle red.

Maya's giggles filled the autumn air. "Do it again, do it again!"

**Apartment Complex, 6:32 PM**

It was their apartment and Sakura knew each floorboard by heart, knew each scratch on the wall, knew each dent in their headboard. She and Naruto had lived here together for four years. It was strange how easy it was to disentangle their lives as they packed their belongings away.

They were being sent to the outermost fronts and she and Naruto would likely not see their apartment or each other for months if not years. They had to leave here and let it go. It might be open when they got back and it might not.

It wasn't in their control anymore.

With a sigh she lowered herself on the window sill. The shadows were getting long and they trailed across her arms and face. At her feet boxes were piled high. Except for her field kit, her life had been packed away.

Naruto sat on a box with a groan. "I hate packing."

She made a sympathetic noise but looked at the village. From here she could see the blackened scar she'd torn through it. "Naruto?"

He stopped cracking his knuckles to look up at her.

She suddenly knew what she wanted to say. "That thing I made for phase Echo? It's gone."

His irises turned icy for a moment, voice dropping to a controlled octave. "Yeah?"

Her fingers absently picked at her sleeve. "Yeah, we won't be seeing it again in this lifetime."

True to his word, Naruto didn't ask what she meant or what _it_ had been. His hands clasped between his knees instead and when the sun hit his eyes, they were bluer than any sky could ever be. "Was it worth it, the civil war? Echo?"

What was left unsaid was if sending them headfirst into a war with Kumo and Iwa and Ame had also been worth her revenge. If the lies had been worth it. If nearly destroying what they had together had been worth it.

Her hair was still a messy, short halo blacker than the shade. The shadows veiled her and her gaze was lost out the window. "Ask me again when the war ends."

They didn't talk for awhile and eventually she got off the sill and started fussing with her boxes. She picked up a stack and even though they weren't heavy it was awkward to carry.

"Come on; let me help you with that." Naruto grabbed a box from her stack. She made a face at him and he stuck out his tongue in return.

She softened. "Thanks."

He kissed her forehead. "It's my pleasure.

They walked together to the storage locker five blocks down. They had separate units and left their boxes inside.

The sunlight was even longer, burnishing the streets and casting their shadows long when they finished. On the walk back to the apartment their pinkies were linked. Things were still uneasy but they were getting better.

He cleared his throat. "What do you think about getting a house when we get back?"

She looked up at the shining façade of the apartment building. She'd miss this place but it was about time they moved on. And a house of their own sounded good, really good, like she might have a home to come back to.

For a second she was too shy to look at him. "I'd like that."

Naruto grinned brightly, picked her up and spun her around. When he put her down his gaze was serious. "We're going to be happy."

She just smiled. "I know."

**Commercial District, 10:45 PM**

The party was no one and everyone's idea. The first heavy division would ship out tomorrow and they filled the bar and grabbed a massive, couched off area in the back. The table in the center was long and low and Sakura and Ino danced on it. They tried to coax Hinata up too but the Lady Aburame was having none of it.

Their boyfriends leered and the booze flowed freely, and there were so many of them there they almost all didn't fit on the couch.

There was Chouji and Shikamaru, Kiba and Shino, Hinata and Sasuke, and even Hanabi had been snuck in despite not having official rank (and the implied adulthood therein).

They shared their war assignments and those of friends and family to over the alcohol. Sakura learned that Tenten was heading to Kiri to support the still floundering military there, Neji was part of a forward unit going to observe the border where Naruto's forward command would be set, Lee was providing backup for a squad to be sent behing enemy lines, and Hanabi was soon to be tested for rank then likely sent to one of the defensive fronts like her sister.

Kiba laughed uproariously, his glass of rum sloshing. "You know none of us are on the Ame front. Hell, I haven't met anybody going out there, why is that?"

Music pulsed loud over the speakers and Sakura found herself tapping with the beat of it. "Because there's no front out there."

Everyone looked at her but Naruto already knew what she meant and slung an arm around her shoulder. She settled into his embrace before elaborating for everyone else: "Five ANBU squads. Me. That's the entire force going there." All eyes were on her. "They're going to set me loose on every city until Ame surrenders. The civil war was…a test run to see if I could burn villages alone."

Silence fell for a long moment.

Sakura would fight an entire country. The methods may have changed but war never did.

Hinata interrupted the awkward silence before it could take root. "Come on, I want a picture before everyone goes." The lady Aburame already had a camera and no one _really_ said no to Hinata.

A chunin from the bar was snagged down to take the picture and they all piled on the couch to get in.

Chouji moaned. "There's not enough room."

Ino tapped his forehead. "That my dear is what laps are for." And she promptly threw herself in her boyfriend's lap to demonstrate.

After that it was easy. Kiba and Shikamaru were in the center with Chouji and Naruto flanking them. Sakura was in Naruto's lap, angled inwards, and had her feet hooked on Kiba's knees. Ino had hers hooked on Shikamaru.

Shino and Hinata were to Sakura's left, and off to Ino's right was Hanabi practically draped on Sasuke.

They all shuffled and elbowed and bickered as they tried to get in position.

Kiba kept grabbing at her legs and Naruto kept slapping his hands. Sakura was laughing so hard she couldn't breathe. The Hyuga sisters had two separate arguments to stop Hanabi from making out with Sasuke instead of looking at the camera.

Chouji started complaining when he found a dozen of Shino's bugs on his arm. Shino didn't even pretend to apologize for it.

Shikamaru complained about Akamaru lying on his feet but complained even more when Ino dug her heels high on his thigh. When her teammate turned on her, Ino just fluttered her eyelashes. Chouji didn't even try to get involved.

Finally the shifting and arguments stopped as they shoved together.

"Smile!" The chunin called.

The flash filled their eyes.

/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/

They stood outside the convenience store, the smell of burning in their throats and ash coating the road under their feet. Hinata was getting the pictures developed while the rest of them ate cheap ice cream outside the door.

Above their heads, an orange street lamp flickered. Flies buzzed and threw themselves against the glass.

Naruto had an arm slung around her and she nestled against him. She tasted orange and cream and doubted she'd ever forget this night. Naruto leaned over and stole a lick of her ice cream; in return she took a bite from his popsicle.

As a truce they kissed and Sakura had both saccharine flavors in her mouth.

Hinata breezed out the doors. "Got them." And passed out prints.

Sakura took one look at the picture given and all her breath rushed away. They were all smiling in the photo but their damage was laid bare.

Ino's eyes would never be quite bright again, not with anything other than manic glee.

Kiba would always taste blood no matter what he did.

Shikamaru would never smile without slivers of bitterness inside it, harsh as iron.

Shino would regret the things he'd done but mostly regret the things he didn't do.

Chouji would clench his fists again but not without thinking of the people he'd broken with them.

Hinata would never be able to look in the mirror without seeing Hyuga eyes looking back, her family's eyes, the ones she'd killed and the ones she couldn't save.

Naruto would never trust her completely, not really.

Sasuke never should have trusted her at all.

But time would pass and they'd adjust, not heal, that was too much to ask. The scars would never fade but someday her friends would learn how to look past them. They'd learn how to look at the world without blood coloring their sight until all they saw was hell.

Sakura would teach them how and one day she might be able to forgive herself for that, too.

Maybe. Maybe not.

Her fingers traced it. At that moment Sakura knew more certainly than she had ever known that this picture would be carried with her until it crumbled to dust. But that was a very, very long time from now.

Time slipped away from her and everyone was already halfway down the block. The ice cream was melted in her hand. She dropped it.

"Come on, after-party at the Aburame!" Kiba cheered.

Hinata rolled her eyes in exasperation but Shino just smiled fondly. "Fine but you have to clean up."

Kiba groaned and pouted.

Shikamaru, her dearest and oldest friend, noticed she wasn't there and glanced back. "Hurry up, you're making us wait!"

Everyone already had their pictures away and their smiles beckoned her. She folded the picture in half and slid it in her vest and over her heart. The weight of it was nothing but somehow more than everything.

She chased after them. "Count me in!"

Naruto's hand was already there for her and she took it. It would be a warm and solid weight for the time it lasted.

There was a lonely dawn waiting for her tomorrow along with a war countries far from here. It was a path she'd brought on herself and had to take alone. Eventually it would lead her so far away from her friends even the memories would be nothing but blurs.

But that was then and she didn't have to dwell on it.

There was still a lifetime with them right now.

* * *

AN: And here we end.

For the record, Sakura's family was no one important. I believe in canon she's civilian but here we'll never know and don't really need to.

Unless there's a massive clamor for an epilogue after this, I think this is where it will end. I'm calling it a wrap.

And thank you to everybody who came along for the ride, Hells Radiance certainly has been a big part of my life and growing as a writer. And I couldn't have done it with all the feedback and support. Thank you.


End file.
